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
No comments:
Post a Comment