Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-7th), James Shannon, Commander of the Milton Lee Olive, III Post 1932, and others are holding a Memorial Day wreath-laying ceremony 8 a.m., Monday, May 25th, at the Olive Park, 500 No. Shore Drive to remember the teenage war hero whose files have been erased by the Trump administration.
Davis, Shannon and recently former Gov. Pat Quinn called on Trump to restore Olive’s military file to the Department of Defense (DOD) that he ordered removed because he believes his heroic actions were a result of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).
Olive,18, was the first African American to receive a Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.
Davis called the removal of Olive’s military file from federal websites, “insane” saying the teens actions had nothing to do with DEI. “This young man’s heroic actions deserve to be remembered,” he said.
Agreeing, Shannon added, “I ask President Trump to do the right thing. I want him to restore the history of one of the greatest military heroes to the DOD website and others who also made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Last year, former Gov. Pat Quinn, who had honored Olive while in office, said, “We are incredibly proud of Milton Olive,” Quinn said. “He deserves eternal gratitude for giving his life for our democracy. To erase his story is shameful and disgraceful.”
Born on November 7,1946, in Chicago, Olive, whose family called him “Skipper,” grew up in Englewood. He was a breech baby. His mother, Clara Olive, died a few hours later, and his father, Milton B. Olive, II, asked Strausberg’s grandparents, Jacob Augustus and Zelphia Wareagle Spencer, to raise him.
Years later when Mr. Olive remarried and Skipper moved with the newlyweds, he began to run away to his grandparents’ home in Lexington, MS where he ultimately joined the Mississippi Freedom Voter Rights campaign.
Fearing his son would be killed like Emmett Till in Money, MS nine years earlier, Mr. Olive gave his son three choices, get a job, go back to school, or join the military.
Skipper joined the Army in 1964 and was injured as a paratrooper, or Sky Soldier, and earned a Purple Heart.
Returning to the Army, on October 22, 1965, during a search-and-destroy mission in Vietnam, young Olive spotted a live grenade, grabbed the device, placed it on his stomach allowing it to explode saving the lives of four comrades just 16 days before his 19th birthday.
Of the four, only retired Captain Jimmy Stanford is alive. He lives in Texas and still wonders why Skipper saved his life.
On April 21, 1966, when President Lyndon B. Johnson dedicated Olive Park after young Olive, he said, “Words can never enlarge upon acts of heroism and duty, but this Nation will never forget Milton Lee Olive III.”
He said, “Those who have earned this decoration are very few in number…but true courage is very rare. This honor we reserve for the most courageous of all of our sons.”
President Johnson didn’t mention anything about removing military heroes whose actions reflect DEI.
When 18-year-old Olive placed that live grenade on his stomach allowing it to explode, he saved the lives of two African American and two white Army soldiers. Skipper was not raised to be a racist.
Chinta Strausberg
In pursuit of justice and peace
