On Saturday, January 27, 2024 members of the American Legion gathered with family and friends of the late Mr. Herman Jenkins and community leaders to dedicate post 4 to honor the legacy of this amazing man. The site will now be officially known as the Herman Jenkins Memorial Post 4 Lakeland.
The following bio was read at the dedication ceremony, highlighting the impactful life of this giant who served both his country and our Lakeland community.
Mr. Herman Jenkins passed on September 1, 2023, at the age of 104. Mr. Jenkins is a 1937 graduate of Washington Park High School — an all-Black school during segregation — and a World War II veteran who stormed the beach at Normandy in the second wave on D-Day. But many local Baby Boomers know the 104-year-old Lakeland man as a photographer. His legacy to the African American Baby Boomer generation is that of a photographer.
He took many pictures of young Black kids and their new Easter outfits, school pictures and pictures during the holidays for most African American kids in Lakeland during the 1950s and 60s, Mr. Herman Jenkins was a self-taught photographer, and the first professional photographer that many Lakeland Baby Boomers knew.
For many in the Black community, the photographs Jenkins took are treasured mementos displayed in the homes of their parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents.
Jenkins and his family moved to Lakeland when he was 2 years old and he grew up to become a part of the generation that saved the world from the Axis Powers – Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan. He was drafted into the U.S. Army after the start of World War II and trained in Massachusetts and England before crossing the English Channel to liberate Europe from the Nazis. He remembered seeing the hulls of sunken military vessels in the water and a sky filled with airplanes as they approached the beach to participate in the largest military battle in the history of the world.
Herman Jenkins was able to participate in the Flight to Honor in 2022, he was glad to be able to finally see the WWII monument.