Posted on 03/29/2007 7:57:29 AM PDT by RDTF
When Charles E. McGee slid his P-51 fighter, "Kitten," onto the tail of the fleeing German FW-190 in the skies over Austria in 1944, he fired his six big machine guns and struck a blow for civil rights back home.
Walter L. McCreary did the same a few months later, when his P-51 was hit by flak on a strafing run over Hungary and the cockpit floor began to slosh with what he thought was leaking gasoline.
And so did Woodrow W. Crockett's ground crews a few months after that, when they stopped a supply train and commandeered special gas tanks so their pilots could fly without running out of fuel.
Today, members of the famed black World War II aviation cadre now called the Tuskegee Airmen will be honored in the Capitol Rotunda for their history-making feats.
In a ceremony at 1 p.m., the airmen, including McGee, McCreary and Crockett, will receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor that Congress can give to civilians. President Bush is scheduled to speak, along with Colin L. Powell, former secretary of state, who received the medal in 1991.
The achievement of men such as McGee, McCreary and Crockett was simple: They were bold in battle and capable in command -- at a time when many in the military thought blacks could be neither.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
ping
I've also heard they had the highest number of kills out of any aviation wing in WWII.
Their real claim to fame is "They were the only unit to not lose a single bomber on missions they have escorted".
I don't think so.
They were kept out of combat for much of their deployments in Africa and Europe and were only given real missions after some time.
One statement is that they never lost an escorted bomber to enemy fighters, but I think that was debunked (not that it matters).
They were heroes and fought for their country even as their country fought them and they paved the way for integration in ground combat units.
Lots of good info here too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Airmen
"legend of the all-black fighter pilots never losing a bomber to enemy fighters is incorrect."
Airman asks for more research on unit never losing a bomber
MONTGOMERY (AP) — At a ceremony kicking off a nationwide fundraising drive for a memorial to the Tuskegee Airmen, a member of the elite group of all-black fighter pilots said more research is needed to determine the truth of the historic claim that enemy planes never shot down a bomber the unit was escorting.
"Research is still ongoing. We want the truth to be out there," said retired Air Force Col. and Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee. "We want to know where these planes were when certain things happened."
Two historians have said that research shows the Airmen did lose some planes to enemy fire while escorting bombers to their targets in Europe during World War II. One former bomber co-pilot said his plane was shot down while being escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen.
McGee of Bethesda, Md., made his comments during a ceremony at the Alabama Capitol honoring the Airmen and launching a national campaign to raise funds to build a monument to the Airmen at Moton Field in Tuskegee, where the elite group of black fighter pilots trained during World War II.
Congress has approved funding to create a federal historical site at Moton Field.
Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Congressmen Artur Davis, D-Birmingham, and Mike Rogers, R-Anniston, praised the Airmen during Monday’s ceremony.
"They embody all the principles that make us the greatest country in the world," Riley said.
Some of the Airmen have questioned the research showing that Tuskegee Airmen did lose at least of few of the planes they escorted to fire from enemy planes, but Davis said the Airmen are still heroes regardless of whether they lost any bombers or not.
"No way does it diminish their achievement. It adds a new element of sacrifice to what they did," said Davis, Alabama’s only black congressman. He said the Tuskegee Airmen served at a time when much of the country was segregated.
"These individuals served their country that was not good enough to give them full status in the military," Davis said. "They didn’t care. They said beating Hitler was much more important than what you think of us."
McGee and seven other Airmen participated in Monday’s ceremony in the rotunda of the Alabama Capitol. Afterward the Airmen posed for pictures on the steps of the Capitol and at one point stood at attention and saluted in unison.
One of the Airmen, 87-year-old Cicero Satterfield, said he didn’t know anything about the research into the record of the Airmen until he read recent news accounts.
"I didn’t believe it. I didn’t know of a single plane that was shot down," said Satterfield, who was a mechanic on the P-51 fighters flown by the Airmen.
Rogers said the national historical site at Tuskegee will give visitors a chance to see what life was like for the Airmen as they were training for World War II.
"It will be a park for people who want to see what their barracks was like, what their uniforms were like," said Rogers, whose congressional district includes Tuskegee.
William F. Holton, historian for the Tuskegee Airmen, and Daniel Haulman of the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery, have said Air Force records show the legend of the all-black fighter pilots never losing a bomber to enemy fighters is incorrect.
Holton said his research matches the story of Warren Ludlum of Old Tappan, N.J., who said his B-24 bomber was shot down over Linz, Austria, on July 25, 1944, while on a mission to bomb the Herman Goering Tank Works. He said he knew his plane was being escorted by the Airmen, because one of the Tuskegee fighter pilots, Starling Penn, was shot down at the same time and ended up in the same prison camp
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/061219/unit.shtml
God bless them. They should be an inspiration to every American. Some of the real heroes of the civil rights movement.
I think just the fact that they're having this argument is a testament to the skill of these pilots.
How about Norwegian Heritage?
Italian Heritage?
{Crickets}
It's about time! God bless them, every one!
The big issue your forgetting is that these black soldiers were fighting two enemies. They were fighting the Germans but they were also fighting those in their own military who looked down upon them and treated them badly.
Like the MP who wrote to LIFE magazine back in the early 40s. The black MP was a guard for German prisoners in the south. At lunchtime, the MP would get the prisoners together and march them over to a local restaurant which was used to feed the prisoners. The Germans would enter the front door, and the AMERICAN MP would have to enter through the BACK door. The MP was not allowed to enter through the front.
If you don't get the difference, nothing I can say.
How about Norwegian Heritage?
Italian Heritage?
{Crickets}
Agreed in principal, but the way most blacks were treated back in the 40's would have been a damned good excuse for them to sit it out and let whitey fight it.
They went above and beyond.
Never lost a bomber when they were flying escort. Never. This story was an HBO movie back in the mid-90's and it was very, very good. These men were treated less well than German POW's housed in the US and they served with great honor.
I'm curious as to how many Tuskegee Airmen are still around. This strikes me as a grand-standing "feel-good" gesture which should have been done at least 30 years earlier.
You are absolutely right about waiting too damned long to give these folks recognition. I attended the WWII Memorial Dedication with my family and was terribly depressed that my "war hero" uncle (combat medic, Pacific, Bushmasters) passed away just 6 months before. He planned on attending, but ended up going only as a glossy photograph. Why did it take 60 years to build it? Who knows - I'm just glad it's there now.
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