Showing posts with label Tuskegee Airmen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tuskegee Airmen. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
National Museum of African American History-- Part 4: Tuskegee Airmen, Chuck Berry and Althea Gibson
The black story is not just the story of oppression and struggle. It is about achievement, heroism and a vibrant culture.
A PT-13D biplane, used by the Tuskegee Institute to train black pilots for World War II duty hangs from the ceiling. Louis Armstrong's trumpet is there as well as a parking space for Chuck Berry's red Cadillac convertible. There is also a tennis racket used by Althea Gibson, the first black woman to compete in (and win) Wimbledon in the 1950s.
--DaCoot
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Buffalo Soldiers- Part 2
He said that he was one of the last group of Buffalo Soldiers, but that there were still some members from World War II and the Korean War alive, but not at this reunion.
He was looking forward to the Buffalo Soldier reunion to be held in Houston the last weekend in July and that at least nor World War II veteran was going to be there and that though he was in his early nineties, he still gets around.
Sadly, there are only around fifty Buffalo Soldiers still alive that they know of.
I told him I always felt it was a shame that these men, who risked their lives for their country would have been treated so poorly in the segregated military back then. That would include the Tuskegee Airmen and Montfort Marines.
A Great Experience Meeting This Man.
He was looking forward to the Buffalo Soldier reunion to be held in Houston the last weekend in July and that at least nor World War II veteran was going to be there and that though he was in his early nineties, he still gets around.
Sadly, there are only around fifty Buffalo Soldiers still alive that they know of.
I told him I always felt it was a shame that these men, who risked their lives for their country would have been treated so poorly in the segregated military back then. That would include the Tuskegee Airmen and Montfort Marines.
A Great Experience Meeting This Man.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Deaths: Civil Rights Pioneers
From the Jan. 19th and 26th, 2014, Chicago Tribune. //// JOHN W. ROGERS SR., 95. Member of the Tiskegee Airmen in World War II who became an attorney and Cook County (Chicago) Juvenile Court Judge. Died Jan. 21st. //// FRANKLIN McCAIN, 73. Died Jan. 9th. Civil Rights trailblazer and part of the "Greensboro Four" whose sit-in with friends at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, NC, spread across the South. //// Both these men withstood all sorts of hardships to further the lives of blacks in the United States. //// True Heroes.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Dead Page: Tuskegee Airman
WILLIAM WHEELER, 87
Mr. Wheeler was a student at Howard University in 1943 and "swallowed his bitterness, boarded a segregated train in Washington, DC, and headed south" to become part of a landmark in aviation program that trained nearly 1,000 black pilots who became known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
Wheeler said, "I hated the country at the time and wasn't sure I wanted to fight for it. But I realized that despite our nation's injustices, even slaves had fought for this country and black people had fought in every US war since. I felt I couldn't let the tradition down..
In recent years Mr. Wheeler has been very active in keeping the Airmen's legacy alive.
While at Howard, President Roosevelt ended the Army's refusal to train black pilots and set up the school at Tuskegee, Alabama. In 2007, he was in attendance when President Bush collectively presented the Congressional Gold Medal to the Tuskegee Airmen.
To stand up against the segregation and attitudes of the time was a remarkable story. And then to serve and continue being treated badly. Congratulations Mr. Wheeler, one of the Greatest Generation.
From the July 21st Chicago Tribune.
Mr. Wheeler was a student at Howard University in 1943 and "swallowed his bitterness, boarded a segregated train in Washington, DC, and headed south" to become part of a landmark in aviation program that trained nearly 1,000 black pilots who became known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
Wheeler said, "I hated the country at the time and wasn't sure I wanted to fight for it. But I realized that despite our nation's injustices, even slaves had fought for this country and black people had fought in every US war since. I felt I couldn't let the tradition down..
In recent years Mr. Wheeler has been very active in keeping the Airmen's legacy alive.
While at Howard, President Roosevelt ended the Army's refusal to train black pilots and set up the school at Tuskegee, Alabama. In 2007, he was in attendance when President Bush collectively presented the Congressional Gold Medal to the Tuskegee Airmen.
To stand up against the segregation and attitudes of the time was a remarkable story. And then to serve and continue being treated badly. Congratulations Mr. Wheeler, one of the Greatest Generation.
