A quest for honor where it's long overdue
First Sgt. Augustus Walley was not one to talk about his heroism. Nor was the United States government.
That's why Houston D. Wedlock is determined to recognize him with a street named in his honor in Baltimore County.
Mr. Wedlock, 58, discovered Sergeant Walley while poring over histories of the Buffalo Soldiers, African-Americans who served in segregated military units during every American conflict from the Indian wars to the Korean War.
"When you look at the defense of the nation, so many great role models have passed on," says Mr. Wedlock, a safety manager for Preston Trucking Co. "[In the media], you never see a black cavalry coming to the rescue."
Sergeant Walley was born into slavery in Reisterstown in 1856. At 22, he joined the 9th U.S. Cavalry and went West to keep the peace between settlers and Indians.
"It was an opportunity to prove . . . he could be a good person," says Mr. Wedlock, a Columbia resident and Vietnam veteran with two Bronze Stars.
In 1881, Sergeant Walley was awarded the Medal of Honor in New Mexico. He later served in the Spanish-American War and in the Philippines. He died in Baltimore in 1938.
But aside from a plaque in the local public library and a recent Medal of Honor headstone placed on his Reisterstown grave, there is little evidence of his deeds.
That's why Mr. Wedlock and other members of the Buffalo Soldiers Association of Baltimore are working with Baltimore County officials and civic groups to publicly honor Sergeant Walley.
It is not just a matter of giving African-Americans their due, says Mr. Wedlock, who portrays Sergeant Walley before school and veteran groups. "I want to show that everyone had a hand in building this great nation." When Westinghouse sold its Defense Electronics Systems Co. in 1989, Clarence Calhoun, Lynn Vandegriff and Harold Waddles were out of a job. The three technical writers formed their own company, Swamp Fox Communications, and started churning out technical manuals.
TTC But their real love was aviation. Last year they decided to abandon ponderous government manuals and produce a video about airplanes.
The result, "Tales from the Cockpit," is a 42-minute video aimed at children ages 4 to 12. Featuring contemporary music, humorous characters and plenty of somersaults and nose dives, it covers the history of aviation and what makes an airplane fly.
"People want to be entertained. The video entertains as well as educates," said Mr. Calhoun, the company's founder and a pilot since 1965.
Ms. Vandegriff, a pilot since 1988, added, "Aviation is not taught in school, and we saw a niche that we could fill."
Mr. Calhoun was the coordinator for the project. Mr. Waddles, the only nonpilot, wrote the script. Ms. Vandegriff did most of the filming and helped with coordinating and producing. Together, they traveled through five states in six months to collect information and to film two air shows. "A lot of people were involved in this project. And a lot of people in the aviation industry believed in what we are trying to do," said Ms. Vandegriff.
To order the video or for more information, write: Swamp Fox Communications Inc. 9891 Broken Land Parkway, Suite 300, Columbia, Md. 21046 or call (800) KIDVID-1. The video costs $19.95, plus $3.95 for shipping and handling.
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Laura Barnhardt