Some of the original Tuskegee men went all the way to the top.
Daniel "Chappie" James Jr. (11 February 1920 – 25 February 1978):
Posted on 05/09/2009 8:33:12 PM PDT by smokingfrog
U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
5/8/2009 - U.S Air Force Academy, Colo. (AFNS) -- The Tuskegee Airmen secured their place in history more than 60 years ago by doing what few people thought they could. They overcame naysayers in the U.S. Army Air Corps before they overcame the Luftwaffe in the skies over Italy and Germany. Their legendary story has inspired numerous books, a movie and thousands of U.S. Air Force Academy cadets.
Born in 1925, Dr. Coggs first became interested in flying after he saw a plane fly low over his hometown of Little Rock, Ark.
"As soon as I saw that plane, I knew that's what I wanted to do," he said.
He volunteered to join the Army and sought an opportunity to fly. Howevr, his dream abruptly met a wall. Recently, some of these cadets were able to meet several of these living legends.
Six Tuskegee Airmen visited the academy April 24 to share their stories with the Air Force's next generation of leaders. Among them were three veterans of the original Tuskegee Airmen: Dr. Granville Coggs, retired Col. Fitzroy "Buck" Newsum and Samuel Hunter, Jr.
Dr. Coggs, a resident of San Antonio, was the first Tuskegee Airman to arrive and he spoke to cadets during a World War II history class.
(Excerpt) Read more at af.mil ...
The Tuskegee airmen are great and all but...one would think that they and the Navajo Indian code talkers were to the most decisive elements in the war given the amount of publicity and writing they get these days.
It is sorta like the public schools making out Rosa Parks as the greatest American in all of history except for Martin Luther King and Harriet Tubman.
Now your are asking the American public to put things into perspective, the same people that elected Obama!
Some of the original Tuskegee men went all the way to the top.
Daniel "Chappie" James Jr. (11 February 1920 – 25 February 1978):
The Tuskegee Airmen and Navajo Code Talkers deserve whatever attention and honor they receive. The World War II veterans are dying off at about 2000 a day and they all should be cherished, whether in groups or individually.
PING
I would reasonably believe that’s more like two a month, if that many.
These fliers were valiant, fierce, brave and patriotic when their country needed them. Their record of service has been secured despite some party’s efforts to wipe them off the face of recorded history. We are fortunate that that didn’t happen. The descendants of many bomber crewmen saved by their actions would doubtless agree.
I would reasonably believe that’s more like two a month, if that many.
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Two World War II veterans dying a month? You need to clarify that.
Perhaps I misread the post but even then 2000 WWII vets overall aren’t dying monthly as they’re on the diminishing end of the bracket (unfortunately). There are a great many, 4 million overall who served in some capacity? I’m not trying to nitpick here as I believe their legacy needs preserving as much as you probably do. I’m just saying that the WWII vets are tougher than most and expiring at a slower rate than the non-serving of their generation yet are going nevertheless.
No insults or demeaning intended. My father was a yellow-striped coward who faked insanity to avoid service then and I despise him to this day for it. Actually coughed, sweated and stammered when I asked him about it. I bet you saw him somewhere - stage magician named Buddy O’Day. Me, I don’t have to fake insanity - but I served.
My sister is in Iraq and she said they the Air Force flew over a couple of the original Tuskeegee Airmen and she got to sit and talk with one for a little while. Pretty cool.
It is a fact: About 2,000 World War II veterans are dying every DAY.
Do you still dispute this????????? I said a DAY.
After 65 years, there can’t be too many of them left. It would be interesting to find out how many are still around and what their politics are.
If you insist on this I’m not going to get your pressure up. I believe not more than 200 pass in a day. That’s a lot in itself. Your source screwed up. 2000 per day would demand around 10 million service people during that era. Think about it.
16.5 million served. You are very misinformed. Good night.
His son, Daniel James III, became head of the Texas Air National Guard(AND), then under George W. Bush, the Adjutant General of Texas, over both Army and Air Guard, as well as the Texas State Guard, with it's 4 branches (Army, Air, Maritime, Medical) It's moderately unusual for an ANG officer to be state AG. He ended up as Director of the whole Air National Guard of the US.
Now retired.
You do not get off so lightly. The United States did not have 16 million and a half service people so your number is taken from the total allied forces. I’m not even sure of that number as too many of our allies padded numbers to obtain resources. Sweet dreams.
almost a third (6M) of them could have been armed with M1 Carbines. :)
The numbers from the Congressional Research Service.
Total 16,112,566
Army 11,260,000
Navy 4,183,466
Marines 669,100
Of course that doesn't include Coast Guard or Merchant Marine, which would be another 484,093, which gets it right up to your 16.5 million.
So now are you agreeing with me on the number of Americans that served: 16.5 million?
Yes, they did, if you count Merchant Marine, but that's only 240,000 or so, so make that 16.25 million in uniform. See my post #17.
Today we have about 3 million in the military, but half of them are in the reserve forces, that is the Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force Reserves, along with the Army and Air National Guard. Of course that is out of a much larger population, 300M+ today, verses about 137M in the middle of WWII.
I never disagreed, I was just backing you up, with a link to a good source.
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