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Episode 2668 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a look at the life and service of Vietnam Vet LTG Julius W. Becton Jr. shared by a fellow Vietnam Veteran who served with the General in the 1st Cav Division at Fort Hood, Texas. The General passed away on November 28, 2023. The vehicle from which the information shared in this episode was provided is his obituary. It appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer and was titled: Julius W. Becton Jr., pioneering Black lieutenant general and former head of FEMA, has died at 97. It was submitted by Gary Miles.
Miles reported this in the obituary, Julius W. Becton Jr., 97, formerly of Bryn Mawr, groundbreaking retired Army lieutenant general, first Black director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, past president of Prairie View A&M University, one-time chief executive officer of public schools in Washington, retired corporate executive, and author, died Tuesday, Nov. 28, of complications from dementia at the Fairfax retirement community in Fort Belvoir, Va.
Born and raised in Bryn Mawr, and a 1944 graduate of Lower Merion High School, Lt. Gen. Becton rose from his two-bedroom basement apartment at Morris and Montgomery Avenues to smash racial barriers in the Army, work alongside world leaders on global issues, and later influence higher education and the U.S. economy.
Services are to be at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 22, at Fort Belvoir Main Chapel, 5950 12th St., Suite 101, Fort Belvoir, Va. 22060.
Donations in his name may be made to the Prairie View A&M College of Nursing, 6436 Fannin St., Houston, Texas 77030.
Listen to Episode 2668 and discover more about the life and service of Vietnam Vet LTG Julius W. Becton Jr. from a fellow Vietnam Veteran who served with him in the 1st Cav Division at Fort Hood, Texas.