THE DIGITAL REPOSITORY FOR THE BLACK EXPERIENCE
Military officer General Darren W. McDew was born on September 29, 1960 at Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois to Delois McMillian and Abner McDew. He received his B.S. degree in civil engineering in 1982 from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia and his M.S. degree in aviation management in 1994 from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.
After being commissioned into the U.S. Air Force as a second lieutenant in 1982, McDew received his pilots’ wings at Williams Air Force Base in Maricopa County, Arizona and was trained on the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker at the 93rd Bomb Wing at Castle Air Force Base, California. In 1984, he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant and assigned to the 42nd Air Refueling Squadron at Loring Air Force Base, Maine as a pilot instructor and flight commander. From 1989 to 1996, McDew served in several administrative and support capacities in Washington, D.C., including as an aide-de-camp to President Bill Clinton. In 2000, McDew was promoted to colonel and oversaw the 62nd Operations Group, at McChord Air Force Base, Washington until 2002. Other command assignments included the 375th Airlift Wing, Scott Air Force Base in Illinois; 43rd Airlift Wing, and Installation Commander, Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina; Air Force District of Washington, Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland; and stints at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C, first as director of public affairs in the office of the Secretary of the Air Force and later as vice director for strategic plans and policy for the Joint Staff. He was promoted to brigadier general in 2006 and was assigned commander of the 18th Air Force in 2012. Upon being promoted to the rank of four-star general in 2014, McDew served as commander of Air Mobility Command at Scott Air Force Base. The following year, he became commander of U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM). McDew retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2018. In 2019, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao appointed him co-chair of the Special Committee to Review the Federal Aviation Administration’s Certification Process.
McDew has been awarded the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal; the U.S. Air Force Distinguished Service Medal; the U.S. Air Force Achievement Medal; the Legion of Merit; the Meritorious Service Medal; the U.S. Army Commendation Medal; the National Defense Service Medal; and the Armed Forces Service Medal. He has also received the Vincent T. Hirsh Maritime Award for Outstanding Leadership, the National Society of Black Engineers Lifetime Achievement in Government Award, and an honorary doctorate in public administration from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. McDew was inducted into the Boys and Girls Club of America Alumni Hall of Fame in 2012.
McDew joined the boards of directors of Parsons Corporation in 2020 and General Electric in 2023.
General Darren W. McDew was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 23, 2023.
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Male
4/24/2023
McDew
Married
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Hampton High School
Virginia Military Institute
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Darren
Rantoul
MCD11
Illinois
North Carolina
9/29/1960
Waxhaw
USA
Military officer General Darren W. McDew (1960 - ) served as the twelfth commander of the U.S. Transportation Command from 2015 to 2018. He previously served as U.S. Air Force commander of Air Mobility Command.
United States Air Force
Military officer General Dennis Via was born on March 5, 1958, in Martinsville, Virginia, to Curtis and Margaret Via. He received his B.A. degree in 1980 from Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia and his M.A. degree in management in 1988 from the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development in Boston, Massachusetts. Via graduated from the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1991, and from the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1999.
Via was commissioned into the U.S. Army as a Second Lieutenant in 1980, having been assigned to the 35th Signal Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps. He later took his first command with the 82nd Signal Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, and then served as aide-de-camp to the chief of staff for the Allied Forces in Southern Europe. Via’s other key assignments included serving as operations officer for the J-6-Armed Forces Inaugural Committee; Division Chief of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council; Principal Director for Operations for the Defense Information Systems Agency; and Deputy Commander of the Joint Task Force-Global network operations for the United States Strategic Command. He oversaw the 3rd Signal Brigade, III Armored Corps at Fort Hood, Texas until 2002. From 2005 to 2007, Via served as commanding general of the 5th Signal Command and U.S. Army Europe CIO, and afterwards served as commander of the Communications Electronics Command. In 2009, he was appointed J6 Director for the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and served in this position until 2011, when he deployed to Southwest Asia and began serving as commander of the Army Materiel Command Responsible Reset Task Force. Via became the eighteenth Commanding General of the United States Army Materiel Command in 2012, serving until his retirement from the United States Army in 2016. The following year, he was hired as Executive Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton.
