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A Touch of Home
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This is how I think of the USO Canteen
Freeper Style. It is like a cottage down a road,
a place where a weary veteran can spend the night.
Since it opened, it is magical how so many
Freepers who post here, feel it too.
It has been so dear how the Freepers
kept making it a cottage - a home-type of
place that had a huge living room
for them to visit in and a dance floor,
a library, etc.
Many Veterans have written to me,
saying that the Canteen is like home
to them for the first time since they
served.
This is your Canteen -
a respite from our busy
and sometimes troubling world.
Make yourself at home.
Snow Bunny
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If you know a Veteran, someone in your family,
friend of the family, neighbor, who served their
country, take a brief moment of your day to thank
them.
Thank them for the sacrifice they made
for the better good of their country.
We at Free Republic, and the USO Canteen FReeper
Style, are thankful for every service member
in our military, who has served our great nation.
So, to the men and women who answered the call,
In both times of war and peace, thank you.
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Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
John McCrae
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During WWII there were many men that were forgotten.
The Tuskegee Airmen made a major contribution. Where
did they come from?
After their superb flight training, there were a select few
that made a major impact in the war through their excellent
piloting skills. These men are known today as the Tuskegee Airmen.
On Jul. 19, 1941, the AAF began a program in Alabama
to train black Americans as military pilots. Primary flight
training was conducted by the Division of Aeronautics of
Tuskegee Institute, the famed school of learning founded by
Booker T. Washington in 1881.
Once a cadet completed primary training at Tuskegee's
Moton Field, he was sent to nearby Tuskegee Army Air Field
for completion of flight training and for transition to combat
type aircraft.
The first classes of Tuskegee airmen were
trained to be fighter pilots for the famous 99th
Fighter Squadron, slated for combat duty in North
Africa. Additional pilots were assigned to the 322d
Fighter Group which flew combat along with the
99th Squadron from bases in Italy.
In Sep. 1943, a twin-engine training program was
begun at Tuskegee to provide bomber pilots. However,
World War II ended before these men were able to
get into combat.
By the end of the war, 992 men had graduated
from pilot training at Tuskegee, 450 of whom were
sent overseas for combat assignment. During the
same period, approximately 150 lost their lives
while in training or on combat flights.
Additional men were trained at Tuskegee for
aircrew and ground crew duties--flight engineers,
gunners, mechanics, armoires, etc. Others were
sent to Texas and New Mexico for training as
navigators and bombardiers.
Marching across the campus at Tuskegee Institute.
Lined up for inspection.
Student pilot being congratulated
upon completion of primary
flying course at Moton Field.
A class of twin-engine pilots
in front in flight caps and single
engine pilots in rear in helmets
and goggles, Dec. 1943.
The Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum
is located on historic Fort Wayne in Detroit,Michigan.
Who Were the
Tuskegee Airmen
of World War II?
The Tuskegee Airmen were dedicated,
determined young men who volunteered
to become America's first black military
airmen. They came from every section of
America, with large numbers coming from
New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles,
Chicago, and Detroit. Each one possessed a
strong personal desire to serve the United States
of America proudly and to the best of his ability
as an airman, even while many other Americans
felt that black men lacked intelligence, skill,
courage and patriotism.
Those who possessed the physical and mental
qualifications and were accepted for aviation cadet training
were trained initially to be pilots, and later to
be either pilots, navigators, or bombardiers.
Most were college graduates or undergraduates,
while the remainder demonstrated their academic
qualifications through comprehensive
entrance examinations.
They trained as operations officers,
meteorologists, intelligence officers,
engineering officers, flight surgeons,
etc. Still others were trained to be aircraft
and engine mechanics, armament specialists,
radio repairmen, parachute riggers, control
tower operators, administrators and for every
other type of skill necessary to function as an
air force squadron, or ground support unit.
The black airmen who became single- or
multi-engine pilots were trained at Tuskegee
Army Air Field (TAAF) in Tuskegee Alabama.
Four hundred and fifty of the pilots were
trained at Tuskegee served overseas in
either the 99th Pursuit Squadron (later
the 99th Fighter Squadron) or the 332nd
Fighter Group. The 99th Fighter Squadron
trained in and flew P-40 Warhawks in combat
in North Africa, Sicily and Italy from April 1943
until July 1944 when they were transferred to the
332nd Fighter Group in the 15th Air Force.
The 99th Squadron distinguished itself by
being awarded two Presidential Unit Citations
(June-July 1943 and May 1944) for outstanding
tactical air support and aerial combat in the 12th
Air Force in Italy, before joining the 332nd
Fighter Group.
Berlin escort
The 332nd Fighter Group was awarded
the Presidential Unit Citation for its
longest bomber escort mission to Berlin,
Germany, March 24, 1945. It destroyed
three German ME-262 Jet fighters and
damaged five additional jet fighters
without losing any of the bombers
or any of its own fighter aircraft to
enemy fighters.
This is a picture of Captain Armour G.. McDaniels
who was shot down while escorting bombers to Belin
in March, 1945. He is surrounded (L to R) by Sergeant
Richard Adams, McDaniels, Lt. James McFatridge and
Ulysses Taylor. USAF, Maxwell AFB Archives.
The 332nd Fighter Group had also
distinguished itself in June 1944
when two of its pilots flying P-47
Thunderbolts discovered a German
destroyer in the harbor of Trieste, Italy.
One of the pilots, Lieutenant Gynne Pierson
of the 302nd Fighter Squadron, using only the
aircraft's 50-caliber machine guns, strafed the
destroyer, causing it to explode and sink. This
was another unprecedented aerial gunnery
feat of World War II.
