(KAIR)--Special recognition is given to a Benedictine College alumnus, and the first African-American three-star general in United States history, who, this week, will see a military fort named in his honor.

That's according to a release from Atchison's Benedictine College, which says Lt. General Arthur Gregg (retired), graduated from B.C. summa cum laude in December of 1964 with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Education.

Gregg, the college says, “enlisted in a segregated military in 1946...[and] steadily rose through the ranks.” It was while attending the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, he came to Benedictine College, then known as St. Benedict's, as one of the first “Bootstrappers,” “the group of military officers who participated in a government program to complete their college education.”

On Thursday, the United States Army will officially redesignate Fort Lee, in Virginia, as Fort Gregg-Adams, honoring both the B.C. alumnus, as well as Lt. Col. Charity Adams, the first black officer in the women's Army Auxiliary Corp during World War II.

The college, in the release, credits Gregg for “his perseverance in the face of prejudice,” and calls him “an example of patriotism and love of country.”