Joseph Arthur Ankrah
| Joseph Arthur Ankrah | |
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Lt. General Joseph A. Ankrah
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| 2nd Head of state of Ghana (First Military Head of state) |
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In office 24 February 1966 – 2 April 1969 |
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| Preceded by | Kwame Nkrumah |
| Succeeded by | Akwasi Afrifa |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 August 1915 Accra, Gold Coast |
| Died | 25 November 1992 (aged 77) Accra, Ghana |
| Nationality | Ghanaian |
| Political party | military |
| Spouse(s) | Mildred Christina Akosiwor Fugar (d.2005) |
| Profession | Soldier |
| Religion | Christian - Methodist |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | Ghana Army |
| Years of service | 1940 - 1969 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Commands | Chief of the Defence Staff |
| Appointed after coup d'état of 24 February 1966 | |
Lieutenant General Joseph Arthur Ankrah (18 August 1915 – 25 November 1992) served as the first commander of the Army of Ghana, the Ghanaian Chief of the Defence Staff and from 1966 and 1969 as the second head of state. Ankrah also served as Chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity from 24 February to 5 November 1966.
Ankrah was born on 18 August 1915 in Accra to the Ga family of Samuel Paul Cofie Ankrah, an overseer for the Christian Missionary Society and Beatrice Abashie Quaynor, a trader. Ankrah began his schooling in 1921 at the Wesleyan Methodist School in Accra, where his nickname was 'Ankrah Patapaa' for his "forcefulness in arguments and always playing leadership role among his mates". In 1932, he entered Accra Academy, one of the leading secondary schools in Ghana, where he established himself as a good football player. He obtained the Senior Cambridge School Certificate in 1937. He then joined the Ghana Civil Service.
On the outbreak of World War II, Ankrah was mobilized into the Royal West African Frontier Force . While his Brigade was in East Africa in 1940, he was transferred to the Record Office in Accra with the rank of Warrant Officer Class II and made second-in-command. In October 1946, he went to the Marshfield Officer Cadets Training Unit in the United Kingdom and graduated in February 1947 as the first African officer in the Gold Coast Army. He was commissioned a lieutenant in 1947 and became the first African camp commandant at the Army Headquarters. He was later made the first Ghanaian Chief Instructor of the Education Unit. He was promoted Major in 1956 and became the first African to command an all-African company, the Charlie Company of the first Battalion at Tamale, Ghana. He later became Lieutenant Colonel and took over the whole battalion. He rose to rank of colonel by 1960, at a time when there were few Ghanaian officers at that level. During the United Nations Operation in the Congo, he was the Brigade Commander of the force based at Luluaburg, Kasai in present-day Democratic Republic of Congo. He was the only Ghanaian awarded the Military Cross in Leopoldville for acts of unsurpassed gallantry in Congo in 1961. The citation read:
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