Left Harlem for Military Service
Rangel was born in Harlem on June 11, 1930, the second of his parents' three children, and was raised by his mother and her father. He grew up amid the drugs and street crime that would later become his main concerns as an elected official. Rangel attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx but dropped out during his junior year. After working a few low-paying jobs that offered little in the way of satisfaction or potential, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1948. Sent to Korea, he took part in heavy combat there. After rescuing some forty soldiers from behind enemy lines, he was decorated with both the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for valor.
Army life opened new doors for Rangel. He felt no desire to become a career soldier... But even though the Army was no haven of equal opportunity, Rangel's tour of duty was a pivotal life experience. For the first time he saw alternatives to the poverty that was the norm in Harlem, and he knew he would never go back to that way of life.
Discharged honorably as a staff sergeant in 1952, Rangel immediately began work on completion of his high school education. In one year's time he went through two years' worth of study and earned his diploma in 1953. By 1957 he had graduated from New York University's School of Commerce, becoming the first person in his family to get a college degree. His academic performance was stellar and won him a full scholarship to St. John's University, the largest Roman Catholic university in the United States.