The tenacious bomber escort cover
provided by the 332nd "Red Tail"
fighters often discouraged enemy
A fighter pilots from attacking bombers
escorted by the 332nd Fighter Group.
This resulted in fewer enemy fighter
challenges with resultant fewer enemy
aircraft destroyed or damaged by the
Group, as compared with other 15th Air
Force fighter escort groups. The successful
escort record resulted in frequent expressions
of appreciation from the 15th Air Force bomber
units and crews.
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Pre-Church Commission. Man, the stories some of us could tell...
Time to run some errands for Household 6, I'll be back later to see how the thread is running...!
Texson, thanks for this link on General Daniel "Chappie" James, Jr. Another salute to a great Airman.
Thanks,aomagrat, for today's naval history of the USS Dictator. It amazes me that these monitors could put to sea in anything but dead calm.
We not only landed the hopticopter, but we got it spit shined, waxed and polished, inside and out, AND back on time. Your voices refused to help with the manual labor. All they wanted to do was boss us around.
July 12, 2002
Air Force pioneer dies at 89 First African-American general in AF,
Tuskegee Airmen commander loses battle with Alzheimer's disease
Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., the Air Force's first black general, died July 4 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here of Alzheimer's disease at age 89.
Davis, promoted to the rank of general by President Bill Clinton on Dec. 9, 1998, is recognized for his role in breaking the color barriers in both the Army and Air Force.
Born Dec. 18, 1912, in Washington, Davis was the son of an Army cavalry officer. At age 14, following a flight with a barnstorming pilot at Bolling Field, he decided he wanted to fly.
Davis' long battle with military racial segregation began in 1932 when he became only the eighth black to enroll at West Point. In an attempt to force him to quit, upperclassmen ordered other cadets to give him the silent treatment. During his four years at West Point, Davis never had a roommate, never shared a tent when in the field and ate his meals in silence.
The young cadet persevered.
When he received his diploma and commission in 1936, he was only the fourth black cadet to graduate, ranking 35th in a class of 276. Following graduation, he joined his father as one of the few black officers in the Army.
The newly minted second lieutenant tried to follow his dream of flying, applying for flight school with the recommendation of the West Point superintendent. The Army, however, accepted no blacks into its air corps in any capacity -- flying or support. What followed was an assignment to the infantry as the commander of a segregated service company at Fort Benning, Ga.
Two years later, he became an ROTC instructor at the all-black Tuskegee Institute of Alabama. He served briefly at Fort Riley, Kan., as aide to his father, Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr., the first black to earn a general's star.
When President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the creation of a flight training program for blacks at Tuskegee, then-Capt. Davis was selected to lead the first class of 13 student pilots -- thereby becoming the first Tuskegee Airman.
But first, Davis had to fight through that first segregation breakthrough; he had to take two flight physicals because the first doctor he saw, who had not heard about Roosevelt's directive, failed him for a disease he never had -- epilepsy.
Davis and the four others who graduated March 7, 1942, from Tuskegee's first class, formed the nucleus of the 99th Pursuit Squadron. With Davis in command, the 99th completed its combat training, then waited until the spring of 1943 before a warfighting command would accept the unit.
The 99th flew its first combat mission June 2, 1943, with then-Lt. Col. Davis in the cockpit of the lead P-40 Warhawk.
Promoted to colonel, Davis returned to the United States to form and take command of the 332nd Fighter Group. The 332nd, which ultimately consisted of the 99th, 100th, 301st and 302nd squadrons, became known as the "Red Tails" and achieved a combat record unmatched in World War II -- no Allied bombers under their protection were downed by enemy fighters.
By war's end, the 332nd was credited with 111 downed enemy aircraft, another 150 destroyed on the ground, 600 boxcars and other rolling stock destroyed or disabled, and a German navy destroyer and 40 other boats and barges sunk.
Lt. Gen. Ira Eaker, deputy commanding general of the Army Air Forces, selected Davis to command the 447th Medium Bombardment Group as it prepared for action against the Japanese. Shortly after Davis took command, the 447th became a composite group, as two of its B-25 Mitchell squadrons disbanded and were replaced by fighter squadrons.
The Japanese surrendered before the 447th saw action in the Pacific theater.
Davis was known as a rigid disciplinarian, but that enabled the men under his command to persevere during the still-segregated post-war years.
Davis did not believe active protest was the way to defeat segregation. Called to testify before a board of general officers to determine the best use of blacks in the U.S. military, Davis attacked segregation and its inherent inefficiency. The men under his command, and blacks in general, he said, could have been used much more effectively in combat had they been assigned according to ability rather than by race.
As stirring as Davis' testimony was, it was not his words that helped end segregation in the military, it was his performance.
Air Force leaders recognized that the men and units led by Davis in World War II served as capably as any line unit. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Hoyt Vandenberg announced the racial integration of the U.S. Air Force in April 1948, making it the first military branch to do so.
In the years following desegregation, Davis ultimately rose to the rank of lieutenant general, retiring from active duty Feb. 1, 1970.
Following his military retirement, Davis served as safety director for Cleveland, commanding the city's police and fire departments. He later became director of civil aviation security and was named by President Richard Nixon as assistant secretary of transportation, where he helped cut the number of airline hijackings in the United States from 34 to zero in less than two years.
Hi Johnny. I like your Monday cartoon. And your vehicles are first rate as usual.
, hope all is well with you. Terrific thread about the Tuskegee Airmen today.
