Friday was Veterans Day and one of the few holidays still celebrated primarily with parades and public programs. It is our time to honor those who have served and are serving in the military. They are all people who were are willing to sacrifice their lives so that the rest of us might be free.
My columns are columns about history, but to honor our veterans that history must reflect not only the past but also the present. When I began writing this, I thought about the conflicts in the Middle East where for so many years so many of our service men and women have been, and still are, in harms way.
While I have friends my own age who have served in the recent and current conflicts, what particularly struck me was thinking of the young people today who by their own choosing enlist to serve their country. Yesterday I was talking through email with one of my son’s good friends, Daniel Sundbeck.
Daniel and Bailey grew up together in West Point. Daniel ended up joining the Marines and saw the world probably in ways he had never imagined. I am honored that I also call Daniel my friend and wish him well this weekend after Veterans Day.
Corp. William Daniel Sundbeck of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, was a machine gunner in a Weapons Platoon. He served in the Marines from 2002-06. In 2004, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, the 1st Battalion was sent to Oruzban Province, Afghanistan, as the ground combat element of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit. Then in 2005, in Operation Iraqi Freedom, his battalion was in the middle of the fighting in Fallujah, Iraq. Daniel, thank you for your service.
A couple of weeks ago, I got a call to come down to the Billups-Garth archives at the library and meet an out of town African-American family who were here working on genealogy. Apparently their great-great-grandparents had been slaves on the plantation of my great-grandfather, T.C. Billups. I was going to help them access old plantation records to see what they could find. When I was introduced to them, and it was mentioned my mother was a Billups, I was greeted with a funny look and then a big smile.
Their father who had died a few years ago was named Rufus Billups. Not only that, he was Major General Rufus Billups, U.S. Air Force, and was one of the first, if not the first, African-American generals in the Air Force. Though Gen. Billups’ father was born in Lowndes County, he was born in Birmingham. He attended Tuskegee Instituted and was in the ROTC program there leading to his entering the Air Force upon graduation. Billups earned his wings in 1951.
He was assigned as Air Force liaison officer at the Army ports of Pusan and Inchon during the Korean War. During the Vietnam War, Gen. Billups served as director of aerial port operations, 2nd Aerial Port Group, Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam. In Vietnam, he flew 56 combat missions. After his tour ended there, he was transferred to the Headquarters U.S. European Command and then became director of transportation for Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
In 1973, he became commander of the 12th Air Base Group at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. He was promoted to general in 1974. When Gen. Billups retired in 1980, he was a major general and was director for logistics plans, programs and transportation in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics and Engineering, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D C. He died in 1996.
In an interesting side note, both the white and black Billups families have always has a strong interest in education and its importance. I hope my great-great-grandparents might have had a role in that. In the 1850s and 60s both sons and daughters were sent to college and within months of the Civil War ending in 1865, T.C. Billups opened a school on his plantation so that the newly freed slaves could receive a proper education. Gen. Billups recognized the importance of a good education and passed that value on to his family.
Another descendant of the Billups plantation also became a general. T.C. Billups’ great-grandson James Sykes Billups served in World War II and retired as a brigadier general in the U.S. Army.
Also on this weekend when veterans are remembered, I cannot help but think of my fraternity brother and close friend of over 40 years, retired Lt. Col. David McIntosh, USAF, who recently passed away.
We owe all of our veterans a debt of gratitude we can never repay. Their service should be recognized and honored every day of the year and not only on Veterans Day. To all who serve and all who have served THANK YOU!
Rufus Ward is a local historian. Email your questions about local history to him at [email protected].
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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