More than five decades after his death, William H. Copeland’s family discovered another chapter in the story of a father, Marine and longtime MVSU food service director whose legacy of courage, education and service continues through generations.

Donnell Maxie, Communications Director

ITTA BENA, Miss. — There are some things a father tells his son that never leave him.

For Dr. Vincent H. Copeland, it was just three words.

“Be a doctor.”

He was only five years old when his father, William Heard Copeland, spoke those words. There was no lengthy speech or carefully mapped-out career plan. His father believed in hard work and education, and those three words were enough.

“He’s the reason I am a doctor,” Copeland said. “I remember at age five he said, ‘Be a doctor,’ and that was all the motivation I needed.”

Vincent Copeland followed that advice. He became a dentist and spent 33 years in private practice in Memphis, Tennessee, and Tunica, Mississippi. Today, he serves as an assistant professor at Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry and as a dentist with Total Health at Meharry Medical College.

But it would take more than five decades after his father’s death for Copeland to discover something else about the man who had shaped his life.

His father had made history.

William H. Copeland was a Montford Point Marine.

“Growing up, I knew my dad served in the military, but I didn’t know the specific details,” Copeland said. “His military service is something he never talked about.”

The discovery came when Copeland found his father’s military discharge papers. Until then, he had never known the significance of his father’s service.

“I didn’t know he was a Montford Point Marine until 52 years after his death,” he said.

That discovery has now led the Copeland family to a moment they could hardly have imagined.

On Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, William H. Copeland will be posthumously honored during the 17th annual Montford Point Marine Day Ceremony and Congressional Gold Medal Presentation in Jacksonville, North Carolina. The ceremony is scheduled for 8 a.m. at the Montford Point Marine Memorial at Lejeune Memorial Gardens.

For his son, the recognition is both historic and deeply personal.

“Seeing my dad receive the Congressional Gold Medal fills my heart with pride I can barely put into words,” Copeland said. “He was a trailblazing Montford Point Marine, and I am endlessly blessed to be his son. His strength, resilience and quiet courage paved the way for so many.”

William H. Copeland entered the U.S. Marine Corps on April 19, 1943, and began active service April 28, 1943, according to military records preserved by his family. He served during World War II and was discharged Oct. 25, 1945, holding the rank of steward assistant second class.

His service came at a pivotal time in Marine Corps history.

Approximately 20,000 African American Marines trained at Montford Point, a segregated facility near Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, between 1942 and 1949. They served their country while confronting racial segregation and discrimination within the military they had volunteered to defend.

Their perseverance helped break racial barriers in the Marine Corps and contributed to the eventual integration of the U.S. armed forces. In 2011, President Barack Obama signed legislation awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the Montford Point Marines in recognition of their service and sacrifices.

“To be a Montford Point Marine meant enduring segregation and doubt, yet he answered the call to serve anyway,” Copeland said. “My dad’s Congressional Gold Medal is a testament to the unshakable spirit he showed me my entire life.”

The same commitment to service that defined William Copeland’s years in uniform would later become part of the formative history of Mississippi Valley State University.

The Copeland family played an integral role at Valley during the institution’s early years. William Copeland was hand-selected by founding President J.H. White to serve as food services director. His wife, Melba Copeland, also served the institution as a hostess in the school’s cafeteria.

For more than 17 years, William Copeland helped oversee an operation that did much more than put meals on tables. He was also involved in the design of what is now the H.M. Ivy Cafeteria during the institution’s years as Mississippi Valley State College.

His son, however, remembers that his father’s impact could never be fully measured by a job title or length of service.

It could be measured in people.

“He loved Mississippi Valley and was a big supporter of the school and the students,” Copeland said. “I still have people come up to me when I tailgate at Valley to say how much my dad helped them. He fed a lot of students in the cafeteria who didn’t have the money to buy meals.”

Decades later, those encounters have given Vincent Copeland glimpses into the impact his father had on students. People who once walked through the cafeteria as young college students now approach his son to tell him that his father helped them when they needed it most.

For some, his legacy was as simple — and as significant — as making sure they had something to eat.

William Copeland’s contributions to the university were significant enough that the street surrounding the cafeteria was named in his honor as a tribute to his service to the institution.

