ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The last remaining Buffalo Soldier was laid to rest on Monday. A funeral for Rev. Robert Dixon was held at Metropolitan New Testament Mission Baptist Church in Albany. Rev. Dixon passed away last week at the age of 103.
Buffalo Soldiers were an all-Black cavalry regiment that served at West Point after the Civil War. Rev. Dixon grew up in New York City and enlisted in the army in 1941. He served in the military for five years and earned several honors later in life, but he never sought out the spotlight.
“He wasn’t one to talk about himself. The one thing I’ll say is these four words came to mind: God, family, community and self. And if you think about it, it’s not just the words, it’s the order of the words. So he didn’t think about himself. We were shocked. We knew he went to West Point, but I did not know he was a Buffalo Soldier until probably in his 90s because he never talked about it. And it wasn’t about what he did. He did what he did, but he didn’t need to talk about it.”
Rev. Dixon continued serving his community after leaving the military. He fought against racial injustice and established the Albany Police Review Board. He was also a longtime pastor of the Mount Calvary Baptist Church.
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