November 10. 2004
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Unit Changed Military View on Race
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Members of the Tuskegee Airman in
a World War II era photo.
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Tuskegee
Airmen
reunite
(AP) — In the era of Jim Crow -
when the Army brass didn’t think
blacks were capable o f flying - a
group o f minority pilots changed
the way the military looked at race.
The T uskegee A irm en, their
ranks thinning as the World War II
fighter pilots age, reunited last
weekend in South Carolina.
This year marks the 60th anni
versary of the creation in 1944 o f
the advanced combat training pro
gram for the black airmen at a small
Army Air Force base in Walterboro,
S.C.
The program had started three
years earlier in Tuskegee, Ala. In
all, almost 1,000 pilots would be
trained, 450 deployed overseas and
150 would lose their lives in training
or combat.
The pilots deployed to North
A frica and Europe flew support
m issions including strafing en
emy am m unition dum ps, rail lines
and highw ays. Later, the airm en
flew escort for bom bers.
In c lu d in g g ro u n d s u p p o rt
p e rs o n n e l, th e re w ere a b o u t
14,000 T u sk eg ee A irm en , said
85-year-old Hiram E. Little Sr., a
retire d school te a c h e r from A t
lanta.
To the m ilitary, the program at
squadron,” said Carter, 85. “They as biased and racist as they were
said it would create problems. They before World War II.”
were firmly convinced no white
It w asn’t until the late 1970s that
personnel would take orders from the airmen began to receive recog
black off icers. The Negro press and nition for what they had done.
other organizations and sympathiz
Now, through conventions and
ers brought pressure on the War meetings, the group wants to pass
Department to do something about its story to future generations.
this unit.”
People with an interest in the his
The airmen then proved they tory and in getting young people
could handle anything asked of involved in aviation can join the
airmen.
“The Buffalo Soldiers were with
Teddy Roosevelt in the late 1800s
but their organization is still liv
ing," Little said. "W e’re trying to
— HerbertCarter.veteranairman
bring new people in so as we die
there will be someone to keep the
them.
Tuskegee Airmen going for the
None of the bombers escorted future.”
by Tuskegee Airmen fighters were
Looking back. Carter says he
lost during World War II, although feels sorry for those officers all
66 of the fighter pilots lost their those years ago who could not see
lives and 33 other fighter pilots beyond the color of a soldier’s skin.
were shot down and taken pris He said he feels “pure pity for the
oner, Carter said.
people who are so biased and preju
At war’s end, the airmen returned diced in their ways that they can ’t
to a nation where 1 i tt le had changed. accept a person on their own indi
“We were not so naive as to vidual merits.”
think America was goingtochange
Little says the airm en helped
that much.’ he said. “When we open doors for those w ho fol
returned alter V-E Day things were lowed.
I
When we returned after V-E Day things
were as biased and racist as they were
before Wot Id Wat II.
first was sim ply “an experim ent
to prove the N egro co u ld not fly
and fig h t,” said H erb ert C arter,
o f T u sk eg ee, w ho w ent on to a
2 5 -y e a r c a re e r in the m ilitary .
“We were just determined that
all we wanted was an opportunity,”
he says.
But even after the pilots of the
first squadron were trained, the
Army delayed deploying the unit
for months. 1
“No com mander from Burma to
England w anted this all-black
j
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