Community celebrates new OKC mural of Black Medal of Honor recipient

A mural honoring a decorated African American U.S. Army officer was unveiled on Saturday at a park that bears his name.

The mural of Capt. Riley Leroy Pitts, the first African American commissioned officer to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for military valor, was unveiled with much Veteran's Day fanfare on the exterior of the Pitts Park Recreation Center at Pitts Park, 1920 N Kate. Pitts' widow Eula and his son Mark Pitts of Tampa, Florida, were on hand for the festivities.

Riley Leroy Pitts was a native of Fallis, Oklahoma. The Medal of Honor was presented posthumously for actions Pitts took while serving in Vietnam. Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson presented the medal to Pitts' widow in 1968. The public park in Oklahoma City was named after Pitts in the 1970s.

Community members who gathered for Saturday's mural unveiling celebrated with Pitts' wife and son plus other family members, friends and leaders of the two nonprofits who sponsored the artwork, the Oklahoma Mural Syndicate and the With Love Project, an organization that advocates and creates public art on Oklahoma City's eastside.

Mark Pitts, 60, said his father was 30 when he was killed.

"The family, not just me, is grateful that all these years later, people continue to recognize him for his contribution to our nation," he said. "It's an honor and I can't help but be humbled by all these people showing up and be appreciative of people taking time out of their day to come and pay homage — It's a a blessing and it means a lot to our family."

He said as he gets older, he tries to speak out for other veterans, too.

"I don't want it lost that there were other soldiers who also made contributions to the nation in as a material way as he did, but they don't get the same kind of recognition," Mark Pitts said.

Rachelle Tyndall of Tulsa said her father Douglas Tyndall of Utah served with Capt. Pitts and was standing next to him during the battle in which PItts was killed. She said her father helped write the commendation for PItts' medal and she attended Saturday's mural unveiling to represent her dad and family.

"My dad said he (Capt. Pitts) was a really good officer, a really good man," she said.

First focus

Rapper, entrepreneur and activist Jabee Williams said he grew up going to Pitts Park, but it wasn't until 10 years ago that he learned the story behind the park's namesake. As a leader from With Love, he said he knew it would be significant to have art of the military hero at the park that bears his name.

Williams said support for the mural came from Tinker Federal Credit Union and OKC Arts. He said With Love had the vision for the mural in 2021 as one of the first pieces of art the organization wanted to focus on.

"We talked about really just wanting to bring some life to the park and and show people who might not know, who he is and why this park is called Pitts," Williams said.

Kwame Mboya, 78, walked around taking pictures of the mural and the festivities going on around it. The U.S. Army veteran and Oklahoma City resident said finding a way to honor the park's namesake through art was "long overdue."

"Anytime we can honor somebody in the community, particularly a Black person, we should do it because we don't have a lot of Black murals in Oklahoma City," he said.

More about Capt. Riley Leroy Pitts

According to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Pitts, a member of the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame, was assigned to Company C, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, in October 1967, when he distinguished himself "by exceptional heroism while serving as company commander during an airmobile assault at Ap Dong, Republic of Vietnam." He was killed while leading his men during battle. According to the Kansas Historical Society, Pitts was killed about a month before he was to return home to the U.S. Pitts was also a recipient of the U.S. Armed Forces' Silver Star and Purple Heart decorations. He was journalism major when he graduated from Wichita State University and was employed by Boeing, according to the historical society's website.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: NE OKC Park now features a mural of its namesake, Capt. Riley Leroy Pitts