Sollie Mitchell, 1918-2022: Jacksonville's oldest veteran, 103, worked with A. Philip Randolph

Matt Soergel, Florida Times-Union
·4 min read
Sollie Mitchell, 103, who served in World War II as a U.S. Army staff sergeant, acknowledges the crowds while being honored as Jacksonville's oldest veteran in the November 2021 Veterans Day Parade. He died May 23.
Sollie Mitchell, 103, who served in World War II as a U.S. Army staff sergeant, acknowledges the crowds while being honored as Jacksonville's oldest veteran in the November 2021 Veterans Day Parade. He died May 23.
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Sollie Mitchell was born in Ocilla, Ga., on June 20, 1918, while a war that would become known as World War I still raged in Europe. After growing up in Jacksonville, he served in the Pacific during the next World War, worked with civil rights legend A. Philip Randolph and was a porter on the "Freedom Train" that journeyed to the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

There was a real sense of purpose and joy on the trip to Washington, he said in a Times-Union interview on its 50th anniversary. "It was jolly, both ways," he said. "It was really jolly."

50 years later: Memories of the March on Washington

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As passengers went to the National Mall, Mr. Mitchell, then 45, stayed on the train to watch over their belongings. But he was able to listen on the radio to Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and to those of Randolph, who was a family friend and others.

"I was just in the place where they could use me," he said. "I just wanted to do what the good Lord wanted me to do. He placed me there."

Mr. Mitchell, who lived to be 103, died in Jacksonville on May 23.

He was, the city said, Jacksonville's oldest veteran.

Sollie Mitchell, 103, is recognized for his service at midfield before the start of a Raines-Yulee high school football game in October 2021.
Sollie Mitchell, 103, is recognized for his service at midfield before the start of a Raines-Yulee high school football game in October 2021.

"I learned a lot from the military," Mr. Mitchell said in a 2020 interview recorded by the city. "Be careful. Be careful what you say, how you say it and who you deal with."

On social media after Mr. Mitchell's death, Mayor Lenny Curry said, “Very few can fathom the sheer history that Mr. Mitchell experienced. He was nothing short of an icon in the veteran community, and the entire city joins in mourning this loss.”

Mr. Mitchell graduated from all-Black Stanton Senior High School's class of 1940 and was a student at Florida Normal and Industrial Institute in St. Augustine (which later became Florida Memorial College) when he was drafted into the Army in 1941.

In 2016 cadets from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., talk with World War II veteran Sollie Mitchell, right, as they toured the ACCORD Civil Rights Museum in St. Augustine. The cadets were on a tour of important civil rights locations in St. Johns County. Mitchell served in the Eighth Army during World War II.
In 2016 cadets from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., talk with World War II veteran Sollie Mitchell, right, as they toured the ACCORD Civil Rights Museum in St. Augustine. The cadets were on a tour of important civil rights locations in St. Johns County. Mitchell served in the Eighth Army during World War II.

In an oral history he gave in 2014 for the University of Florida's African American History Project, Mr. Mitchell said he went to Fort Benning in Georgia, where he was put right to work in a general's office because he knew how to type. He stayed at Fort Benning for three years before spending about three months in the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, where he was an instructor in ammunition and guns.

As a staff sergeant, he then was transported to the Philippines with a segregated Black company of the Eighth Army. He had office duties as company clerk of the 578th Ordnance Outfit, but during the Battle of Cebu City his company came under attack by the Japanese on Easter Sunday 1945.

Sollie Mitchell, a former Pullman porter, sits in the A. Philip Randolph Room in September at the Prime Osborn Convention Center, next to a document signed by Randolph in 1936 to create the local chapter of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.
Sollie Mitchell, a former Pullman porter, sits in the A. Philip Randolph Room in September at the Prime Osborn Convention Center, next to a document signed by Randolph in 1936 to create the local chapter of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

He was at sea on his way to Japan when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, and after the war ended he spent time in Japan with the Army, disposing of Japanese ammunition. He received a Bronze Star from the Army.

Once home, he was hired as a Pullman porter on the railroad in 1946. He became secretary-treasurer of Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters for six years, where he worked with Randolph, a family friend. Randolph, who grew up in Jacksonville, was a civil rights giant who organized the porters' union and was instrumental in the 1963 March on Washington, among many other achievements.

Asa Philip Randolph: The often-overlooked inspiration for the March on Washington

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In this 2011 photo taken at Historic Mount Zion AME Church, Sollie Mitchell, left, a church member for 60 years, shares a laugh with Ophelia Toston who had been a member since 1965. They were at a celebration of the church's 145th anniversary.
In this 2011 photo taken at Historic Mount Zion AME Church, Sollie Mitchell, left, a church member for 60 years, shares a laugh with Ophelia Toston who had been a member since 1965. They were at a celebration of the church's 145th anniversary.

Mr. Mitchell worked on railroads until his retirement in 1981, as both a Pullman porter and a chair cart attendant with the Atlantic Coastline Railroad. He was a longtime Mason, a life member of the NAACP, a philanthropist, a member of Historic Mount Zion AME Church for more than seven decades and the recipient of numerous awards from local civic groups.

His obituary said he was predeceased by his wife, Mary Barnett Mitchell. Survivors include his nephews, Maurice Barnett, Jr. (Carolyn) and Charles Barnett (Mary); grandnieces and nephews; sister-in-law Pearl C. Barnett and a number of other relatives and friends. Services were held a few days after his death.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville's oldest World War II veteran dies at 103