Dr. Norman C. Francis has dedicated his life to public service, civil rights advocacy, and the advancement of higher education. Francis served in the 3rd Armored Division in Germany in the late 1950s.

As the former head of Xavier University of Louisiana, America’s only historically Black and Catholic university, and the longest-seated president of any university in the United States, Francis has broadened opportunities for current and future generations of Americans. During his 46-year tenure, Xavier University of Louisiana awarded more doctoral pharmacy degrees to African Americans and sent more African American graduates to medical school than any other university in the nation. Beyond his work in higher education, Francis’s commitment to civic engagement and leadership has made New Orleans a more vibrant and resilient community. Among his many contributions to the city, he helped form Liberty Bank of New Orleans, one of the largest Black-owned banks in the country, and he served as Chair of the Louisiana Recovery Authority following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Francis has received numerous honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush, the nation’s highest civilian award for distinguished Americans, and he has served in an advisory role to eight presidential administrations. A veteran of the US Army, Francis embodies a life of service to country, community, and the pursuit of higher education. Through his work and example, he has inspired an entire generation of changemakers.

Karen Guenther is Founder, President, and CEO of Semper Fi & America’s Fund, a nonprofit organization supporting the men and women of the US Armed Forces, veterans, and military families. As a registered nurse at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, Guenther witnessed waves of injured servicemembers from Iraq and Afghanistan arriving with significant financial, emotional, and physical needs that loved ones were often unprepared to manage on their own. Inspired to help those who had sacrificed so much for our country, Guenther joined with other military spouses to found Semper Fi & America’s Fund to meet the needs in their community. From these humble beginnings in 2003, Guenther has grown Semper Fi & America’s Fund to a worldwide charitable organization that has distributed more than $260 million in grants to 27,000 servicemembers, veterans, and their military families.

Among her many honors, Guenther was appointed an Honorary Marine by the 35th Commandant of the Marine Corps. Her trailblazing accomplishments are the epitome of the spirit of innovation and resourcefulness born out of World War II, and her commitment to volunteerism, philanthropy, and civic engagement reflects that same can-do attitude and sense of purpose embraced by all Americans during the war years. Guenther’s ongoing service to our nation’s armed forces and veterans truly exemplifies what it means to lead with the American Spirit.

Born in 1944 in Marks, Mississippi, Frederick W. Smith, Yale College 1966, is the founder, executive chairman, and CEO of FedEx Corporation. The original analyses about the logistic needs of a highly automated future society were done during his tenure as an undergraduate.

After four years of service in the Marines, he launched the original air-ground Federal Express network, which began operations in 1973 to serve the rapidly growing high-tech, high-value-added sectors of the economy Smith had predicted. The company has since grown into a global enterprise that serves more than 220 countries and territories.

Smith has received several honorary degrees and civic, academic, and business awards. He is a member of the Aviation Hall of Fame and the Business Hall of Fame and served as co-chairman of the US World War II Memorial project and the campaign for the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Smith is a trustee for the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a member of the Business Council and Business Roundtable. He served as chairman of the US-China Business Council and co-chair of the French-American Business Council. Smith has served on the boards of Malone and Hyde (AutoZone), First Tennessee, Holiday Inn, EW Scripps, General Mills, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and the Mayo Foundation. He was formerly chairman of the Board of Governors for the International Air Transport Association and chaired the executive committee of the US Air Transport Association.

Image Credit: Michael Ruka, Winona State University - Navajo Oral History Project

Born on a Navajo reservation near Lukachukai, Arizona, John Kinsel Sr. joined the Marine Corps at 21. He was assigned to the 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division and saw combat in Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima, where he was wounded. Following the war, he returned home to his community and worked as an instructional aide at a school. A tough and driven man, he also built a log cabin home for himself and his family, which he continues to live in.

Image credit: Peter MacDonald

Born in Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, Peter MacDonald enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 15. After training alongside other Code Talkers at Camp Pendleton, he was assigned to the 6th Marine Division and served in the South Pacific and North China. He was honorably discharged with the rank of Corporal and returned home to graduate high school before pursuing his dream of obtaining a college education. This led to a highly successful career in engineering and business as well as numerous prominent distinctions for his professional and civic work. Among these, MacDonald served as the Chairman of the Navajo Nation and was re-elected to the office four times—unprecedented in Navajo history. He continues to lecture across the country and serves as President of the Navajo Code Talkers Association.

Photo courtesy Johnson County Community College

Born in Nageezi, New Mexico, Samuel Sandoval enlisted in the Marine Corps when he was 21, along with his brother who also became a Code Talker. Having attended a Methodist school for much of his life, he had been discouraged from speaking his native Navajo language; however, the language soon became critical to the Allied war effort. Sandoval served in the South Pacific, seeing combat in the campaigns on Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Guam, Peleliu, and Okinawa. Receiving a message from another Code Talker that the Japanese forces surrendered on August 14, 1945, was the most memorable moment of his service. Sandoval’s life story and role as a Code Talker are portrayed in the 2012 documentary Naz Bah Ei Bijei: The Heart of a Warrior.

