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9th Cavalry Regiment
Buffalo Soldier
While serving as the president of the club he founded, Lawrence Johnson aka “Law Dog” took leave of absence in the state of Hawaii and rode solo in the Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition parade in Honolulu on his motorcycle which he took with him to the Aloha State. He rode in the parade on January 20th, 2003 to coincide with his club’s annual MLK parade ride in downtown Augusta, Georgia which he did not attend personally on January 18th, 2003. He was met in Kapiolani Park after the parade by Dr. Alonzo Demello, Ph.D, an African-American certified hypnosis consultant, hypnotherapist, and 35 year resident of the island. Following an afternoon of conversation, Dr. Demello introduced the President to Dr. William H. Waddell who is a Living Buffalo Soldier and legend at 94 years of age. A photo opportunity was granted and the above image captured of Dr. Waddell with Law Dog.
Buffalo Soldier, veterinarian, entrepreneur, leader, husband, father, researcher, student, and resident of Kaa’awa on the eastern shore of Oahu, Hawaii, Dr. Waddell is the oldest living buffalo soldier---a member of an all-black military unit until President Harry S Truman integrated the armed forces in 1948.
Dr. Waddell was born in 1908, the son of a Virginia horse driver. He says he always enjoyed working with horses and mules and bonded with them easily. His father had a horse named Charlie which he used to deliver shoes. As a teenager, Dr. Waddell spent summers working as a porch boy, arranging chairs and picking up lost items at the Homestead Hotel in Hot Springs, Virginia. He met many famous people during his employment including Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Mrs. A.M. Bonds who smoothed the way for his admission to the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. He says “I was the only black member of the veterinary class, but I held my own and graduated.” In 1935, Dr. Waddell became one of the first black veterinarians to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School and he was also the first black man to pass the state board in veterinary medicine in Pennsylvania. Dr. Waddell collaborated with George Washington Carver, the famed botanist from September 1935 to Carver’s death in 1943. Together, they researched the medical uses of peanut oil. Dr. Waddell also worked in private practice until World War II. He had the opportunity to meet Roosevelt again when he accompanied George Washington Carver to the future president’s Georgia retreat where they massaged Roosevelt with peanut oil to help relieve the discomfort of the man’s paralysis. In 1938, Dr. Waddell co-founded the school of Veterinary Medicine at Tuskegee, Alabama. The school opened in 1945. He watched the first class graduate in 1949.
As a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s 9th Cavalry, 5th Brigade during World War II, he served in Africa and Italy in 1943 and 1944 and oversaw the care of 10,000 horses as well as many mules. In 1944, Dr. Waddell’s brigade was carrying food and supplies to troops in North Africa when German forces shot his mule. The impact knocked Dr. Waddell off his mount and the enemy shot at him as he was tending to his injured mule. Dr. Waddell suffered a wound to his neck and spent 90 days in a field hospital in North Africa before returning to active duty with his troops.
Dr. Waddell’s wife, Lottie Young Waddell died in 1989. Today, he lives with his daughter, Dr. Kathryn Waddell Takara and accepts invitations to give talks on his adventures.
Not shown in the photo, but within three paces of us is Dr. Waddell's aide-de-camp, an Active Duty Army Sergeant in dress uniform assigned to the Buffalo Soldier by the United States Army.
Who are the Buffalo Soldiers? African Americans have fought in military conflicts since colonial days. However, the Buffalo Soldiers, comprised of former slaves, freemen and Black Civil War soldiers, were the first to serve during peacetime. Once the Westward movement had begun, prominent among those blazing treacherous trails of the Wild West were the Buffalo Soldiers of the U.S. Army. These African Americans were charged with and responsible for escorting settlers, cattle herds, and railroad crews. The 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments also conducted campaigns against American Indian tribes on a western frontier that extended from Montana in the Northwest to Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in the Southwest. Throughout the era of the Indian Wars, approximately twenty percent of the U.S. Cavalry troopers were Black, and they fought over 177 engagements. The combat prowess, bravery, tenaciousness, and looks on the battlefield, inspired the Indians to call them "Buffalo Soldiers." Many Indians believe the name symbolized the Native American's respect for the Buffalo Soldiers' bravery and valor. Buffalo Soldiers, down through the years, have worn the name with pride.