Former Sarasota mayor recalls family's history of military service

Willie Charles Shaw has worn many hats.

He’s served in the U.S. Air Force, an employee of the U.S. Postal Service and a city commissioner and mayor of Sarasota, and he is a reverend at Mount Tabor Missionary Baptist Church.

The hat of a veteran is one he's proud to wear every day, and in fact, he keeps a collection of about 14 different caps representing different aspects of the service, which is still growing in size. 

His service is important to him not only because of how it impacted his own life, but because of its significance to his family, which stretches back in Sarasota for generations. 

He said many people may not be aware of how many Black citizens served in the military, such as his father Wade C. Shaw, who served in World War II, or his uncles Clarence Wells and Henry Limbrick, who served in World War I.

Yet he emphasizes his family’s story is not unique.

“There's history, and then there's our story. Our story is not always as well-told,” he said.

A rich history

You'll often find Shaw at the Greater Newtown Historical Gallery, where he loves sharing the history of Newtown, Sarasota's predominantly Black community, with anyone who is interested. 

A native of Sarasota whose family extends back in the area for generations, he has memories of growing up in the Newtown area, and effortlessly recalls the names of people and places. 

Shaw was born in 1947 at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, under segregation at the time, as was Sarasota at large. 

“We didn’t go to the beach. We had to go to the Skyway for a beach…” he said. “I remember colored and white water fountains on what is now Fruitville.”

Shaw says the influence of his father Wade C. Shaw, a truck driver for a lumber company, was important to him as he was growing up, when he attended the Booker schools and performed work helping his parents, including his mother who worked as a housekeeper, in their jobs. 

He said while his mother taught him how to keep many aspects of the home in order, his father helped him to assert himself, also serving as a father figure to many of his friends. 

"You had to be able to speak up and speak out,” he said. 

He also calls his family "very much military-minded."

“My dad kept up shop. We polished our shoes, and he drilled us. 'Right face, left face, forward, march. To the rear,” he said.

Photo by Ian Swaby

A staff sergeant in World War II, Wade C. Shaw served in General George Patton’s Third Army, helping transport troops and supplies on the famous Red Ball Express. 

The 1944 trucking operation supplied the American troops as they faced the German troops during the Battle of the Bulge. 

Afterward, he headed to Japan with his truck company following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as part of what Shaw said he thinks was an occupation troop.

He spent the rest of his time in the military there until his return home. 

Shaw said he doesn't know his father's specific inspiration for serving, but it likely arose from his time in a Black unit of the Civilian Conservation Corps which built Myakka River State Park, and from which many people chose to enter the military. 

According to the National World War II Museum, more than one million African American men and women served in every branch of the U.S. Armed Forces in roles not limited to nurses, engineers, truck drivers, gunners, and paratroopers.

However, Shaw's family’s history of service goes back even further, to others including his uncles Clarence Wells and Henry Limbrick, who served in World War I, or his cousin Jerry Hempfield, who served in the Spanish-American War.

Wells was part of the Quartermaster Corps, a military unit that supplied troops with food, equipment, and services, while Limbrick received a small stipend from the VA due to injuries from poison gas, until his death in about 1968.

Following in his family's footsteps 

Shaw chose to enlist in the Air Force in 1967 at the age of about 19, as an individual that was due for the draft during the Vietnam War. 

“It was just a part of me to serve, being a part of it, my uncles, my dad, cousins kinfolk, that participated," he said. 

He performed the role of security, serving as an air policeman and then a security policeman. 

“My military experience for me was not only exciting, it was engaging," he said. "That’s what I wanted to do. My four years there, I wouldn’t take anything for that experience."

He said with the troops being integrated, he enjoyed the experience of meeting many different people, and maintains many friendships. 

His first tour of duty brought him to Osan Air Base in Korea. During his 13 months there, the taking of the USS Pueblo occurred. 

This ship is the only ship of the U.S. Navy currently on the "commissioned" roster while held captive.

From there, he returned to the United States, where he was stationed at Carswell Air Force Base in Texas, overseeing aircraft of the Strategic Air Command as the youngest sergeant on the base. 

One quality he says he developed in the military was an appreciation for jazz, as a result of being exposed to music by the greats of the genre. 

“I tell people all the time, there's two ways to listen," he said. "You can listen to it, or you can listen at it. If you listen at it, you hear what you want to hear, but if you listen to it, you become a part of it."

He says he also developed qualities that helped him upon leading in the military, eventually becoming a city commissioner and mayor. 

“I went in, being obedient, being able to follow orders,” he said, noting that afterwards, he became a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, serving as a steward chief, steward vice president, and president of his local union. 

“Coming out of the military, I had accountability, responsibility," he said. 

He said some people are surprised when they learn of the Black community's military contributions throughout history, but it's something he loves to emphasize, even beyond his own family. 

Photo by Ian Swaby

For instance, he says the site of Robert L. Taylor Community Complex was once a site where African American service members stationed in Sarasota and Bradenton would gather to dance. 

“We were there in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War. We've been here all along,” he said.

He says although the African American community has made progress, there is still lots of work to be done. 

“The more things change, the more they remain the same, in that we have grown and gone quite a ways, but we're still in the same place, in so many places,” he said.

He says many needs of Newtown remain to be met, while he wants to see it embraced as part of the city's scene, with businesses restored along Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.

“The county just came up with $200 million-plus for hurricane relief, but the money for (housing and urban development) and resiliency isn't being directed to the places we need it, and that’s here in this area, where we would see revitalization,” he said.

However, he says the recognition of Newtown as a historical preservation district in 2024, which will prevent the area from being gentrified as others have, is an important step forward.

He also says an important part of change is the opportunity for people to learn about the past, and the Black community's contributions to history.

“I'm open to share this, Black, white, the persons of Sarasota," he said. "I love doing that.”