In 1942, Percy Ricks wanted to join the Army. He found out the Army didn't want him. "They said they had enough (blacks)," said Mr. Ricks, 81, an Augustan who now lives at the Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home, where he is battling Parkinson's disease. Despite the inauspicious start, Mr. Ricks would become one of the first blacks to command troops in a still-segregated Army. As a young man in Adrian, Ga., Mr. Ricks had big plans. He wanted to go to Morehouse College and study business administration.

Augusta has lost a piece of its history.