"Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc. does not have, nor has it ever endorsed, a mascot of any type to be representative of the organization. So why do so many Omega men like the "dog" image? WE ARE NOT DOGS, even though those who misunderstand us would view us as otherwise because we possess a "dawg"-matic determination to make changes and the tenacity to see them through, the loyalty of man's best friend and the guardianship to protect the ones we love."
Courtesy of Gamma Chapter
(Colonel Charles D. Young as a young officer in the Cavalry)
An outstanding individual that would not recognize the idea of defeat or submission, Colonel Charles Young became the third Black graduate from the United States Military Academy in 1889. He later became the second man to act upon the four cardinal principles with an unquenchable passion which earned him the title of the second honorary member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
Born on March 12, 1864 in Mayslick, Kentucky, Young and his parents moved to Ripley, Ohio at an early age. He completed high school at the age of sixteen and taught until he won an appointment to West Point in 1884. After his trails at West Point, Young was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the renowned Tenth Cavalry. In 1894, He became a military instructor at Wilberforce University, Ohio and was later reassigned to the Ninth Ohio Regiment which deployed to Cuba at the onset of the Spanish-American War.
(Chris, Bobby, and O.J. give their respects to Colonel Charles Young)
After the war, Young served in the Philippines and in Haiti, as well as in the Mexican campaign of 1915 where he commanded a squadron of the Tenth Cavalry which rescued a group of ambushed white soldiers near Parral, Mexico. Declared physically unfit for service overseas in W.W.I, Young rode on horse back from his home in Xenia, Ohio to Washington D.C. where, to no avail, he protested the decision of the War Department to retire him from active duty.
Five days before the Armistice, however, Young was reinstated to active duty and ordered to Camp Grant in Illinois to take charge of trainees. Sent to Liberia after completing this assignment, Young helped organize the army there. W.E.B. DuBois, a dear friend to Colonel Charles Young, questioned the ethics of the Department of Defense's actions in sending him to Liberia but not to W.W.I to command and inevitably earn the stars of a general officer. Young, however, accepted this assignment without complaint nor protest. His dedication to serve his country and his people, both in the United States and abroad, guided his actions and gave him strength.
He entered Omega Chapter on January 2, 1922 of a fever contracted while he was on furlough in Nigeria and was returned to the United States and buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, just across the river from Washington, D.C., where he overlooks the same government which he sacrificed his life to serve.
(Colonel Charles D. Young's grave in Arlington National Cemetery)