May 28, 2001

As any GI knows, it is a soldier's fate to hurry up and wait.

Isaiah Mays, born a slave in Virginia and died a Medal of Honor recipient in Arizona, would have understood that delays are part of the military life.

It has been 76 years since Mays, a courageous, sacrificing "Buffalo Soldier" was laid to rest in a grave that bore no name. It will be a few more days before Mays' heroism is officially acknowledged with a stone memorial noting the gallantry that earned him the nation's highest military honor, an acknowledgement originally scheduled for today at the Arizona State Hospital's cemetery in Phoenix.

Because of President Bush's visit to Mesa today, though, a ceremonial tribute to Mays' heroism near old Fort Thomas in 1889 has been postponed. But it will not be forgotten this Memorial Day.

On May 11, 1889, Mays was part of a troop of 10 cavalry escorting the Army paymaster, Major 
J. W. Wham, and $28,000 in cash, to Fort Thomas. The convoy was beset by a dozen or more bandits, and in the ensuing shootout, nearly all of the soldiers were wounded, including Mays, who was shot in both legs.

Despite his wounds, Mays walked and crawled two miles to a ranch to get help for his comrades. For their bravery in the fight, Mays and Sgt. Benjamin Brown, another member of the Army's all-Black "Buffalo Soldier" cavalry troop, were awarded the Medal of Honor in 1890.

Maj. Wham, a Civil War veteran, recalled of the fight: "I never witnessed better courage or better fighting than that shown by these colored soldiers."

Discharged after an incident with an officer in 1893, Mays died impoverished at the Arizona State Hospital in 1925. He was denied even the paltry pension afforded soldiers then because of the incident. For decades, his grave was marked only by a number, until an intrepid veteran named Frank Tyndall found Mays' grave several years ago. Tyndall and other veterans helped assure that Mays' grave would be marked with a proper headstone.

With the help of Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Arizona., who sits on the Veterans Affairs Committee, Mays' grave now will be marked with a memorial that notes his bravery under fire.

It has been a long time coming.