Dayton trailblazer becomes one of two new namesakes for Army base

Lt. Col. Charity Adams was the first Black officer in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps — later known as the Women’s Army Corps or “WAC” — in World War II and led the first predominately Black WAC unit to serve overseas, in what the Army called “the storied 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.”

She served in Europe until late 1945, according to the National Museum of the U.S. Army.

For her work in Europe with the 6668th, Earley was promoted to lieutenant colonel, the highest possible rank for a soldier in the WAC, the museum said. After the war, she worked at the Pentagon for a short time before requesting a discharge in 1946.

“After her service, she returned to the Ohio State University and completed her master’s degree in vocational psychology,” according to the museum’s biography. “She married Stanley A. Earley, Jr. in 1949 and they settled down in Dayton, where they raised two children. She devoted the rest of her life to education and activism, serving as a dean at Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College (now Tennessee State University), Georgia State University, and on many community business and organization boards. Additionally, in 1982, she founded the Black Leadership Development Program that focused on teaching young African Americans to be leaders in their communities.”

She graduated from Wilberforce University in Greene County and was a member of the Sinclair Community College board of trustees from 1977-92 and vice chairwoman of the board from 1985 to ‘92. Earley also served on the boards of the American Red Cross and the Dayton Metropolitan Housing Authority.

One of the Dayton Public Schools elementaries is named after Earley.

She died in 2002 in Dayton.

Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg rose from private to three-star general during his military logistics career, which began just after the Second World War and spanned nearly 36 years.

Gregg, now 94, is the only living person in modern Army history to have an installation named after him, the Army noted.

“We are deeply honored to have Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams as the new namesakes for our installation,” said Maj. Gen. Mark Simerly, commanding general of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command and senior commander of Fort Lee.