Arthur J. Gregg, first Black U.S. lieutenant general, dead at 96

Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg, the first African-American three-star general in the U.S. Army—and the first Black namesake for a U.S. military base—has died in Richmond, Virginia, at the age of 96. No cause of death was given.

His daughter, Alicia Gregg Collier, announced his passing, which occurred Aug. 22.

“The entire Fort Gregg-Adams family is deeply saddened by the loss of a great American,” said Maj. Gen. Michelle Donahue, the commanding general of the Fort Gregg-Adams, which was named in honor of Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams Earley in 2023.

“His dedication and leadership will never be forgotten. Our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”

Born in 1928, Gregg was raised in South Carolina and later attended high school in Virginia before joining the Army. He had originally planned to become a laboratory technician but was dissuaded by the racist conditions of the 1940s.

He enlisted in the military shortly after World War II in 1946, working through military segregation as he ran a clinic for Black soldiers on a base overseas. He graduated from Officer Candidate School in 1950 and was commissioned as a quartermaster.

Gregg returned to the United States in the 1960s to study for his undergraduate degree at Benedict College in Kansas, having converted to Catholicism as a teenager.

“I came to Benedictine College with the well-established history of working hard, doing my best, having respect for others, assisting others where I can and always showing proper respect,” Gregg told The Leaven last year.

“Benedictine College was a major part of my career and my story. It gave me a critical credential to be successful in my career and in my life, and I’m very grateful for that.”

Gregg transferred to Washington and Kansas before deploying in the Vietnam War, where he earned the Legion of Merit for his service as a battalion commander. Later working at the Pentagon, he progressed to the rank of lieutenant general in 1977, the first such African American in history. He retired from the military in 1981 as its highest-ranking Black officer.

In addition to his various service medals, Gregg became the namesake of an award bestowed by the Department of the Army beginning in 2016, when he was himself the first recipient.

The former Fort Lee in Virginia, the site of Gregg’s first commission and named for Confederate general Robert E. Lee, was renamed in his honor in 2023. This followed years of activism from retired Lt. Co. Troy Mosley and others to have such bases renamed, honoring as they did a number of racist figures allied with a treasonous cause against the United States. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III, Gregg’s fellow Black Catholic, authorized nine renamings in 2022.

A week before the official ceremony, Gregg attended the renaming of the fort’s Gregg-Adams Club, the same establishment where he was denied entry seven decades earlier due to his race, during his time on the base as a young officer.

“Gregg was a trailblazer,” Austin wrote on social media over the weekend. “His name lives on at the renamed Ft. Gregg-Adams in Virginia, a lasting reminder of his legacy, leadership, and his commitment to military service. May he rest in peace.”

At the time of the change, Gregg was the only living person in the modern era who had a military installation named in his honor. He and Adams Earley were also the first-ever African Americans to become the namesakes of a base.

Gregg was predeceased by his wife, Charlene, to whom he was married for 56 years, and their daughter Sandra. He is survived by his daughter Alicia, and a daughter, Margy Steinmetz of Germany, from another relationship.

"Our family is so very thankful for the outpouring of support after the death of my father,” Collier said in a statement on behalf of the family. 

“We are so proud of the incredible legacy he has impressed on the Army and for our nation. Those accomplishments mean a lot, but our hearts ache for the loss of a wonderfully kind and loving father, grandfather, and friend. The world is a better place because Dad was a part of it."

Funeral arrangements for Gregg have not been announced.

Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.

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