African-American veterans who fought in World War II will tell their stories during a panel presentation to be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15, in Room 458 of the West Virginia University Business and Economics Building.
The WVU P .I. Reed School of Journalism and the WVU Center for Black Culture and Research are co-sponsoring the event, being held as part of the universitys celebration of African American History Month.
“The program is a part of our ongoing effort to educate the community about the very broad culture and history of Africans in the Americas,”said Todd McFadden, assistant director, Center for Black Culture and History.
“Soldiers of Freedom: African Americans in WWII “will feature three veterans: John Cannon, Army, veteran of the first all-black parachute unit (the 555th”Triple Nickles”); John Watson, Army Air Corps, veteran of the”Tuskegee Airmen;”and Horace Belmear, Navy, Water Survival Specialist at the Pensacola Naval Air Station.
The panelists will also be featured in a WVU P .I. Reed School of Journalism 30-minute multimedia documentary that will tell the stories of the states African-American war veterans. The project has been funded by a West Virginia Humanities Council Grant written by SOJ Assistant Professor Joel Beeson.
The multimedia project will be based on first-hand accounts, memories and personal perspectives that shaped African-American veteran’s experiences, as well as personal documents, photographs combined with archival film footage, text and music.
The grant builds off the WVU School of Journalism-sponsored West Virginia Veterans History Project, which Beeson directed. Over the last year Journalism students and faculty collected 100 of the states veteranshistories, which were sent to the Library of Congress, where they will be available for generations to come. Students also trained civic groups across the state to collect the histories for that project.
Panelists for Tuesdays event include:
Horace Edward Belmear
Horace Edward Belmear was born in 1916 and has spent many years of his life in service to both his community and country. At 19 years of age, he enrolled at West Virginia State College in Institute, and achieved an AB in Social Studies by 1940. Just three years later, Mr. Belmear entered the U.S. Navy Special Services. Belmear served at the U.S. Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida until 1945, reaching the rank of Specialist A First Class.
During his service, Belmear was responsible for the technical and administrative supervision of the U.S. Naval Swimming and Water Survival Program, which trains aircrew in survival techniques for an over-water ejection or bailout at sea. Belmear also supervised the Flight Divisions Educational Remedial Program and was assigned to the
Water Survival Crew, training pilots in the”Dunker System of Survival,”a simulated aircraft cockpit, immersed and inverted under water, from which pilots must learn to escape.
Following his service at NAS Pensacola, Belmear taught and coached at Dunbar High School and earned his MS degree in physical education from WVU . He later served as Education Service Officer with the United States Army Support Detachment, Department of Defense, in western Pennsylvania, received the Outstanding Performance Rating and Increase Award in 1966. For the many years following, Belmear continued his career in academic services setting at both the University of Pittsburgh as an instructor and the Community College of Allegheny County as Director of Admissions.
Belmear then spent 22 years at WVU , where he served as Advisor to African-American students, Assistant Dean of Admissions and Records for Recruitment and Retention, and Director of Foreign Student Admissions, receiving numerous awards including the Outstanding Person in History Award, the Distinguished West Virginian Award for Exceptional Accomplishments as an Educator, induction into the Hall of Fame of Student Affairs, and special recognition from the Presidents Visiting Committee on African American Affairs.
Belmear has since retired in Morgantown but remains active in both community and University events.
John C. Cannon
John C. Cannon is a retired Army Officer, Lt. Col., who, with his wife Norma, a retired Superior Court Judge, recently moved to Morgantown from Seattle, Wash. They came to be near their son, Carl, also a retired Army officer, and Carls wife, Dr. Mary Cannon, a physician at WVU Hospitals, Inc.
Col. Cannon enlisted in the Army in 1942 and remained in service until 1966. During this time, he was a member of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, the”Triple Nickles”the famed African American Infantry Parachute Battalion prior to racial integration of the U.S. Armed Forces. He served in the Korean War.
After military retirement, he served in numerous positions in Seattle, including Urban Renewal Director, Childrens Clinic Administrator, Ecumenical Metropolitan Ministry Director, and Senior Services Center Director. He is a graduate of San Francisco Theology Seminary, with a masters degree in education for Human Values.
Cannon is an avid fisherman and is delighted to be living in West Virginia, he said.
John Maceo Watson, Jr.
John Maceo Watson, Jr. was born Jan. 24, 1919 in Keystone, W. Va. He is the second oldest of eight childrenthree boys and five girls. After attending elementary and junior high school, Watson attended Kimball High for two years and then d graduated from Northfork Colored High School, where he played basketball and football.
His parents later moved to Bluefield, and Watson worked as a warehouse clerk and truck driver. He was drafted into the Army in May of 1942 and sent to the induction center in Fort Thomas, Kentucky and then on to Spence Field in Moultrie, Ga.
Mr. Watsons Army Air Corps unit was a small 16 th Aviation squadron. He was assigned the job of making beds in the flying officersbarracks and soon offered the opportunity to work on the flight line training to become an airplane mechanic. By early November, Watson was transferred to Tuskegee Army Air Field. After a short period, he was sent to Lincoln, Neb., where he attended airplane and engine school for 16 weeks. He graduated and returned to Tuskegee, where he worked as a crew chief and was detailed to the airplane inspection department. While at Tuskegee, Watson also played on the Tuskegee Warhawks baseball team.
Watson was discharged at Andrews Air Field in Washington, D.C. in December of 1945 and went on to graduate from McCarrie School of Mechanical Dentistry. He married and returned to West Virginia in hopes of finding work as a dental mechanic. He spent time in various positions and eventually at the Veterans Hospital in Beckley. Watson completed a course in steam engineering and served as president of the local union.
He is the father of five children and resides in Beckley.