Even his final farewell reflected his connection to Valley. Funeral services for William Heard Copeland were held May 23, 1974, in H.G. Carpenter Auditorium, now known as the Walter Roberts Auditorium on the MVSU campus.

But William and Melba Copeland were building something beyond their own years of service to the university. Their example helped create a family culture centered on education, opportunity and service.

“I grew up on a college campus, so that exposed me early on to other Black professionals,” Vincent Copeland said.

Education was woven throughout his family. His maternal grandparents were school principals, his paternal grandmother was a teacher, and his mother was an educator. His father also helped his two youngest sisters attend college and maintained a strong love for his alma mater, Tuskegee.

“A great deal of my family were educators, and they instilled that passion for education in me,” Copeland said.

That passion would eventually take the five-year-old boy who was told to “be a doctor” into a 33-year career in dentistry.

And then the legacy traveled another generation.

Vincent Copeland and his wife, Helen Copeland, MSW, RDH, a 1985 MVSU graduate, have continued the family’s connection to education and health care. Both have worked at Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry since 2023.

Vincent Copeland serves as an assistant professor and dentist with Total Health at Meharry Medical College. Helen Copeland serves as a senior administrative assistant in clinical affairs at the School of Dentistry.

Together, they have raised four daughters whose careers and education reflect the values passed down through the Copeland family.

Their oldest daughter, Dr. Jasmine Copeland, is a pediatric dentist. Dr. Alexis Copeland is a general dentist. Dr. Kayla Copeland is a second-year pediatric dental resident at Howard University, and Valeah Copeland is a third-year dental student at Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry.

For their father, those accomplishments represent more than degrees, titles or careers. He sees in his daughters the same values his parents worked to instill in him: integrity, empathy, kindness, accountability and hard work.

“When I look at my daughters, I see other values my parents had: loving God, loving family, perseverance, service, and showing respect and dignity to their elders,” Copeland said.

Jasmine Copeland said learning more about her grandfather’s place in Marine Corps history has given the family an even deeper appreciation for the legacy they inherited.

“My grandfather’s willingness to serve as one of the first Black Marines represents courage, sacrifice and a willingness to serve something greater than himself,” she said. “Knowing that he was part of the early history of the Marine Corps makes his story even more meaningful to our family, and I am grateful for the example he set for the generations that came after him.”

That example now stretches across generations.

It began with a man who answered the call to serve his country at a time when his country’s military did not afford him equal treatment. It continued with a food service director who helped build a young Mississippi Valley State College and quietly made sure students were fed, even when some could not afford a meal.

It lived on in the son he encouraged to become a doctor.

And today, it can be seen in four granddaughters carrying the family’s commitment to education, health care and service into another generation.

More than 80 years have passed since William H. Copeland began active service in the Marine Corps, and more than five decades have passed since his death. Yet, in many ways, his story is still being discovered.

Friday’s Congressional Gold Medal presentation will recognize the young Black Marine who answered his country’s call in 1943 despite the barriers placed before him.

For Mississippi Valley State, it is also an opportunity to remember a man whose fingerprints can be found in the university’s formative years — a man selected by its founding president, who spent more than 17 years serving the institution, helped shape its food service operation and cared enough about its students to make sure those without money could still eat.

For the Copeland family, the moment will carry an even deeper meaning.

It will honor the Marine.

It will honor the Valley servant.

It will honor the husband and father whose belief in education helped establish a family tradition that continues generations later.

And it will honor the father who once looked at his five-year-old son and gave him an instruction that would help shape the course of his life:

“Be a doctor.”

“I am honored to stand on the shoulders of giants like my dad and mom,” Copeland said.

When his father’s Congressional Gold Medal is presented Friday, it will represent a chapter of William Copeland’s life his son did not fully discover until decades after his death.

But the qualities behind the medal — courage, sacrifice, perseverance and service — were qualities Vincent Copeland had been witnessing all along.

“No words can accurately express the deep pride and joy I have for my dad as a trailblazing Montford Point Marine and the honor I have for receiving his long-overdue Congressional Gold Medal,” Copeland said.

For a son who has spent a lifetime walking in the footsteps of the man who first told him to become a doctor, perhaps the simplest words say it best.

“I am overwhelmingly proud to call him my father.”