Veteran visits New London high school for history project

NEW LONDON, Conn. (WTNH)-- Captain James Mosley was part of the first generation of African Americans to serve in the submarine corps and he visited New London high school on Thursday.

"Any time there was an illness aboard, it was my responsibility to take care of the individual," said Sr. Chief Hospital Corpsman, James Mosley, Ret. U.S. Navy.

And, a life saved is history changed.  Sr. Chief Hospital Corpsman James Mosley's life is history made.  The retiree from Waterford was one of the U.S. Navy's first African-American submariners.

"Mr. Mosley is somebody who lived through the racial integration of the armed services back in 1948," said Joe Courtney, D- U.S. Congress.

"At the time, I didn't think too much of it," said Mosley.

Mosley is being honored with a visit from U.S. Congressman Joe Courtney, Thursday at New London High School; part of the Library of Congress' ongoing Veterans History Project, started in 2000.

"The people who wear the uniform, they're a living history," said Courtney.

Humble and gracious, Mosley has his suspicions about why he was turned down for his first ambition of being a pilot.

"I can never say it was racially motivated but I think it was; never can prove it," said Mosley.

While discrimination might be to blame for keeping James Mosley out of the pilot's seat, in time he says he came to at least accept that it might have been a bit of divine intercession, as well.

"A long time ago, when I wasn't picked for flight school, when they found out that Ensign Brown got shot down over North Korea, they said maybe it was a blessing in disguise," said Mosley.

The man he mentions, Ensign Brown, one of the very few African-American military pilots at the time.  Though Chief Mosley had already earned his place in U.S. history, who knows how many others' histories he extended at sea, instead of in the air.

"Being basically the first, I didn't think about it at the time, really, I didn't think about it . Why I was chosen and so forth, but it was an opportunity to get a good education and people's confidence in me," said Mosley.