My Memoirs: Edifying Times

Walter R. Somerville Jr. grew up in humble circumstances with dreams of becoming a professional baseball player.

But with a young daughter to take care of and bills to pay, he enlisted in the recently integrated Air Force in 1951-never knowing that he'd spend the next fifty-four years serving his country.

After serving a tour of duty in South Korea, he returned to the United States before being honorably discharged and then re-enlisting to work at the Air Force Reserve Center in Baltimore. Eventually, he became a civilian Air Force Reserve technician at Andrews Air Force Base before taking a job at the Federal Aviation Agency.

He went on to work other jobs before becoming a chief with the Coast Guard's Civilian Equal Employment Opportunity Division, in 1970. Later, he was appointed to a Senior Executive Service position as chief of civil rights, the military equivalent of rear admiral in the United States Coast Guard.

Join the author as he looks back at a lifetime of making a huge difference in the lives of ordinary people-especially women and minorities-and living an active life after retirement in these memoirs.