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By way of Faton Tony Bislimi, PhD
National — November 11 is Veterans Day in the USA. There is not any upper award or honor that army heroes can obtain than the Medal of Honor. But, it’s placing that till April 24, 1991, out of a complete of three,417 Medals of Honor awarded to American carrier individuals, simplest 77 got to African American citizens, however none of those got to African American citizens who had served in Global Wars I and II. This dire statistic modified on April 24, 1991, when the 1st Medal of Honor was once bestowed, posthumously, upon a black American hero of Global Warfare I, Sgt. Freddie Stowers of South Carolina, who heroically sacrificed his existence in France on September 28, 1918, on the age of 21. At that White Area rite in 1991, President George H. W. Bush praised the heroism of Sgt. Stowers and two times thanked former Congressman Joe DioGuardi of New York for his efforts to make it occur.
It appears, President Bush knew of DioGuardi’s tireless efforts to carry justice to the U.S. army by way of combating relentlessly to proper a historic improper. Quickly after he was a Congressman (the first-ever Qualified Public Accountant elected to Congress in 1984), DioGuardi took at the battle of constructing positive that deserving African American heroes of Global Wars I and II got the Medals of Honor they’d earned by way of appearing acts of heroism that went way past the decision of responsibility.
It was once within the spring of 1987 that then-Congressman DioGuardi was once approached by way of an African American historian, Dr. Leroy Ramsey in Mt. Vernon, New York, to hunt his strengthen in acquiring a hard-earned, however by no means awarded, Medal of Honor for Sgt. Henry Johnson of Albany, New York. Johnson, who served in Global Warfare I, had received France’s perfect army award, the Croix de Guerre with a Palm Leaf inscribed. When Dr. Ramsey knowledgeable DioGuardi of the truth that no African American soldier from Global Wars I and II had ever been awarded the Medal of Honor, it was transparent to the Congressman that there was once just one approach ahead: justice needed to be served, albeit belatedly.
DioGuardi, a junior Republican Congressman, in an instant sought the strengthen of then-Congressman Mickey Leland of Houston, Texas, a Democrat and Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Leland spoke back favorably and requested that DioGuardi strengthen his battle to get the Medal of Honor for his formative years hero, Seaman Dorie Miller of Waco, Texas. Collectively, on October 21, 1987, they presented regulation “to right kind a gross inequity that exists within the historical past of the Medal of Honor. Out of a complete of one.5 million blacks who served in Global Wars I and II, now not one won the Medal of Honor….” This was once easiest exemplified by way of the circumstances of Sgt. Henry Johnson of Albany, New York, and Seaman Dorie Miller of Waco, Texas. Miller fought heroically right through the assault on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. By way of June 1988, DioGuardi and Leland had accrued nicely over 100 signatures from different Individuals of Congress and addressed a letter to then-Secretary of Protection Frank Carlucci urging him to “repair this oversight.”
Seeing expanding strengthen amongst Individuals of Congress for DioGuardi and Leland’s regulation, Secretary Carlucci agreed to satisfy with them. On account of this contentious assembly, Carlucci agreed that the Division of Protection would offer a grant to an impartial traditionally black college to do the analysis on the ones African American heroes who have been “lost sight of” right through Global Wars I and II and not won the Medal of Honor. Sadly, in the summertime of 1989, Mickey Leland died on a sad airplane crash turning in humanitarian assist to Ethiopia with a congressional delegation.
Nonetheless, in honor of his just right buddy and congressional colleague, Mickey Leland, DioGuardi endured the battle to right kind the injustice to each Sgt. Johnson and Seaman Miller.
On account of the analysis carried out by way of Shaw College, some other seven African American heroes of Global Warfare II have been awarded the Medal of Honor by way of President Clinton in 1997. On the other hand, the Division of Protection grant, to the disgruntlement of DioGuardi, was once used to analyze circumstances within the Military on my own and in addition simplest right through Global Warfare II. Because of this, Sgt. Henry Johnson and Seaman Dorie Miller’s circumstances remained dormant, however now not for DioGuardi.
Ever since he began this uneasy and really complicated combat, DioGuardi ceaselessly spoke up in regards to the want for The us to proper this improper. He used the examples of Sgt. Johnson and Seaman Miller to teach the American public at the significance of correcting an egregious injustice in our country’s racist historical past. And, it was once now not till June 2, 2015, that DioGuardi’s paintings got here to fruition, a minimum of partly, when President Barack Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to Sgt. Henry Johnson at a White Area rite to which DioGuardi was once invited.
However, for him, the paintings was once now not carried out. No longer but, a minimum of. DioGuardi centered all his time and effort on Dorie Miller. He spoke at a large number of occasions arranged by way of veteran associations, the United States Affiliation of Former Individuals of Congress, and others, about this very distinctive historical past of the way two congressmen—one Republican and one Democrat, one white and one black, one from the north and one from the south—had joined in combination to take away a blatant stain from the United States army historical past and to be sure that justice prevailed.
DioGuardi has introduced the case of Dorie Miller ahead of 3 presidents prior to now – George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. And, at the day that President Biden was once inaugurated, DioGuardi travelled to DC to take part in Biden’s inauguration and to in my view hand in a letter about Dorie Miller to President Biden’s Leader of Workforce. Maximum not too long ago, DioGuardi was a co-chairman of the Nationwide Committee for Dorie Miller’s Medal of Honor and believes strongly that during 2022 Miller will after all be awarded the dignity he rightly earned on that horrific “day of infamy” at Pearl Harbor.
It takes braveness and dedication, deeply rooted ideals in justice and heartfelt pastime for human rights, to do what former Congressman Joseph J. DioGuardi has carried out for African American warfare heroes. Additionally, it takes perseverance. Due to this fact, in this Veterans Day, it is just befitting that American citizens usually and African American citizens, particularly, find out about this distinctive tale of an unbreakable and passionate warrior for racial justice in the United States army. Dedicating your existence to honoring those that have made without equal sacrifice within the carrier of The us is an honor in and of itself. Joe DioGuardi symbolizes this in the most productive imaginable approach as a real American patriot.
Dr. Faton Tony Bislimi is an Govt Board Member of the Albanian American Civic League (est. 1989 in New York by way of former Congressman Joe DioGuardi). He’s additionally the creator of an upcoming guide titled A Congressman’s Lifetime Struggle to Convey Racial Justice to the United States Army: Hon. Joseph J. DioGuardi and the Medals of Honor for Black American Warfare Heroes. Be told extra in regards to the guide and different identical books at https://www.truthingovernment.org/archive-books-booklets
For press inquiries, touch Dr. F. Tony Bislimi at FBislimi@gmail.com or 780-802-1256.
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