It was early January 1960, when I arrived from the U.S. in the moderately rebuilt war-torn city of Frankfurt, Germany. I was greeted at the airport not only with an avalanche of freshly laid snow but in accordance with military clearance decorum, two-armed Military Intelligence Police escorted me, a newly commissioned 2nd Lieutenant (from West Virginia State) to a secluded Basic Officers Quarters for orientation and briefing in the European Theater. Soon thereafter, with duty assignments and travels to multiple military installations in Spain, France, Italy, Amsterdam, and Berlin, I was appalled by the small number of Black enlisted personnel and officers I encountered during my routine movements throughout Europe. When finally assigned to military housing I was fortunately transferred into a community in which a fellow brother resided. Namely, Brother (Captain) Horace Brissette, a graduate of Virginia State College, and his wife. They lived across the street from my family and naturally, our families became close. When I first introduced the topic of organizing and forming a local chapter in Frankfurt, Germany, Brother Brissette implied the brothers in the immediate area might be unwilling to give up their “free time” to fraternize. After many one-on-one discussions, including pros and cons, we decided to expand our search beyond the Frankfurt area.

In early 1961, the paperwork started. I wrote a letter of inquiry to Brother H. Carl Moultrie, (Esq.), our then National Executive Secretary, in Washington D.C. Brother Moultrie responded enthusiastically and outlined the prerequisites for forming a graduate chapter in Frankfurt, Germany. I excitedly shared the correspondence with Brother Brissette, who in the meantime had found a third brother in the area, Lieutenant Russell Powell, also from West Virginia State. In collaboration, the three of us began to explore ways to find other graduate Omega brothers in order to meet the membership criteria set forth by the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity National Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

We also recognized the need to be fully sanctioned by the Headquarters, US Army, Europe (HQUSAE) Command, to ensure our legitimacy to function as a fraternity in Europe. I wrote a letter to the Commanding Officer of the Europen Command requesting permission to organize within the command. Within days my request was returned “denied’, without rationale for its refusal. I immediately responded to the rejection via telephone and was told, “the decision was based on the negative activities of civil unrest back in the United States,” subtly inferring that we could potentially exist as a springboard for subversive behaviors in Europe. I then queried about how similar professional organizing requests had been handled in the past. I was told that there were no such requests on file in Europe. Shocked, annoyed, and bewildered, I surmised our structured organizational integrity and efforts were at stake. Without scrapping our respective interests, the three of us vowed to pursue and jointly pondered our next constructive move.

Realizing timing was of the essence and our original pioneering dream dwindling slowly, I remembered a brief scenario I had encountered in the late summer of 1961. While serving as a volunteer coach for a local teenage American Youth Association (AYA) football team in Frankfurt, I was in the midst of demonstrating various techniques and drills to a player on how to block an opponent, when a 2 star General (Major General Creighton W. Abrams) tapped me on the shoulder with his ‘swagger stick’ and exclaimed, “Give him hell, Lieutenant”, referring to his son’s lackadaisical attitude. Caught off guard (in my military fatigue uniform), I hastily tried to salute the General, but he retorted, “at ease - carry on!”. On occasions, the General would drop in on our drill exercises, and I vaguely remembered him saying to meet at one practice, “Lieutenant, call me if you ever need anything”.

Remembering that offer and keenly aware of the routine and astute chain-of-command protocol, I casually and gingerly informed the General of my interest to coordinate a fraternal organization extension in Europe and the dilemma I faced, in spite of the fact the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity was Incorporated and approved by the United States Congress in 1914. When asked by the General “what's the problem”, I cited the fact that local Frankfurt Headquarters USAE COmmand (United States Army Europe Command) personnel had denied my initial and formal request to organize in Europe.

The General (Major General Creighton W. Abrams) respectively, unknowingly played a key role in our venture and instructed me to redirect my original request the next day to his First Sergeant and include a note about the 1914 inception and he’d take care of the rest. Within a few days, the much-delayed signal to proceed arrived and with the Headquarters, United States Army Europe (HQUSAE) Command approval we were able to move forward.

After this triumphant accomplishment, I then returned to the mission at hand. With a few personal contacts in the Armed Forces Europe news media, such as the ‘Stars and Stripes’ newspaper and the ’AFN’ (Armed Forces Network) radio station, I was able to obtain free advertising for our first fraternity gathering at the Casino Officers and Civilians’ Club in Frankfurt, Germany, in May of 1962. As telephone calls from brothers began to dribble in, some enlisted brothers voiced a reluctance to gather or meet at the Officers club because of their rank. They were assured as ‘brothers’, they would be our invited guests and it would not be an infringement or dereliction of duty as a result of their organizational visit to the officers’ club. An appropriate marquee was placed at the front entrance of the club to ensure those reluctant brothers who might come, would not develop cold feet and retreat.

Our success was in the making, as we were able to gather nine brothers at our first meeting in Frankfurt, Germany on Sunday, May 20, 1962. At a formal second meeting on Sunday, June 24, 1962 at the same location, twenty brothers were in attendance ~ a magnificent achievement of 20 PEARLS! From this gathering, routine paperwork and documents were sent back to the states for validation as we had satisfied the Fraternity’s Supreme Council requirements for a Grad Chapter assignment. Soon thereafter, we were in receipt of our graduate chapter embossed “Charter” in hand, thus officially designating the Greek letter name of “Theta Rho Chapter” of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, with headquarters and operations in Frankfurt, Germany, in the calendar year 1962. An original photo of Chartered Brothers was also taken and published in the 1962 September issue of ‘The ORACLE’ on page 10.

The distinguished and elite brotherhood of purple and gold had carved out an unparalleled niche with this groundbreaking realization. This unique milestone has propelled Theta Rho Chapter and the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity to an unprecedented worldwide recognition, in becoming the first historically black Greek-lettered fraternity to officially organize and function in Europe. The Mighty Theta Rho continues to thrive ‘til this day.

Sincerely,

Brother Joseph E. Washington

Initiated - Theta Psi Chapter - 1957