BENNIE J. MCRAE JR. 

BIOGRAPHY

Bennie J. McRae is a native of Louisville, Alabama and served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War from August 1951 to July 1955, and presently resides in Trotwood, Ohio.  He retired in 1989 after 36 years of service as an air traffic service operations specialist, air traffic training and management positions with the United States Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration.

After retiring, McRae visited numerous libraries, archives, and historic sites for the purpose of researching and documenting nineteenth and twentieth century history with a focus on people of African descent in the American Civil War, on the Western Frontier, in World Wars I and II. This interest resulted in the publishing of “Lest We Forget”, an historical ​ quarterly from 1992 until 1997, and the development of four websites on the African American military experience, “Lest We Forget”, “Making of the United States of America”, “African American Military History” and “Resting Places of United States Colored Civil War Soldiers and Sailors”.

McRae has an M.A. in Business Management from Central Michigan University and a B.A. in Business Management from Antioch College.

He has been honored with numerous awards, proclamations and resolutions for researching and sharing the “hidden history” of people of African descent in the United States.