From the July 21st Chicago Tribune.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Tuskegee Airmen Plane to the Smithsonian
A PT-13 Stearman open cockpit biplane used by the airmen as a trainer has been located, bought, refurbished and turned over to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.
It was decommissioned in 1946 and for decades used for crop-dusting before being damaged in a crash.
It was purchased at auction and restored over a three-year period by former B-52 bomber pilot Matthew Quy.
It is one a just a few surviving planes with ties to Moton Field and the Tuskegee Institute where 1,000 black pilots got their wings during World War II.
A Great Part of History. --Cooter
It was decommissioned in 1946 and for decades used for crop-dusting before being damaged in a crash.
It was purchased at auction and restored over a three-year period by former B-52 bomber pilot Matthew Quy.
It is one a just a few surviving planes with ties to Moton Field and the Tuskegee Institute where 1,000 black pilots got their wings during World War II.
A Great Part of History. --Cooter
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Tuskegee Airmen
From the December 18, 2008, Chicago Tribune.
One of Indiana's last surviving Tuskegee Airman, Quentin Smith, 90, will get the chance to go to Washington, DC to be at the Obama inauguration with lots of help from friends. After the war, he was on the Gary, Indiana, city council and principal of a school.
Walter Palmer, 89, of Indianapolis, can't go because of his battle with stomach cancer.
From Danny Westmont's column in the Dec. 14, 2008, Seattle Times.
There are six surviving Tuskegee Airmen in the Seattle area.
Bill Holloman II remembers coming back from Europe by boat in the fall of 1945 after flying 19 combat missions. The 21-year-old landed in New York and seeing signs "Whites to the right. Coloreds to the left." "I saw that and knew I was back in the good ol' USA."
During the war, 994 pilots and 15,000 ground personnel trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. All were black in the segregated US Army at the time.
Westmont spoke with four of the survivors.
George Hickman, 84
Bill Booker, 86, in poor health
Perry Thomas, 85
Edward Drummond, 82
George Miller, 82
Holloman became the Air Force's first black helicopter pilot and flew combat missions in three wars" World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War. "I always say we were fighting two wars. The war against Hitler and the race war at home. Both were to preserve democracy."
Definitely Heroes of the Highest Caliber. --DaCoot
One of Indiana's last surviving Tuskegee Airman, Quentin Smith, 90, will get the chance to go to Washington, DC to be at the Obama inauguration with lots of help from friends. After the war, he was on the Gary, Indiana, city council and principal of a school.
Walter Palmer, 89, of Indianapolis, can't go because of his battle with stomach cancer.
From Danny Westmont's column in the Dec. 14, 2008, Seattle Times.
There are six surviving Tuskegee Airmen in the Seattle area.
Bill Holloman II remembers coming back from Europe by boat in the fall of 1945 after flying 19 combat missions. The 21-year-old landed in New York and seeing signs "Whites to the right. Coloreds to the left." "I saw that and knew I was back in the good ol' USA."
During the war, 994 pilots and 15,000 ground personnel trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. All were black in the segregated US Army at the time.
Westmont spoke with four of the survivors.
George Hickman, 84
Bill Booker, 86, in poor health
Perry Thomas, 85
Edward Drummond, 82
George Miller, 82
Holloman became the Air Force's first black helicopter pilot and flew combat missions in three wars" World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War. "I always say we were fighting two wars. The war against Hitler and the race war at home. Both were to preserve democracy."
Definitely Heroes of the Highest Caliber. --DaCoot
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tuskegee Airman Gives Talk
From the Feb. 26th Panama City News Herald.
Herbert Carver, 91, still lives in Tuskegee, Alabama, where he carved out a place in aviation and civil rights history as one of the original Tuskegee Airmen. He spoke at Tyndall Air Force Base Feb. 26th for Black Heritage Month.
As a young man he had thoughts of being a veterinarian but signed up to be an aviation cadet at the newly-formed group at Tuskegee Army Air Field. there were 13 cadets in the first class with a total of 992 graduating by the end of World War II.
He talked of doing double duty as a maintenance officer in North Africa and Europe and recalled planes he flew as being shot up and having to patch flak holes on return to base. They felt like they were fighting two wars, one in Europe and one against racism back home. According to Carter, they won one, but the lost the other. When "we got back home and nothing had changed."
