This week, Americans and others around the world are reflecting on the life and legacy of Colin Powell, the four-star general and first Black U.S. secretary of state who died Monday at age 84. Powell’s family said he died of complications due to COVID-19. He was fully vaccinated against the disease but had been battling multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells that suppresses the immune system.
In addition to being a statesman, he also was a great friend, people close to him said. Retired Army Colonel Joe Schwar’s friendship with Powell spanned six decades.
They met in early 1959, when both were brand-new Army second lieutenants stationed in Germany.
"He was a bachelor. I was married. He knew basically where to get a free meal," Schwar said through a chuckle. "So, the three of us became very good friends during the two years we served together."
Schwar’s next assignment was at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Schwar, a white man from Pennsylvania who admitted that Powell was one of the first Black men he ever knew, wasn’t too familiar with the racial policies in the segregated South, which often mandated separate facilities for Blacks and whites until the mid-1960s.
He had been on the base in North Carolina about a year when he heard an unexpected knock on his door.
"Open it up and there was Colin Powell," Schwar told VOA.
'Stay with us'
Powell was distraught because he couldn’t find a place that he considered satisfactory for his new bride, Alma Powell.
"I believe it was the Jim Crow [laws] at work there. I guess my wife and I looked at each other and without blinking an eye basically said, ‘Stay with us,’ " he recalled.
Powell and Alma, the Schwars, and their young kids shared the three-bedroom apartment for six weeks until Powell finished his training to deploy to Vietnam. Alma went to live with her family during his deployment.
As long as the couples were on the base, Schwar said, they could "go anywhere together." But on a couple of instances, when his wife and Alma went into the city of Fayetteville, where the base is located, Alma had to basically "educate" his wife on what they could and could not do together, he said.
"My wife had a little rebellious spirit, and she could not understand why Alma allowed this to happen," Schwar said.
In fact, the prejudice Alma Powell saw growing up in the South perhaps led to her caution years later when her husband was considering a run for president. She was concerned about his physical security should he decide to run, and Schwar said he believed she had talked him out of it.
"My wife and I were at the head of the line to work on his campaign," Schwar told VOA, "[but] I supported her [Alma’s] decision at the time, and I told Colin, ‘Well, you just, you just lost two campaign workers when you decided not to run.’ And he sort of laughed about that."
Returning the favor
After their deployment to Germany in 1959, Schwar and Powell continued to cross paths. They fought just a few kilometers apart in Vietnam and studied together at Fort Benning in the U.S. state of Georgia. In the mid-1970s, Schwar was assigned to the Pentagon, where Powell was already stationed.
As can happen in the military’s permanent change-of-station process, Schwar’s house wasn’t ready when he arrived in the Washington area.
When the Powells found out, Schwar recalled, "Colin says, ‘Alma, start doubling up the kids in the rooms. The Schwars are moving in with us.’ "
It was a full-circle moment for their friendship, and Schwar said that attitude and action were clear examples of why Powell was "one of the most unforgettable people" he'd ever served alongside.
"He was never pretentious. He was a man of his word. What you see is what you get," Schwar said.
What the nation got from Powell was decade upon decade of steadfast service. The former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff-turned-secretary of state will be remembered at the Pentagon as one of the greats, following in the footsteps of George Marshall, a general who became secretary of defense and secretary of state, and paving the way for generals such as former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and current Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
But Powell’s kindness and his dedication to country, family and friends are what Schwar wants the world to remember.
