On His Deathbed, a Black Ex-Soldier Makes a Plea to Clear His Name

He worked at organizations that fought drug abuse and promoted mental health awareness. He sought to prevent the spread of H.I.V. and AIDS, handing out condoms at events. And in 2009, when Mr. Mayes was 75, he joined the N.A.A.C.P.’s Brooklyn branch. On its Civic Engagement Committee he became a regular presence in poor, black neighborhoods, urging young men to register to vote with the verve of a preacher seeking converts. He visited homes and jails, but he was particularly drawn to large events, where the crowds were greater.

“All over Brooklyn, basketball tournaments,” said Onida Mayers, 54, who worked at Mr. Mayes’s side until, in his late 70s, his health began to decline. “He always wanted to be sure that young black men knew their rights and had a future. That they had the tools they needed.”

Ms. Mayers would later write a letter to the Army supporting Mr. Mayes’s appeal for a new discharge status: “Mr. Mayes utilized all his resources to assist people trapped in these negative cycles: monetary, physical and mental.”

He was in the early stages of declining health when he approached lawyers in New York in 2016 who specialize in applying for upgrades in military discharges. He was among the very oldest of former servicemen to seek an upgrade — generally, the clients on the older end of the spectrum were from the Vietnam era.

In Mr. Mayes’s case, an upgrade from dishonorable to honorable or general discharge, besides possibly providing him with a pension and other veteran benefits, would make him eligible for burial in a national cemetery.

“I am a rehabilitated man,” he wrote in 2017, “and I hope to have the right to be buried in a national cemetery with my comrades-in-arms.”

The Secretary of the Army has the authority to upgrade a discharge immediately. In 2017, that office denied Mr. Mayes’s request. His lawyers filed a new application on Friday, and the office of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has requested a meeting with the acting army secretary and has urged that the case be considered quickly.