THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602250096
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 28 lines
The First Baptist Church on Bute Street salutes African Americans in the military today at 4 p.m. as part of its Black History Month Celebration.
Those receiving special honors are Carl Brashear, the first black Navy diver; Clarence Ross, a World War II pilot; Charles Foxx Sr., a Tuskegee Airmen instructor; and Luther Benton, a Vietnam veteran.
Brashear's persistence paid off in the mid-1950s when he became the first black Navy diver. He later lost a leg in an accident aboard a salvage ship off Spain. Climbing rope ladders with heavy weights and scuba tanks, he persuaded the Navy to restore him to active duty and retired as a master diver.
Ross and Foxx are both being saluted as members of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, a select group of black pilots and trainers who were hailed as heroes during World War II. Both are from Norfolk.
Benton, a hospital corpsman in Vietnam, received a Bronze Star for continuing to fight even though seriously wounded. He became a minister at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Norfolk. by CNB