| You are subscribed to Updates from the Veterans History Project (VHP) from the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress Veterans History Project remembers Lieutenant General Julius Becton. Born the son of a janitor from Pennsylvania, Julius Becton's career in the U.S. Army spanned multiple decades, conflicts, continents, and profound changes within the military itself. Commissioned as an officer in August 1945, he served with a racially segregated unit in Moratai and the Philippines. After World War II, he returned to civilian life, only to rejoin to the Army following the desegregation of the military. Departing for Korea in 1950, he led troops through many harrowing situations and was wounded twice himself. He received further training and additional promotions during the interwar period, and in 1967, he deployed to Vietnam, where he served as commander of a cavalry squadron of the 101st Airborne Division. Throughout his distinguished career--he reached the rank of Lieutenant General in 1978 and retired from the Army in 1983. As a civilian, he directed the US AID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In and out of uniform, he stayed true to his guiding philosophy of integrity above all. A proponent of the Veterans History Project, General Becton said, "by interviewing a veteran or war worker as part of the Veterans History Project, participants will honor those who served our nation during difficult and dangerous periods in our history." Hear his life story, in his own words, here and here.
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Updates from the Veterans History Project (VHP): In Memoriam: Lieutenant General Julius Wesley Becton, Jr.
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