Months after celebrating his 100th birthday and being honored by the city he served for so long, San Diego\u2019s first Black firefighter outside the Mountain View neighborhood, Alwin Benjamin Holman, has died.<\/p>\n
San Diego City Firefighters Local 145 announced the death late Thursday.<\/p>\n
Holman was the first firefighter of color<\/a> to serve in a station other than Fire Station 19<\/a> on Ocean View Boulevard in the historically Black neighborhood. As a rookie in November 1951, he was assigned to Fire Station 14 in North Park. Holman served with the city\u2019s fire department for 32 years, ultimately becoming the city\u2019s first Black deputy fire chief.<\/p>\n Brothers United, a nonprofit organization for Black firefighters, offered thoughts on the man who paved the way for so many.<\/p>\n \u201cBenny was more than a colleague; he was a trailblazer, a mentor, and a man whose life changed the course of our fire department forever,\u201d Brothers United, a nonprofit organization for Black firefighters, wrote on social media. \u201cBenny was our Jackie Robinson. He was the first to break the color barrier in our department when he was assigned to Station 14. That was not just a station transfer, it was a statement. Benny did it with grace, dignity, and courage, facing challenges that many of us cannot imagine. His actions didn\u2019t just pave the way for others; they created the foundation on which all of us stand today.<\/p>\n \u201cBenny was a great firefighter, a great deputy chief, and an extraordinary human being. His legacy is not just in the ranks he held or the firehouse he served it\u2019s in the respect, dignity, and hope he instilled in all of us. Because of him, we can dream bigger, serve better, and honor the values of courage, brotherhood, and service.\u201d<\/p>\n Holman was born in Alton, Ill., \u201cwhere segregation sought to define opportunity, yet through the strength and wisdom of his mother, he was raised to rise above discrimination and live with dignity, confidence and purpose,\u201d a city proclamation in December read, as the City Council declared Alwin Benjamin Holman Day.<\/p>\n He joined the U.S. Navy in 1944 and the following year was stationed in San Diego, where he would call home for the next 80 years. Following World War II, Holman then joined the U.S. Postal Service before his career in the fire department.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were other cities around the country that had tried to integrate their departments, and there was all kinds of resistance \u2026 not from the citizens necessarily, but from the firefighters themselves,\u201d Holman told the Union-Tribune in an interview. \u201cSome were very, very prejudiced.\u201d<\/p>\n There was some internal pushback to moving Holman to the all-White Station 14, but the fire chief insisted.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I knew then that if I did not survive, then it would be a long time before the Black firefighters would be accepted,\u201d Holman recalled.<\/p>\n But, he said, the firefighters he was stationed with treated him as they would any probationary firefighter. \u201cI was accepted by most firefighters, Black, White, green or whatever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Soon, more Black firefighters were stationed beyond 19. Holman retired in 1983.<\/p>\n \u201cThroughout his distinguished \u2026 career, Mr. Holman exemplified professionalism and integrity,\u201d the proclamation read. \u201cHe served all people equally, without regarding race or background, and demonstrated through his actions that compassion, service, and courage transcend division.\u201d<\/p>\n Holman was thanked for his service in person at a City Council meeting in December.<\/p>\n \u201cI loved the job so much,\u201d he said at City Hall.<\/p>\n The Union-Tribune contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Months after celebrating his 100th birthday and being honored by the city he served for so long, San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,138,23,100,8567,74,84,76,75,1696],"class_list":{"0":"post-251151","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-news-obituaries","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-san-diego-county","15":"tag-san-diego-headlines","16":"tag-san-diego-news","17":"tag-top-stories-sdut"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}