Union Mourns Gen. Colin Powell, Former U.S. Secretary of State

TWU Local 100 joins millions of Americans in mourning the passing on Oct. 18, 2021 of Gen. Colin Powell, one of the most significant figures in American history in the past half century. 

 

Gen. Powell rode the subway and buses growing up in the South Bronx to immigrant parents from Jamaica.  He attended Morris High School and the City College of New York where he received a BS degree.  He earned an MBA from George Washington University in 1971.

 

He was the first African American to serve in three vital roles in the American military and diplomatic corps, including U.S. National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff and U.S. Secretary of State.

 

Gen. Powell served a combat tour with the U.S. Army in the Vietnam War in 1962-63, where he earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart.  He is widely credited as being the architect of the first Gulf War, where American and coalition forces swept the invading Iraqi Army from Kuwait in early 1991 in a matter of weeks with minimal U.S. casualties.

 

To find out more about the life of Colin Powell consider reading his excellent autobiography, My American Journey.