BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN MAJOR GENERALO JOSEPH M. WELLS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

                        BLACK            SOCIAL         HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                         Rome native Brig. Gen. Joseph M. Wells named first black general in history of Georgia Guard.

Maj. Gen. Joseph M. Wells

Brig. Gen. Joseph M. Wells made the most of his opportunities in the military from Day 1, but even getting in proved difficult.

Wells, a Rome native who joined the Army at 16 but didn’t begin his basic training until he was 17 because of age requirements, graduated from East Rome High School in 1975.

“I went directly into the military,” he said. “I had to get my mom to sign to let me join the Army.”

He started his life in the military at the lowest rank of private.

He’s come a long way since then.

Today, Wells will officially become the first black to be promoted to the rank of a general officer in the 276-year history of the Georgia National Guard.

“This is an amazing event for me to be involved with; it is such an honor,” Wells said in a phone interview. “I never intended for this to be the way it is, but I’m overjoyed and humbled by it. I just want to make sure I carry the torch well.”

Wells will officially receive his commission today in Atlanta. He is currently the deputy commanding general for the Reserve forces at an intelligence center and school in Fort Huachuca, Ariz.

He also serves as a pilot for Continental Airlines, where he flies a Boeing 777.

But his starting point was on wheels, not wings.

After completing basic training, Wells was stationed in Germany. A sympathetic sergeant, who wanted to keep him away from Vietnam veterans whose habits his sergeant thought might get him into trouble, helped him become a driver for generals stationed at bases in Germany.

“I was obviously a young kid and very green,” Wells said.

His life was influenced one day when picking up a four-star general when he came across a group of helicopter pilots.

Wells said he wanted to become a pilot after meeting and talking to the helicopter crew, and got out of the Army and went to Georgia State University, where he joined ROTC and went to flight school.

Wells stayed in the National Guard after his college years, and later flew small reconnaissance planes, the OV-1 Mohawk, which was used in Vietnam and after the war. He was promoted to a major and stayed in military intelligence.

His wife, Gayle, works in human resources for a company in Atlanta. He has four grown daughters.

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