 He attended Brooklyn Automotive Trades High School, graduating in 1944.Drafted into the Army after high school, he served as a military policeman and a criminal investigator with the Army in Europe for two years.Ward entered the NYPD on June 1, 1951 as a patrolman, becoming the first black officer assigned to Brooklyn's 80th Precinct, where he faced resentment from both white residents and white fellow cops.