Boston Honors Its Black Veterans At Appreciation Brunch

DORCHESTER, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Servicemembers, relatives, and city leaders honored Boston's Black veterans during a brunch at Prince Hall Lodge in Dorchester Saturday.

Among the honorees was 97-year-old Brig. Gen. Enoch "Woody" Woodhouse II, who was presented with the inaugural Boston Veteran Legacy Award.

Woodhouse left Boston at the age of 17 to enlist in World War II and is one of the last living Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black military pilots in American history. He later graduated from Yale University and became a lawyer.

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"We're all blessed to be here, and I hope one day that we won't see Black veterans, we'll just see veterans," Woodhouse said in his speech.

Also honored at Saturday's event was the late Ralph Browne Jr., a Korean War veteran who served with the 272nd Field Artillery Battalion of the Massachusetts Army National Guard, the last all-Black military unit.

Browne served as President of the Dorchester Allied Neighborhood Association and as Chairman of the Veteran's Affairs Committee for the Boston branch of the NAACP. He died of congestive heart failure in 2012 at the age of 81.

"This is a great moment, so appreciated," said Browne's widow Wilma, who accepted a posthumous award on her husband's behalf. "If my husband was here this year, we would have been married 73 years."

After presenting Woodhouse with his legacy award, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu thanked the city's Black veterans for their contribution to Boston and their country.

"From Crispus Attucks to Prince Hall to Buffalo Soldiers to the Tuskegee Airmen, Boston is a place that Black servicemembers have always called home," Wu said. "We are so grateful for your service. We will never forget your sacrifice."

WBZ's Mike Macklin reports.

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