2/25/2026
6:30 PM - 9:00 PM EST


Location: DACOR Bacon House OR Online, 1801 F St NW, Washington, DC 20006

Please note this is a hybrid event - you have the option to attend in person or virtually. Registrations are required for all attendees. For in-person attendees, the event will run from 6:30 - 9 pm and will include dinner. The live stream will begin around 8 pm (virtual attendees will be sent a link for the event via email).

Join us for a program co-hosted by DACOR and Washington Ambassador Club International and co-sponsored by the Association of Black American Ambassadors, Black Professionals in International Affairs, and Thursday Luncheon Group. We will explore the historical roles played by Black patriots in the independence and building of this nation, focusing on both military and diplomatic roles. The discussion will be led by Jim Dandridge and Colonel Clarence Miller, two combat veterans who held senior filed command and Pentagon staff positions at retirement, who will also share their personal experiences as U.S. Army commissioned officers in the first 10 years of the integrated U.S. Armed Forces (July 26, 1948, EO 9981). 

This program's topic is most apt this year as 2026 is the 250th (Semiquincentennial) Anniversary of the United States of America - 1776; the Centennial anniversary of the celebration of Black history in America - 1926; and the 50th Anniversary of Black History Month in America - 1976. In the U.S., we celebrate Black History Month in February, but Black History Month or National Remembrance Days are celebrated around the world at various points throughout the year.

James “Jim” Dandridge was born in Birmingham, Alabama and grew up in Selma, Alabama. He received his B.A. at Howard University and M.A. at Georgetown University, Washington DC. He did other post-graduate studies at The American University and The USAF War College. Jim was a Cornell and Purdue Universities summer exchange student (extra curricula) while an undergraduate student at Howard University.

Colonel Dandridge, a 1949-1953 ROTC graduate and pioneer U.S. Army Special Operations officer, retired from the U.S. Army in 1978 as a Special Operations Branch Chief in the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Jim was one of the first to wear the U.S. Army Green Beret in 1961 as assistant adjutant and Special Hemispheric Assistant in the then U.S. Army Special Warfare Center under the command of Brigadier General William Yarborough, when President Kennedy visited and authorized its wear along with research and conduct of counterinsurgency and unconventional warfare. Jim spent most of his military assignments in Special Forces, Special Operations, Psychological Warfare/Operations and Joint Special Operations. Military assignments abroad include Korea, Vietnam, and several South American, Caribbean, and Central American countries.

In addition to the Defense Superior Service Medal Jim was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters – 3 times), along with the Army Commendation Medal. He wears the Republic of Vietnam Honor Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Ribbon with Oak Leaf Cluster. Jim received several combat decorations (including the Bronze Star and Air medal in Vietnam) and wore several specialty badges, including the U.S. Army Parachute Badge and two foreign military Special Operations parachute badges. His foreign military decorations included the Republic of Bolivia’s Caballero Ribbon. He also received the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Badge for his assignment as a Special Operations Branch Chief in the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon.

Dandridge is a FAA licensed Commercial Multi-Engine Command Pilot. (Primary flight training by Tuskegee Airman Instructor Pilot Charles Smallwood, 332 Group (Red Tails) at Cairns Army Airfield, Fort Rucker Alabama). He is a Legacy Member of the OSS Society and a charter member of the Special Forces Decade Association.

Jim Dandridge entered the diplomatic corps after military retirement as a Career Foreign Service and Consular Officer, He retired from the diplomatic corps as a Senior Foreign Service Officer, personal class of Minister-Counselor (Mil 08 equivalent). His domestic diplomatic assignments were Director of the Office of Policy Guidance in the United States Information Agency (USIA and Voice of America), and State Department Senior Advisor, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. His diplomatic assignments abroad included AMCONGEN Bombay, India; AMCONGEN Sao Paulo, Brazil; USEMBASSY La Paz, Bolivia; and USEMBASSY Santiago, Chile. He also was designated Chargé d’Affaires a.i. during postings to Embassy La Paz and Embassy Santiago.

Dandridge entered a special program for Foreign Service annuitants for a 20-year period as a senior US Department of State OIG Inspection and Compliance Officer. His assignments were inspection team leader, deputy inspection team leader, and inspection compliance officer for 53 inspections in 21 countries and seven domestic offices. He received two State Department OIG Meritorious Honor Awards for special inspection assignments that included diplomatic missions in both Iraq and Afghanistan during periods of US military engagement.

In addition to the two Meritorious Honor Awards mentioned above, he is the recipient of the 2008 U.S. Department of State Director General’s Cup for the Foreign Service for his unceasing promotion of the Foreign Service both as a U.S. diplomat and in retirement; a Marks Foundation Award for Creativity in Communications in USIA; a Meritorious Honor Award during his assignment as Charge d'Affaires a.i. at Embassy La Paz; and a Thursday Luncheon Group (TLG) Pioneer Award (Mentor/Historian).

Colonel (ret.) Clarence A. Miller, Jr. family owned an eighty – acre farm in Chatfield, Texas, a rural community 55 miles south of Dallas, Texas. The family were farmers and Clarence spent the first twelve years of life on that farm. His early education was in the community two-room elementary school. To attend high school, his parents arranged for him to live with his mother’s sister and family in Dallas. After one year in Dallas, he completed his high school education in 1947 at G. W. Jackson High School in Corsicana, the county seat of Navarro County. Clarence enrolled in Prairie View A & M University in September 1947, majored in biology , and graduated with a BS degree in 1947 at the age of 19.
 
At that time, basic Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) was mandatory for all able bodied, nonveteran male students during their freshman and sophomore years. Clarence applied for and was accepted in the advanced ROTC (junior and senior years) which could qualify the student for a commission as an officer in the Army Reserves. Concurrent with college graduation, he was commissioned as an Infantry Lieutenant in June 1951.
 
HIs active military service began in August 1951, two months after college graduation. After completing the Basic Infantry Officers Course, he was ordered to Korea after a short time in Japan to receive some troop duty experience prior to assignment to a combat unit in Korea. He was an Infantry platoon leader in the 2nd Infantry Division. While on a night patrol in September 1952, he was wounded, hospitalized for a month, and returned to his unit. Captain Miller transferred from the Infantry to Artillery in 1956.

During his 29 years of service, he served in responsible command positions at Battery, Battalion, and Group levels. He had assignments in staff positions at the highest levels in the Department of Defense, including Headquarters, Department of the Army and the Office of the Secretary of Defense as Director of Military Equal Opportunity Policy, both in the Pentagon.
 
Overseas assignments included Japan, Korea, the Federal Republic of Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Viet Nam, where he served as Deputy Commander of a Brigade in the 101st Airborne/Air Mobile Division. He retired from military service in May 1980.
 
Miller received Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (2 awards); Bronze Star (2 awards); Purple Heart; Meritorious Service Medal; Army Commendation Medal (3 awards); and campaign ribbons for service in the Korean Conflict and the Viet Nam war. He also earned the Combat Infantry Badge, parachute badge, and Army General Staff Badge.
 
In Army retirement, Colonel Miller has been active in community service, charities and church service, including 13 years on the Board of Directors, Alexandria, VA Red Cross; The Alexandria Rotary Club and Board of directors; The Urban League; NAACP; Trustee of his church, including three years as Chairman of the Board; Chair of the Investment Committee of his community Homeowners Association. Colonel Miller Is a founding member of  The ROCKS Inc, an organization of active duty and retired military officers, providing tutoring for cadets and junior commissioned officers.
 
In a ceremony at the Army War College in 2019 the college foundation presented it’s Outstanding Alumnus Award in recognition of his community service contributions in retirement.