Two Booker T. Washington High School alumni will be inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Ellis Walker Woods Memorial on the Oklahoma State University-Tulsa campus at 4 p.m. on Nov. 11, 2021. The ceremony will follow an OSU-Tulsa Veterans Day Recognition event presented by the campus.
Brigadier General Roscoe C. Cartwright and Specialist Fourth Class Joe Thomas will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in the ceremony.
The OKMHF is a non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to honoring individual Oklahoma military personnel or organizations who have demonstrated heroic gallantry in action, uncommon valor, sacrifice above and beyond the call of duty, or extraordinary leadership. Since its founding in 1998, only 212 individuals and eight groups have been selected for induction.
Thomas was a combat medic for the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. He was killed in action in Vietnam in September 1967 while saving members of his platoon during an attack. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second highest honor for combat valor. He is Tulsa’s most highly decorated soldier since World War II. Thomas graduated from BTW High School in 1965.
Cartwright was the second African American officer to be promoted to Brigadier General in the integrated U.S. Army. His pioneering 33-year career included war time service in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. His leadership legacy is the ROCKS Foundation, a service wide officer mentoring group named for him in 1974. He graduated from BTW High School in 1936.
To learn more about the induction ceremony, contact Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame ambassador Mike Lapolla at lapolla@swbell.net or 918-693-8608.