SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany — Lee Archer was once so frustrated with the way the military treated him and other blacks, he considered leaving the service. In the midst of World War II and during his training at the famed Tuskegee Institute, he thought about going to Canada like his father suggested. But what another black aviator told him changed his mind and taught him a lifelong lesson on patriotism. “He said, ‘Wait a minute, Lee. Settle down,’” Archer, a retired Army Air Corps lieutenant colonel, recalled. “Then, he made this great speech. He said, ‘You have a right to...