The Tuskegee Airmen shot down 112 enemy aircraft in flight and destroyed another 150 on the ground while flying 15,000 combat sorties. Carter stayed in the Air Force after the war and retired as a Lt. Colonel in 1969. After that, he served as a Tuskegee Institute administrator.
Like other World War II veterans, his group is dwindling. Out of the 14 in his class, only four survive. Altogether, there are still about 100 Airmen alive in 45 Tuskegee Airmen chapters across the United States.
On hand to hear Carter's speech was Raymond "Mac" MacKinnon, 90, a Panama City Beach resident and one of the last surviving original Tuskegee Airmen instructors. He was one of the first ten volunteer instructors, all white. He taught from January 1942 to January 1945.
Hard to believe That veterans Who Served So Proudly Would be treated So Badly When they returned Home. --Cooter
Herbert Carver, 91, still lives in Tuskegee, Alabama, where he carved out a place in aviation and civil rights history as one of the original Tuskegee Airmen. He spoke at Tyndall Air Force Base Feb. 26th for Black Heritage Month.
As a young man he had thoughts of being a veterinarian but signed up to be an aviation cadet at the newly-formed group at Tuskegee Army Air Field. there were 13 cadets in the first class with a total of 992 graduating by the end of World War II.
He talked of doing double duty as a maintenance officer in North Africa and Europe and recalled planes he flew as being shot up and having to patch flak holes on return to base. They felt like they were fighting two wars, one in Europe and one against racism back home. According to Carter, they won one, but the lost the other. When "we got back home and nothing had changed."
The Tuskegee Airmen shot down 112 enemy aircraft in flight and destroyed another 150 on the ground while flying 15,000 combat sorties. Carter stayed in the Air Force after the war and retired as a Lt. Colonel in 1969. After that, he served as a Tuskegee Institute administrator.
Like other World War II veterans, his group is dwindling. Out of the 14 in his class, only four survive. Altogether, there are still about 100 Airmen alive in 45 Tuskegee Airmen chapters across the United States.
On hand to hear Carter's speech was Raymond "Mac" MacKinnon, 90, a Panama City Beach resident and one of the last surviving original Tuskegee Airmen instructors. He was one of the first ten volunteer instructors, all white. He taught from January 1942 to January 1945.
Hard to believe That veterans Who Served So Proudly Would be treated So Badly When they returned Home. --Cooter
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Tuskegee Airmen
The April 2nd, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that William Hicks, a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, spoke before a high school history class about this units role in World War II.
During the war, he was a mechanic on P-51 Fighters.
Before Congress authorized this unit, there were no black pilots because of segregation and a 1920s study that blacks were unable to fly or maintain planes. They trained at the historically black Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, hence the name of the group.
Their main job was to escort B-17s and B-24s on bombing missions. Each of these carried about ten men and cost between $8 and $10 million.
Overcoming a Horrible Thing with Honor, --Da Coot
During the war, he was a mechanic on P-51 Fighters.
Before Congress authorized this unit, there were no black pilots because of segregation and a 1920s study that blacks were unable to fly or maintain planes. They trained at the historically black Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, hence the name of the group.
Their main job was to escort B-17s and B-24s on bombing missions. Each of these carried about ten men and cost between $8 and $10 million.
Overcoming a Horrible Thing with Honor, --Da Coot
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Congratulations Tuskegee Airmen
This group of black heroes finally got their due and had personal invitations to all the inauguration hoopla yesterday.
They put their lives on the line in service of their country in World War II, and yet, upon return to the US, many again found themselves second-class citizens, the same as before.
Over 16,000 pilots and ground personnel trained at the Tuskegee Institute during the war and then served overseas. Of that number, about 330 are still alive and around 200 of the old gentlemen, in their 80s and 90s, attended. Many were in wheel chairs and were otherwise crippled, but yet they came.
This had to be a proud moment for them and the country.
Couldn't Be Prouder. --Cooter
They put their lives on the line in service of their country in World War II, and yet, upon return to the US, many again found themselves second-class citizens, the same as before.
Over 16,000 pilots and ground personnel trained at the Tuskegee Institute during the war and then served overseas. Of that number, about 330 are still alive and around 200 of the old gentlemen, in their 80s and 90s, attended. Many were in wheel chairs and were otherwise crippled, but yet they came.
This had to be a proud moment for them and the country.
Couldn't Be Prouder. --Cooter
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