Son and colleagues to eulogise soldier-diplomat Colin Powell

WASHINGTON (AP) — Friends, family and former colleagues are honouring Colin L. Powell, the widely praised soldier-diplomat who rose from humble Bronx beginnings to become the first black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and later served as the first black secretary of state.

Powell is being remembered at a funeral Friday at the Washington National Cathedral.

President Joe Biden is expected to attend but not speak.

Eulogists are to be Madeleine Albright, who was Powell's immediate predecessor as the nation's top diplomat; Richard Armitage, who was deputy secretary under Powell and had known him since they served together in the Pentagon during the Reagan administration; and Powell's son Michael.

During her tenure as ambassador to the United Nations during the Clinton administration, Albright sometimes clashed with Powell, although they became good friends.

Both have recalled the time, during his final months as Joint Chiefs chairman, when she argued for a US military intervention in the Balkans, asking why the United States had built a superb military if it couldn't be used in such circumstances. Powell recalled being so irritated by her statement, “I thought I would have an aneurysm.”

Powell's view was that the United States should commit its military only when it had a clear and achievable political objective, a key element of what became known as the Powell Doctrine.

Powell died October 18 of complications from COVID-19 at age 84.

He had been vaccinated against the coronavirus, but his family said his immune system had been compromised by multiple myeloma, a blood cancer for which he had been undergoing treatment.

The story of Powell's rise to prominence in American life is a historic example to many.

In his autobiography, “My American Journey,” Powell recalled a post-Depression Era childhood in the Hunts Point section of New York City's South Bronx, where he was a mediocre student — happy-go-lucky but aimless.

He caught the military bug during his first year at the City College of New York in 1954. Powell was inspired by seeing fellow students in uniform, and he enrolled in the school's Reserve Officer Training Corps.

“I felt distinctive” in uniform, he wrote. He would go on to achieve distinction in a pioneering Army career.

Although he was only four when the United States entered World War II, he had vivid memories of the war years.

“I deployed legions of lead soldiers and directed battles on the living room rug,” he wrote — a fantasy forerunner of his Army years.

Powell would serve 35 years in uniform.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.