Long-Serving Guardsman Promoted to General

Col. Peter J. Gravett on Saturday will be promoted to general in the California Army National Guard, becoming the first African American to receive that honor at the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Los Alamitos and only the third in California.

Gravett’s rise to the rank of brigadier general comes more than 37 years after he joined the Army National Guard at age 17, shortly after graduating from San Pedro High School. He will be honored at an 11 a.m. ceremony featuring a military band and troop salutes.

“No one obtains this rank alone,” Gravett, 55, said in a recent interview.”This says to my peers and my subordinates and to my family that I’ve gotten here because of their help.”

Gravett’s superiors say he is well-deserving of his new rank.

“I have had the opportunity to observe his performance as a leader for many, many years,” said Deputy Adjutant General William Davies of California Army National Guard in Sacramento. “He listens. He’s fair. He’s understanding. He makes the right decisions.

“Based upon what I have seen, he deserves this promotion without a doubt,” Davies said.

Gravett will be the No. 3 officer for a division that includes 20,000 soldiers in California and at armories in North Dakota, Washington and Idaho. His role is deputy commander for combat support, which includes supplies and communication for troops in the field.

Gravett joined the Army National Guard in 1959 and completed basic training at Fort Ord, Calif. In 1962, he enrolled in the Los Angeles Police Academy. He served as an officer for the Los Angeles Police Department for 22 years and during that time was also active in the Army National Guard’s 40th Infantry Division (Mechanized).

After retiring from the Police Department in 1984, Gravett directed his attention full time to the Army National Guard, where he had achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel.

He later was promoted to colonel with responsibility for overseeing soldier training. His duties required him to travel to Japan, South Korea, Honduras and European countries where troops from his unit were deployed.

Though Gravett has never been in battle overseas, he faced trying tests of his leadership skills in his own backyard: the 1965 Watts riots and the 1992 riots in Los Angeles after the Rodney King verdict.

“When soldiers go to war, they usually fight the enemy. But we were fighting fellow Angelenos, fellow Californians, fellow Americans. That was emotional,” he said.

Gravett was selected as a candidate for his upcoming promotion by a panel of his colleagues. His nomination then was submitted to the Department of the Army, which passed it on to the Department of Defense and the White House for review.

Once approved by President Clinton, Gravett’s nomination went to Congress, where it won Senate approval on Oct. 24. After Saturday’s ceremony, he will be one of 92 one-star generals in the Army National Guard nationwide.

“Each time, he was screened and given extensive background checks,” Davies said, explaining the process. “To be approved for this promotion is the ultimate high point in a commissioned officer’s career.”