Via is involved in several organizations including the Association of the United States Army, the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association, Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. He has also served on the Council on Foreign Relations, and on the board of directors for Splunk.
In 2019, Via was recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus by Boston University and received the Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg Sustainment Award in 2021.
Via lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife Linda Arlette Via. Together they have two sons.
General Dennis Via was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on February 24, 2023.
A2023.014
Male
2/24/2023
Via
Married
L.
George Washington Carver High School
Virginia State University
Army Command and General Staff College
U.S. Army War College
Boston University
Dennis
Martinsville
VIA01
Virginia
Virginia
3/5/1958
Woodbridge
USA
Military officer General Dennis Via (1958 - ) was the eighteenth Commanding General of the United States Army Materiel Command.
United States Army
Booz Allen Hamilton
Military officer Major General Linda L. Singh was born on May 9, 1964 in Onley, Maryland to Eleanor Ireland and Herbert Lee Willis. She received her B.S. degree in business administration in 1994 from Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Maryland; her M.B.A. degree in business administration in 2004 from Touro University International in Chandler, Arizona; her M.S. degree in strategic studies in 2008 from the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania; and her Ph.D. degree in industrial and organizational psychology in 2019 from Capella University in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Singh enlisted in the Maryland Army National Guard in 1981 as a radar repairer, where she served as an enlisted soldier for eleven years. She received her officer’s commission in 1994 at the Maryland Military Academy Officer Candidate School in Reisterstown, Maryland where she worked as a maintenance control officer, Maintenance Company, 729th Forward Support Battalion in Hagerstown, Maryland. In 1995, Singh was hired as a managing director at Accenture in Hyattsville, Maryland, where she managed the firm’s operations for its health and public service units. She held successive senior rank positions in the Maryland National Guard before being promoted to battalion commander for the 581st Readiness Battalion in Glen Arm, Maryland in 2002. In 2005, Singh became the business operations lead at Accenture; and, in 2006, Singh was deployed to Kosovo with the 29th Infantry Division as an assistant chief of staff for logistics. As a newly commissioned colonel, Singh was sent to Afghanistan in 2011 to lead operations and coordination between the 29th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army and the Afghan security forces. She returned from her combat tour in 2012 as the director of joint staff at Camp Fretterd Military Reservation in Reisterstown, Maryland. The following year, she was promoted to brigadier general and commander of the Maryland Army National Guard. Singh founded her consultancy business, Kaleidoscope Affect LLC, in 2014. In 2015, she was then named by Governor Larry Hogan as the twenty-ninth adjutant general of the Maryland National Guard, becoming the first woman and the first African American to hold this position in the state of Maryland Singh left Accenture in 2016 and retired from the Maryland Army National Guard at the rank of major general in 2019.
Singh has been awarded the U.S. Army Legion of Merit; the Bronze Star Medal; the Army Commendation Medal; the Army Achievement Medal; the Meritorious Service Medal; and the Maryland Distinguished Service Cross. She was inducted into the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame in 2015 and the Army Women’s Foundation Hall of Fame in 2021. She received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2015 and was named to the Network Journal’s list of 25 Influential Black Women in Business in 2014. In 2022, the Maryland National Guard’s Freedom Readiness Center in Sykesville, Maryland was re-named the Major General Linda L. Singh Readiness Center in her honor.
Major General Linda L. Singh was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on January 27, 2023.
A2023.007
Female
1/27/2023
Singh
Married
L.
Columbia Union College
U.S. Army War College
Touro Univeristy International
Capella University
Linda
Frederick County
SIN05
Maryland
District of Columbia
5/9/1964
Washington
USA
Military officer Major General Linda L. Singh (1964 - ) served as the twenty-ninth adjutant general of the Maryland National Guard, having been the first woman and the first African American appointed to this position. In 2022, the Maryland National Guard’s Freedom Readiness Center in Sykesville, Maryland was re-named the Major General Linda L. Singh Readiness Center in her honor.
Maryland Army National Guard
Accenture
Maryland Military Department
Maryland Technology Development Corporation
Towson University
Kaleidoscope Affect LLC