TOLEDO, Ohio — Dennison Belcher is a military veteran who served in the United States Navy from February 1965 until April 1971. Belcher was one of the few African Americans in the military during his time.
“Out of the 80-something guys in our company, there were about eight to 10 people of color - Blacks, few Hispanics, few Puerto Ricans," said Belcher.
During boot camp, Belcher was given a test. Because of his knowledge and a high score on the exam, he earned a spot as a platoon leader, then another promotion to recruit petty officer.
“I was the head guy after our company commander. Now - being a man of color, there are only about eight or 10 of us in a company of about 80 - there were some guys that were in there that, let's just say, they didn’t particularly care for me telling them what to do," explained Belcher.
Although his service wasn’t always easy and he experienced discrimination during his time in boot camp, he says he quickly gained the respect of his men.
“Once other people know that you know your stuff, and by that is either through intelligence or you showed them on the job that you’re qualified, what that does is it makes them respect you and I know that’s what I got from my company when I was in boot camp and as a matter of fact, I was what they call the 'honor man'," added Belcher.
After years of service in USS Bainbridge - DLGN-25 as a nuclear engineer, Dennison Belcher was honorably discharged, receiving multiple awards.