Courtesy Photo | The Rev. Lisle Davis reads a passage while visiting with a patient on Feb. 17 in El...... read more read more
FORT BLISS, Texas - The Rev. Lisle H. Davis tells how his time as a Soldier at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the 1950s shaped him into the man he is today.
The Rev. Lisle H. Davis, the pastoral care chaplain of the Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in El Paso, sat at a bench in the shaded courtyard of William Beaumont Medical Center. Davis, the first black guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, is also a three-time cancer survivor. Living as a black man in the 1950s and surviving cancer three times, Davis recalled how his past trials and tribulations have shaped him into the man he is today. The Rev. Davis, stationed at Fort Myer, Va., after recovering from a service-related injury, was placed on limited-duty as a liaison for the Honor Guard, and supported the funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery.
“My primary duties included doing clerical work and also to assist the master sergeant in my unit,” Davis said. “I was made a corporal even though I was a private, and assisted in terms of organizing and getting troops together. I was pretty much a liaison between the troops and the master sergeant, and I also assisted those of the grieving family.”
Davis enlisted into the U.S. Army from New York City, and went south, to Fort Benning, Ga., where he did his basic training. This was where Davis said he felt the troops there were not confortable with him being a “foreigner.”
“The fact that I was chosen to be a corporal, I became, as we say in spanish, ‘persona non grata’, which meant someone who wasn’t welcome,” Davis explained. “They felt threatened by a new guy coming from New York, and it became a problem for me.”
Davis said, he believed that experiencing difficult times in the 1950s was a stepping-stone toward fulfilling his life, in and outside of the Army.
The Rev. Davis said he did not feel he was part of the group who walked the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but he felt obligated to adjust to any situation and fulfill his responsibilities and duties to the military.
“Perhaps, the Lord chose me to go through those unpleasant experiences to be able to cope with others that were going through the same thing,” said Davis.
| Date Taken: | 03.01.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 03.13.2012 18:42 |
| Story ID: | 85198 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 218 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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