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Hospital Corpsman First Class D.H. White

His cap with the numbers 54 on the top and crossed rifles on the front signifies that he was an infantryman in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment

The white gloves, trestle-board and square and compass signifies his "Brotherhood" amongst Free and Accepted Masons.

His watch, which he must wind every day, lets him know that his duties must always be performed in a timely way.

His boots, are worn and tattered, by the many miles he has traveled in his long and often arduous life.

The comb, brush and mirror constantly reminds him that his cleanliness is next to Godliness.

The canteen, cup and plate are his tools used for subsistance and nourishment, so that his body is fit for his daily tasks.

His blanket roll, will supply warmth on those cold nights, when his thoughts and heart are on those loved ones that he has left behind.

And last, but certainly not least, his personal bible, may it forever keep him as close to God as the pages in his scriptures are to eachother.

Hospital Corpsman First Class D.H. White, your long and outstading service here is finished and you are relieved of your Earthly tour of duty so that you may go to your next duty station with the Army of the Lord.

Events

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Jacket and T-Shirt Design

2008 Reactivation

The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment was reactivated on November 21, 2008 to serve as the Massachusetts National Guard ceremonial unit to render military honors at funerals and state functions. The new unit is now known as the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment.

Lt. Benny White addresses troops

Civil War regiment embraces parade role with open arms
Parading regiment trumpets racial milestone
By Tenley Woodman | Tuesday, January 20, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Lifestyle

Photo by Patrick Whittemore
The historical re-enactors of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment will do something today the unit’s original soliders couldn’t have imagined: march down Pennsylvania Avenue to honor the nation’s first black president.

President-elect Barack Obama invited the 54th - the regiment that set precedent as the first black company recruited in the North during the Civil War - to march in the inaugural parade.

“I really didn’t expect it. It just came out of nowhere,” said member Jeremy Tilghman, 19, of Mattapan. “Out of all the 50 states, he picked the 54th.”

In November, Gov. Deval Patrick reinstated the 54th as a volunteer unit with the Massachusetts National Guard.

“I think it’s great because back then (the Civil War) black soldiers were not allowed to march down Pennsylvania Avenue, so this is a big event for the 54th. Now we get a chance to march down there and be seen by millions of people,” said re-enactor Roberta Tilghman, Jeremy’s mother.

Twenty members of the 54th will take part in today’s festivities.

“It’s very important for us as re-enactors because some of us are actually descendants of the 54th,” said founder Benny White, of Mattapan, who is not.

Re-enactor Brenda Dixon, 54, will share the historic occasion in Washington with her grandson and fellow member Patrick Duttin, 19, of Hyde Park.

“It’s really amazing because when I was growing up and I would sit around with the older folks and we would say, ‘Will we ever see that day?’ ” said Dixon, of electing a black president.

Like Dixon, Jeremy Tilghman said he will cherish the moment.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Stepping into history, Barack Hussein Obama grasped the reins of power as America's first black president on Tuesday, declaring the nation must choose "hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord" to overcome the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
In frigid temperatures, an exuberant crowd of more than a million packed the National Mall and parade route to celebrate Obama's inauguration in a high-noon ceremony. Waving and cheering in jubilation, they stretched from the inaugural platform at the U.S. Capitol toward the Lincoln Memorial in the distance.

With 11 million Americans out of work and trillions of dollars lost in the stock market's tumble, Obama emphasized that his biggest challenge is to repair the tattered economy left behind by outgoing President George W. Bush.

"Our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed," Obama said. "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin the work of remaking America."

Obama wove a thread of personal responsibility and accountability through his inaugural address. He spoke of a "new era of responsibility" and alluded to the inability -- or unwillingness -- of Americans to adjust to the passing of an industrial-based economy. "Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age," he said.

After four hours of pomp and ceremony at the Capitol, Obama and his wife, Michelle, rode in a tall, heavily armored Cadillac limousine along the 1.5 mile parade route to the White House. There was a heavy police and military presence along the way, and thousands of onlookers waving from the side.

Two years after beginning his improbable quest as a little-known, first-term Illinois senator with a foreign-sounding name, Obama moved into the Oval Office as the nation's fourth-youngest president, at 47, and the first African-American, a barrier-breaking achievement believed impossible by generations of minorities.

He said it was a moment to recall "that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness." In another racial reference, he paid tribute to workers in the past who "endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth."

Massachusetts groups to march in inaugural parade

Boston (AP) -- A state military color guard and reenactors of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment have been invited to march in Barack Obama's presidential inaugural parade. Members of the groups will march along Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House following Obama's swearing-in this month. The 54th represents the all-black regiment from Massachusetts that fought in the Civil War and was memorialized in the movie "Glory." The state's National Guard color guard was renamed last month in their honor. In a statement issued Monday, Obama said the organizations "embody the best of our nation's history, diversity and commitment to service." Nearly 1,400 groups applied to march in the nation's 56th inaugural parade.

Memorial Dedication - May 31, 1897 Excerpt of William James' speech dedicating the Shaw Memorial Oration, Boston Music Hall, May 31, 1897,
(Photograph, Boston Historical Siciety)

"The men who do brave deeds are usually unconscious of their picturesqueness. For two nights previous to the assault upon Fort Wagner, the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment had been afoot, making forced marches in the rain; and on the day of the battle the men had had no food since early morning. As they lay there in the evening twilight, hungry and wet, against the cold sands of Morris Island, with the sea-fog drifting over them, their eyes fixed on the huge bulk of the fortress looming darkly three-quarters of a mile ahead against the sky, and their hearts beating in expectation of the word that was to bring them to their feet and launch them on their desperate charge, neither officers nor men could have been in any holiday mood of contemplation.
Many and different must have been the thoughts that came and went in them during that hour of bodeful reverie; but however free the flights of fancy of some of them may have been, it is improbable that any one who lay there had so wild and whirling an imagination as to foresee in prophetic vision