Men of Honor: Honor our History & Heritage

Everyone Has a Story: 3 area African Americans earn Congressional Gold Medal

Posted: Saturday, August 4, 2012 6:44 pm

By MICHELLE BRUNETTI POST Staff Writer

Egbert Brady, Thomas Lane IV and Melvin Scott came from different states to Camp Montford Point in Jacksonville, N.C., during World War II. They were among the first African Americans to join the U.S. Marine Corps, but their training was separate from that of white recruits.

All three are now residents of South Jersey, and they recently traveled to Washington with about 370 other surviving Montford Point Marines to receive the Congressional Gold Medal — the nation’s highest civilian award — for their courage and perseverance.

“We were young men who had one thing in common. We all felt we could do almost anything, if given the chance,” said Lane, 87, of the Gouldtown section of Fairfield Township, who enlisted the day after he graduated from high school in Philadelphia in 1943.

They put up with substandard, segregated housing in all-black units led by white officers. And there was a lot of prejudice from white Marines.

Standing from left, Melvin Scott, 85, of Mays Landing; Thomas Lane IV, 87, of Fairfield Township; and in front Egbert Brady, 90, of Vineland, show the Congressional Gold Medals they received for being among the first African Americans to join the U.S. Marine Corps.

“We weren’t wanted,” said Scott, 85, of Mays Landing, who grew up in Washington and attended Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, the nation’s first high school for black students.

All had grown up with segregation. They wanted to be Marines because they considered it the toughest branch of the service.

“We had to prove we were capable of being there,” Scott said.

“It was kind of hard when I first went in,” said Brady, 90, of Vineland, a career Marine who fought in World War II and Korea, then became a C-130 transport pilot and went to Vietnam. “But I grew to like it. I stayed 29 years.”

Lane and Scott met at Montford Point. When Lane’s unit went overseas, Scott said to him, “See you later, buddy.”

And he did see him 13 years later, in Vineland. They had both gone to college, married and taken teaching jobs in South Jersey.

Both became school administrators. Scott was the supervisor of federal and compensatory programs for the Vineland School District for about 30 years. Lane retired as superintendent of Bridgeton public schools in 1993.

The Marines admitted their first black members in 1942, but units remained segregated until President Harry S. Truman issued an executive order in 1948 to stop the practice.

Y member’s 101 candles

The YMCA of Vineland held an informal 101st birthday party Friday for its oldest member, Ted Krause, whose been a member for 42 years.

Krause still swims about five days a week, a Y representative said.

Everyone Has a Story appears Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays.

Contact Michelle Brunetti Post:

609-272-7219

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/blogs/michelle_post/everyone-has-a-story-area-african-americans-earn-congressional-gold/article_d2f98b56-de85-11e1-a9c0-001a4bcf887a.html

Radio Interview. We Act Radio 1480AM, Washington, D.C.

BEMA Network Members & Non-Members (All):

Tune your car, home, set your PC's and smartphones for BEMA's Chief Executive Charles D. Sharp interview Wednesday, August 8, 2012 at 6pm on the We Act Radio (http://www.weactradio.com/archived/ )  station 1480AM  on the SPEAKeasy evening show for your commute home.

Charles

Charles D. Sharp

Chief Executive

Black Emergency Managers Association   

bEMA

"I Care...."

Ebola outbreak suspected among Uganda prisoners

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/02/health/uganda-ebola-virus/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

From David McKenzie, CNN

updated 4:54 PM EDT, Thu August 2, 2012

Kagadi, Uganda (CNN) -- The hospital at the center of an Ebola outbreak in Uganda is now dealing with 30 suspected cases, including five from Kibaale prison, Dr. Dan Kyamanywa said Thursday.

Three patients at Kagadi hospital have been confirmed as having the virus, said Kyamanywa, a district health officer.

Doctors are now testing the suspected cases urgently so they can separate confirmed cases from those who do not have the disease, Doctors Without Borders said.

Suspected cases are still trickling into the hospital, Kyamanywa said.

At least 16 people have died in the current outbreak.

The five prisoners have been showing Ebola-like symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea and fever, the doctor said.

"We do expect the number of suspected cases to increase," he said. "It's important to break transmission and reduce the number of contacts that suspected cases have."

There is a fear that the outbreak will spread to the capital, but it is unlikely, he said.

Many patients fled Kagadi hospital when Ebola was confirmed, he said, and the hospital is struggling to respond to all the call-outs to suspected cases.

Could the Ebola outbreak spread to the U.S.?

"Right now there is no treatment for Ebola, so the most effective measure we can take is to contain the spread of the disease," said Olimpia de la Rosa, the Doctors Without Borders emergency coordinator for Uganda Ebola intervention.

"That is why we need to start working immediately. Other cases need to be rapidly identified because containment is what can stop it," said the expert from the aid group, which is also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres.

The Ugandan government has asked people in western Uganda to travel by public transport only if it is necessary.

The outbreak began in the Kibaale district in western Uganda.

The deaths have stoked heightened fear about the spread of the virus, a highly infectious, often fatal agent spread through direct contact with bodily fluids. Symptoms can include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, a measles-like rash, red eyes and, at times, bleeding from body openings.

Market day was canceled Wednesday after Uganda's president warned people not to gather in large groups.

Health officials urged the public to report any suspected cases, to avoid contact with anyone infected and to wear gloves and masks while disinfecting bedding and clothing of infected people. Officials also advised avoiding public gatherings in the affected district.

Teams in Uganda are taking an aggressive approach, including trying to track down anyone who came into contact with patients infected with the virus and health workers have been gearing up for better protection of health workers and an influx of cases.

The workers include people from Uganda's ministry of health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.

The outbreak initially went undetected because patients did not show typical symptoms, Ugandan Health Minister Dr. Christine Ondoa told CNN on Sunday. Patients had fevers and were vomiting, but did not show other typical symptoms, such as hemorrhaging.

Diagnosis in an individual who has only recently been infected can be difficult since early symptoms, such as red eyes and skin rash, are seen more frequently in patients who have more common diseases, the CDC said.

Uganda's Ministry of Health declared the outbreak in Kibaale district Saturday after the Uganda Virus Research Institute identified the disease as the Sudan strain of Ebola hemorrhagic fever.

The Ebola virus was first detected in 1976 in the central African nation of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The virus is named after a river in that country. There are five strains of Ebola viruses, all named after the areas where they were found: Zaire, Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire, Bundibugyo and Reston, according to the WHO.

Ugandan officials, international experts tackle Ebola outbreak