“and I said, ‘you go down and tell them the next time I walk into that place, as a corporal, wearing the uniform of an Air Force person, that they serve me.”
In the Air Force Lincoln Alexander served as a wireless operator in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II. While stationed in Vancouver, Alexander was refused service at a bar because of his race. When he reported the incident to a superior officer, and the officer refused to take action, Alexander quit the Air Force, leaving in 1945 with an honourable discharge.
“at that time they didn’t know how to deal with race relations of this sort of thing, they just turned a blind eye to it.”
In 1985, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney appointed Alexander as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. He became the first black person to serve in a vice regal position in Canada.