WWII Veteran Gordon Kirk honored on his 100th birthday

By James L. Stroud, Jr.

Contributing Writer

On Thursday, March 23, WWII veteran and long-time St. Paul resident Gordon Kirk joined the exclusive demographic known as centenarians, celebrating his 100th birthday with a little help from family and friends.

A little over 100 people gathered at the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center in St. Paul in the early afternoon for a birthday party in Kirk’s honor.

The event was organized by the Hallie Q. Brown Men’s Retirement Club.

“I still feel like a young man. I don’t feel like I’m 100,” Kirk told the MSR. “I don’t do anything special. I do eat a big breakfast every day, but no special diet because I eat everything you put on the table.”

Known for his love of community and advocacy work with Minnesota veterans, Kirk first served in the army under

General Patton’s Vanguard as a quartermaster during a time when U.S. troops were segregated. After the war he returned home and joined the Twin Star VFW Post 8854, becoming a life member in

1964.

From 1995 to 1996 Kirk became the first African American to be elected as state watch commander of the Minnesota Department of VFW. Currently, he still works as an advocate for veterans at the VA Hospital. Asked how much longer he would continue to advocate for veterans, Kirk said, “Until the day I die.” The celebration was upbeat who once stood six feet tall with brown locs and a warm, welcoming smile. He was unrecognizable.

“When I first saw the [autopsy photos], I literally had a physical reaction and jumped,” said Traheren Crews, founder of Black Lives Matter Minnesota.

“I mean, I had heard about this earlier in the summer. But to actually see it?... They said he was beaten worse than Emmett Till. Then once I saw the photos I was like, ‘Wow!’”

Liah Milli, a family friend, had a similar reaction. “I didn’t even know what to say. I thought it was a joke,” she said. “Nobody believed that was him…’Cause you know, Kalil was a handsome person. He was handsome.”

Lopez, like many others, thought it was unreal. “I just felt like I froze. I still can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. I can’t put it to him because it just, it looks nothing like him. His whole face is distorted. It’s not even the man that I know.”

“It’s something you literally see in a movie,” Henderson said. “You