OPINION

The military service of Black Americans


Gorham Black III, a U.S. Army Col., retired, speaks during the POW/MIA Recognition ceremony at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park in Ocala on Sept. 15, 2023. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette file photo]

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Posted July 13, 2026 | By Gorham L. Black, III, Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.), Ocala

We Black Americans have served in every U.S. war, often fighting for freedoms we were too often denied. The plight of Black Americans serving in the United States Armed Forces has been defined by courage in the face of discrimination, segregation, unequal treatment and limited opportunity—yet all of us have repeatedly proven to be indispensable to the nation’s […]

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