Colin Powell, who had suffered from blood cancer and Parkinson’s disease, died from covid-related complications at the age of 84 on October 18th
COLIN POWELL was driving to his army base in Fort Benning, Georgia, in the early 1960s when he decided to stop at a drive-in restaurant. He had returned from Vietnam in 1963 with a Purple Heart and Bronze Star. The puzzled waitress asked whether he was a Puerto Rican or, perhaps, an African student. “No,” he replied. “I’m a Negro. I’m an American. And I’m an Army officer.” The waitress suggested he wait around the back where he might be passed a burger from the back window.
Mr Powell was born in the Harlem district of New York in 1937, growing up in a working-class Jamaican family in the south Bronx. At the City College of New York, he joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1958. That was less than a decade after the army had been desegregated by President Harry Truman. After serving as a platoon leader in West Germany, he chose to stay in the army. “I did not know anything but soldiering,” he wrote later.
In 1989, having become one of the youngest four-star generals in American history during peacetime, at the age of 52, Mr Powell beat off competition from more than 30 others to become the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff—the principal military adviser to the president, and a position whose importance and authority had been bolstered by far-reaching military reforms earlier in the decade.
Brasil Últimas Notícias, Brasil Manchetes
Similar News:Você também pode ler notícias semelhantes a esta que coletamos de outras fontes de notícias.
TODAY in 30 – October 18: Remembering Colin Powell, American missionaries kidnappedTODAY in 30 brings you everything you love about our show in a quick half hour. Colin Powell dies at 84 from coronavirus complications. And American missionaries are kidnapped by gang members in Haiti.
Consulte Mais informação »
The Colin Powell Republican no longer exists in the Republican PartyThe Colin Powell Republican no longer exists in the Republican Party | Analysis by Chris Cillizza
Consulte Mais informação »
Colin Powell dies from Covid complicationsColin Powell, a four-star general who became America's first Black secretary of State, has died. He was 84.
Consulte Mais informação »