Maseo D. Campbell, the son of Maseo and Elizabeth Hicks Campbell, grew up with his brother and four sisters on Navahoe Street. After graduating from Northwestern High School, he served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, with posts in Long Ben and later Diel Tang, where he was assigned the task of transporting jet fuel from Phu Vinh to the Mekong Delta, surviving many attacks along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Campbell was discharged with honors August 1, 1969.
M. Sgt Harry M. Braxton, Sr. was assigned to the Quartermaster Corps in WWII and was a driver in the Red Ball Express. When army general George S. Patton made a rapid advance across France in 1944, he stretched his supply line to near collapse. Supply trucks rolled continuously, 20 hours a day, seven days a week for 82 days across France and into Germany, often facing attack from the ground and the air. Nearly 75% of Red Ball Drivers were African Americans. Later, Braxton worked with the Graves Registration and gave Holocaust victims the respect they deserved in death by providing them with a proper burial. Sgt. Braxton was proud to have served and expressed great admiration for General Patton.
Leonard Smith moved from Beltsville as a young man to Lakeland. He attended Maryland State College. Smith entered the U.S. Army in 1950. He is shown at a master gunner's course in Fort Bliss, Texas. He rose to the rank of staff sergeant during his time in the army. Upon returning Smith became a leader for the American Legion Post in Lakeland, and in 1972 became the first African American American Legion Commander for Prince George's County, where 16 of the 19 posts were predominantly white. As county commander, he led a membership of 7,000.
Sergeant Leroy W. Pitts, the son of Harold and Julia Pitts, was born in 1941 at Freedman’s Hospital in the District of Columbia. He grew up in Lakeland and was educated in Lakeland schools through junior high school. In 1964, he married Virginia Pumphrey. They had a daughter, and he helped raise two step-children. In 1966, Pitts was inducted into the United States Army and served in Vietnam.
M. Sgt. Harry M. Braxton, Sr. was assigned to the Quartermaster Corps in WWII and was a driver in the Red Ball Express. When army general George S. Patton made a rapid advance across France in 1944, he stretched his supply line to near collapse. Supply trucks rolled continuously, 20 hours a day, seven days a week for 82 days across France and into Germany, often facing attack from the ground and the air. Nearly 75% of Red Ball Express drivers were African Americans. Later, Braxton worked with the Graves Registration and gave Holocaust victims the respect they deserved in death by providing them with a proper burial. Sgt. Braxton was proud to have served and expressed great admiration for General Patton.