Arthur Gregg, Army trailblazer and Fort Gregg-Adams namesake, dies at 96

At his retirement in 1981, the lieutenant general was the highest-ranking Black officer in the U.S. military. Fort Lee, Va., was renamed partly in his honor last year.


Arthur J. Gregg, center, became the first African American lieutenant general in Army history in 1977. (U.S. Army)

By Emily Langer
August 27, 2024 at 1:15 a.m. EDT

Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg, an Army logistics specialist who retired in 1981 as the highest-ranking Black officer in the U.S. military and last year saw a fort long named for the top Confederate general re-christened in his honor, died Aug. 22 at a hospital in Richmond. He was 96. … His daughter Alicia Collier confirmed his death but said she did not know the cause.

Gen. Gregg, who was one of two namesakes for the recently re-designated Fort Gregg-Adams in Virginia, grew up on a South Carolina farm without electricity or running water. He enlisted in the Army in 1946 and enrolled in Officer Candidate School in 1949, the year after President Harry S. Truman signed an executive order mandating the desegregation of the U.S. military.

Integration did not happen immediately, however. For his first assignment as an officer, Gen. Gregg was sent to what was then Camp Lee south of Richmond. He was not permitted to enter the officers’ club at the installation, whose name honored Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

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Gen. Gregg in an undated photo. (U.S. Army)

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Gen. Gregg in a ballroom at the Army installation long known as Fort Lee, later renamed Fort Gregg-Adams in his honor. (T. Anthony Bell/U.S. Army)

By Emily Langer
Emily Langer is a reporter on The Washington Post’s obituaries desk. She writes about extraordinary lives in national and international affairs, science and the arts, sports, culture, and beyond. She previously worked for the Outlook and Local Living sections.follow on X @emilylangerWP