SOUTH FINALLY OPENS ITS HEART TO A CHICAGO HERO
Who was Milton Lee Olive? And why is a Chicago park on a man- made peninsula just north of Navy Pier near the Water Filtration Plant named after him?
Well, when Olive died a hero’s death in 1965, it was Chicago that claimed him and memorialized him with a city park as the nation’s first African- American to be awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.
But although Olive was born here, he wasn’t raised here.
He was raised in the highly segregated South.
In Lexington, Mississippi, where Olive was raised in the heart of the Confederacy by his grandparents, his death was practically treated as a rumor, honored by a lonely concrete plaque hammered in the ground in the poorest county in the state.
“I hate to think about it, but the devil had us by the throats in those years, and nothing was done to acknowledge Milton’s extraordinary heroism,” said prominent Lexington attorney Don Barrett, referring to the bitterness of the Civil Rights Movement.
So 50 years went by until last Memorial Day, when Barrett’s granddaughter, Aden, who was 11 at the time, asked her granddad “Poppy” a question. He claims it sparked his conscience.
“I had taken my three granddaughters to a Confederate monument to try and explain Memorial Day, and I tried to explain to them the meaning of giving their lives for a greater cause,” he said.
“But, truthfully, there was a little twinge in my conscience because I knew I needed to take them to another place to help learn that lesson.
“So we drove south of Lexington out on top of Miles Hill and I showed them this little memorial to Milton Lee Olive, which was planted in the ground.
“It doesn’t take much to describe heroism when a man dives on a hand grenade, which he knows is going to kill him so he can save his buddies; two happened to be white and two were black.
“He was killed when he was 18 years old in a hot firefight near Phu Cuong on October 22, 1965. Milton is the only man ever awarded the Medal of Honor from Holmes County, the poorest county in the poorest state, in its 200 year history,” said Barrett in his thickly, wonderful southern accent.
“It was then my granddaughter asked me: “Why is there no monument to Milton Olive in Lexington?”
“I said it was in Chicago because that’s where his father lived. But his father didn’t raise him. His mother had died in childbirth. His grandparents who lived here raised him. He learned his values here.”
Aden’s response “shamed me,” Barrett said. “She wanted to know why he didn’t have a monument on the square in Lexington? I had a hard time sleeping that night.
“So that spark of conscience resulted in me talking to some people; the idea quickly spread to do something about a monument to Milton, and the money was miraculously raised.”
On Thursday, a bronze bas relief of Olive was raised in a new location: a prominent space among other Lexington war heroes. The memorial also includes the exact Medal of Honor citation and the words: “Erected by the United black and white citizens of Holmes County on July 4, 2017.”
“In a nation riven by hate and division, the people of Holmes County have found unity and love in the selfless act of Milton Lee Olive,” Barrett said.
“Maybe it’s time our nation’s leaders stop a minute and think.”
This just in . . .
Pssst! Buddies of Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar, a major President Donald Trump supporter who won a close race, gathered recently at Ocean Cut to toast his “landslide” re- election victory.
◆ To wit: Ald. Edward Burke ( 14th) presented Claar with a Chicago City Council Resolution congratulating him on his service and election “victory.” Others in the bipartisan crowd included DuPage County Board Chair Dan Cronin, Tom Lanctot, and Jim Kiley.
Claar’s chaser was a nightcap with former Gov. George Ryan.
Sneedlings . . .
I spy: Former DePaul Blue Demon star and retired Dallas Mavericks player Mark Aguirre, spotted at Gibsons on Rush Monday. . . . Saturday’s birthdays: Missy Elliot, 46; Liv Tyler, 40; and Pamela Anderson, 50. . . . Sunday’s birthdays: Margot Robbie, 27; Larry David, 70; and Jose Canseco, 53.