Remembering my cousin, an 18-year-old Englewood War Hero

Tune into today, Friday, November 11, 2011, at 5 p.m. to hear from the war hero’s family on WVON’s Cliff Kelley show (1690 AM) or click on: www.wvon.com.

 

 By Chinta Strausberg

 

It will be 46-years since my cousin, Army Pfc. Milton Lee Olive III, spotted a live grenade during a search-and-destroy mission in Vietnam, placed the device on his stomach and allowed it to explode saving the lives of four comrades. Forthat act of bravery, he became the first African American to have received the Congressional Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.

On October 22, 1965, Skipper, as we called him, was just 16-days shy of his 19^th birthday when he decided to save the lives of his comrades, Jimmy B. Stanford, Sgt. Vince Yrineo, John Foster and Lionell Hubbard.  The latter two, both African American, have since died and Yrineo is in a nursing home in Washington State.

But, because of Skipper’s heroic act, all four men have grandchildren today. Stanford told me he used to be a racist until Skipper saved his life. We talk often. He is a changed man who has begun to wonder why did God spare his life on that dreadful day.

Skipper was the only child of Milton B. Olive II, who was related to my paternal grandmother, Zelphia Wareagle Spencer. She and her husband, Jacob Augustus Spencer, who lived in Englewood, raised young Olive from the time he was born. Skipper’s mother, Clara Lee Olive, died giving birth to Skipper who was a breech baby.

Skipper was a privileged child, and his father spoiled him terribly buying his suits and cameras. A professional photographer himself, he taught his son the art of photography at a very young age.

My grandparents sent Skipper to the Fuller Grammar School here in Chicago then to the Copernicus Grammar School not far from where he lived at 6012 S. Loomis in a home his father bought and where my grandparents lived.

He later went to Beale Grammar School and the St. Raphael Grammar School and for the next three-years, he attended the Saints Junior College High School. Skipper was bored and dropped out of high school.

A widower, his father married Chicago Public School teacher Antoinette Mainor. Skipper was not being challenged in school and ran away to Lexington, MS, where his paternal grandparents lived. However, Skipper’s grandmother blew the whistle on him and called his dad. Skipper had joined a Mississippi voter registration campaign, and she feared he would be killed.

She had good cause to be worried because it was on August 28, 1955 that Emmett Till was killed by white men who shot him and mutilated his body to the point it was barely recognizable. Why? They claimed he whistled at the wife of one of the men. Emmett, a Chicagoan, was only 14 and was visiting his relatives in Money, MS.

Fearing that the KKK would kill his son, his father called Skipper and gave him three choices: go back to school, get a job or join the military.

At the age of 17, Skipper enlisted in the regular Army on August 17, 1964. He was a paratrooper and after being injured was awarded a Purple Heart for an act of bravery. When an injured Skipper came back home, he told his father he had to go back and “finish my job.” Skipper was in love with America. When he came home, he would sit on the couch watching TV in his uniform. Other soldiers would go out to a bar but not Skipper. He stayed by my grandmother’s side eating her homemade cookies and watching TV in full uniform.

From August 1964 to October 1964, Skipper was in basic combat training at the U.S. Army Training Center in Fort Knox, KY.

From October 1965 to January 1965, he was in the U.S. Army Artillery and Missile School, at Ft. Sill, OK. From February 1965 to March of 1965, he was in the U.S. Army Training Center, Fort Polk, LA and from April 1965 to May 1965 he was in the U.S. Army Infantry School in Ft. Benning, GA. His last assignment was from May 1965 to October 22, 1965 where he was in the 173^rd Airborne Brigade in Vietnam.

On April 21, 1966, President Lyndon Johnson posthumously presented Skipper’s father with the Congressional Medal of Honor. Skipper was the first black to have received this Medal during the Vietnam War. It is the highest honor this nation can bestow on a soldier and according to government officials, it was the third Medal of Honor awarded during the Vietnam conflict.

On June 19, 1966 in Chicago, the late Mayor Richard J. Daley, Stanley R. Resor, Secretary of the Army, Skippers parents and other relatives, dedicated Olive Park, 500 North Lake Shore Drive, in honor of Skipper’s heroic act.

A prominent South Side Church of God in Christ minister was instrumental in convincing the late Mayor Richard J. Daley to name both Olive/Harvey College and Olive Park after Skipper.

Elder Kevin Anthony Ford’s grandfather, the late Bishop Henry Louis Ford, founder of St. Paul Church of God in Christ, 4526 So. Wabash Ave., currently headed by his father, Bishop Charles Mason Ford, was present at the 1966 dedication of Olive Park named in honor of Milton Lee Olive III.

Elder Ford, who also heads the Church’s Community Development Ministries, Inc., shared with me his vivid recollections of that dedication.

“Olive Park was the first phase,” said Elder Ford. “I remember that my grandfather, in conjunction of other leaders and Mayor Richard J. Daley, named the park after Pfc. Olive. I remember that vividly.

“I remember he was noted for his heroic action in saving the other men in his squad by diving on that hand grenade and stopping them from their death. That was considered very heroic, and he became a war hero and someone to be admired for his valor and his selflessness,” Elder Ford said. His grandfather was also key in getting Mayor Daley to name Olive/Harvey College after Skipper as well.

On October 22^, 2011, it will be 46 years since Skipper’s death, and on November 7^th, Skipper would have turned 65-years old.

The last time I spoke to Skipper’s dad, I simply call Uncle Milton, was in February of 1993.  I was at my Cousin Charlie’s auto parts store. He repeatedly asked me to never let the world forget what his son, his only child, did for this country. Over the years since Skipper’s death he had asked me the same thing, but this time it turned out to be a deathbed wish.

Uncle Milton died in March of 1993 while I was on covering an international crime summit in Jamaica sponsored by Rev. Harold E. Bailey.

I’d like to thank those who lifted up the memory of Skipper especially: President Lyndon Johnson, Mayor Daley, his son, former Mayor Richard M. Daley, then Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, Ald. James Balcer (11^th), ex-veteran Rochelle Crump, the late Lawrence Pucci, Tom LaPorte from Chicago’s Water Filtration Plant that sits next to Olive Park, and Rev. Dr. Lewis Flowers for naming a post after Skipper.

During my last talk with Uncle Milton he told me: “I just want people to remember the deeds of Skipper and the other sons of the nation lest they not die in vain.” And on November 7^th, Skipper would have celebrated his 65^th birthday. Happy belated birthday, Skipper.

To my Uncle Milton, I say to you with the deepest of respect I shall honor your deathbed wish and keep Skipper’s name lifted up to the heavens for as long as I live. Thank you for the many, many hours you shared with me about your son especially during our family reunions in Union Pier and on the phone. Those were precious moment I will never forget.

And, lastly, to Capt. Stanford thank you for sharing your feelings about that fateful day including how before Skipper’s act of heroism you were a racist but now judge people by their hearts and not by the color of their skin. You see, America, the blood Skipper spilled in Vietnam is still healing today.

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.