Dr. Carol Rittner has dedicated her life to scholarship, activism, and her Christian faith. As the Distinguished Emerita Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the Dr. Marsha Raticoff Grossman Professor of Holocaust Studies at Stockton University, Rittner’s research, teaching, and filmmaking about the Holocaust continue to advance a deeper understanding of the origins and response to this history. In addition to her scholarship, Rittner is a Catholic nun of more than six decades with the Religious Sisters of Mercy and thus brings a distinct perspective to Holocaust studies by examining the participation of Christians in the Holocaust and other genocides of the 20th century.

Among her many distinctions, Rittner is an Academy Award–nominated filmmaker, internationally renowned lecturer, and liaison to the United Nations who is active in numerous organizations working to prevent genocide. Rittner’s commitment to serving others and creating a better world reflects that same spirit that inspired an entire generation of Americans to dedicate themselves to the cause of Allied victory.

Dr. Charles Teamer is a veteran and a distinguished business, civic, and education leader who has served the New Orleans community for more than 50 years. In addition to his many awards, recognitions, and honors, Teamer served as an exhibit advisor for The National WWII Museum’s special traveling exhibit, Fighting for the Right to Fight: African American Experiences in World War II, which has shared this important aspect of our wartime history with a national audience. Teamer’s dedication to strengthening his community through civic engagement, volunteerism, and education reflects these same values that helped the WWII generation secure victory.

His exemplary record of public service is demonstrated through his chairmanship of various organizations, including the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Greater New Orleans, Greater New Orleans Foundation, the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans, The World Trade Center, and The Urban League New Orleans. He has been a board member for the Audubon Institute, Audubon Commission, Ochsner Medical Foundation, and Greater New Orleans, Inc., among others. He is the Co-Founder and former Chairman of Dryades Savings Bank, Board Member for First National Bank of Commerce, and most recently, a consultant for Hancock Whitney Bank.

Teamer is well known for work in higher education, ending a 40-year career at Dillard University. He was Vice President of Fiscal Affairs at both Dillard and Clark Atlanta University, his alma mater. Teamer consulted and advised the US Department of Education and served as a member of the Louisiana Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and Tulane University. He is a lifetime member of the NAACP and Past President of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and former International President of Grand Sire Archon of Sigma Pi Phi, Inc., the two oldest fraternities for Black males.

He was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, by Clark Atlanta University.

Image credit: Jeff Rease

Bradford “Brad” Freeman is the last surviving member of the now-famous “Band of Brothers” of Company E, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. After enlisting at 18 years old, Freeman volunteered to be a paratrooper and became a mortarman for Easy Company while the unit was stationed in Aldbourne, England. Freeman jumped in the D-Day Normandy invasion, fought in Operation Market-Garden, and then was a part of the defense of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, where he was wounded. He was able to rejoin his unit and participated in the occupations of Berchtesgaden and Austria.

Freeman returned home after the war, entered college using the GI Bill, and worked in the postal service for 30 years. He played an influential role in the making of the HBO series Band of Brothers, based on the book by Dr. Stephen E. Ambrose, founder of The National WWII Museum. Freeman has also participated in the Museum’s Educational Travel Program, providing a firsthand account of his wartime experiences so that future generations will understand the sacrifice and commitment needed to triumph in the war that changed the world.

Romay Davis, age 102, is the oldest of six surviving members of the US Army 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. The 6888th was the only all-Black Women Army Corps (WAC) unit deployed overseas during World War II. Following her five brothers, she enlisted in the Army in 1943, and after her discharge from military service, Davis had a successful 30-year career in fashion design, modeling, and real estate. Her commitment to hard work and a purpose-filled life led her to re-enter the workforce at the age of 80 at her local Winn-Dixie store, where she worked until the age of 101. She obtained her black belt in karate in her mid-70s.

Davis served in the trailblazing battalion of 855 women who faced a momentous and critical task to clear more than two years’ worth of backlogged mail in England and France. The 6888th’s mission began February 1945 in Birmingham, England, where they sorted nearly 18 million pieces of mail. The Army gave them six months, and they did it in only three months. They first removed duplicates from the seven million names in the Postal Directory. Working around the clock in three eight-hour shifts, they “broke all records,” according to Lt. Col. Anna W. Wilson, ETO WAC Staff Director. Davis and her 6888th Battalion colleagues sorted, repackaged, and redirected an average of 5.85 million pieces of correspondence per month. In comparison, another unit processed only 624,000 pieces in December 1944. The 6888th’s high productivity continued in Rouen and Paris, France. The unit returned to the states in March 1946 and was immediately deactivated. They got no accolades, parade, or Army unit award. By restoring the timely flow of mail between the front lines and the Home Front, PFC Davis and the women of the 6888th significantly raised the morale that sustained the troops through the final months of the war in Europe. Nicknamed the “Six Triple Eight,” the unique unit lived up to its motto “No mail, low morale.” The Army awarded the unit its Meritorious Unit Commendation in February 2019.