We salute the Army's first Black Ranger instructor who became a legendary neighborhood crime-fighter
It should come as no surprise that Master Sgt. Milton “Davey” Lockett Jr., the first Black Army Ranger instructor, also became a legend in the neighborhood in which he retired.
Lockett, born in Feb. 1935, joined the Army at 17 years old in 1952 according to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, serving for around a year in Korea and eventually finding himself at Fort Benning, Ga., where he signed up for Ranger School.
His son, Milton Lockett III, told the Ledger-Enquirer that his father “did so well in Ranger School they offered him a job to become a Ranger instructor.” That sealed his place in history — Lockett became the first Black U.S. Army Ranger instructor. He was later inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame in 2001, and is recognized in a “Diversity in Leadership” display at the National Infantry Museum in Columbus, Ga.
He was also a “Ranger Demonstrator,” according to the Ledger-Enquirer, performing with a team “that promoted the specialty to exhibiting its skills around the country.” During one such performance at the University of Alabama, which was segregated at the time, the white Rangers were “treated to a picnic” after the demonstration, while the Black Rangers “ate on the bus.”
Lockett deployed twice to Vietnam during his service, once in 1965 and again in 1966. He was wounded by shrapnel during his first deployment after he and another soldier were pinned down by enemy fire on their way back from a mission. According to the Ledger-Enquirer, the two “huddled behind a fallen tree.” The other soldier unpinned a grenade and attempted to throw it at the enemy — but it hit the branches of the tree and “bounced right back at them.” The two, understandably, immediately got up and ran through enemy fire.
https://taskandpurpose.com/culture/milton-lockett-army-ranger-instructor/
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