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August 20, 2005
Tuskegee Airmen hold their last convention
The story of the Tuskegee Airmen is one of those stories that not enough people know about. Alas, a time is coming when the story will only be able to be told second-hand. From the Chicago Tribune:
ORLANDO -- Moments after retired Maj. William Watkins set aside his walker and sat down in the hotel lobby, a woman carrying a poster of him and other Tuskegee Airmen rushed up to get his autograph.
A number of African-American Air Force officers also gathered around the 92-year-old, eager to hear tales about World War II from one of the storied blacks who defied expectations in a segregated military.
Watkins, of Columbus, Ohio, is one of 80 airmen at the annual convention this week of Tuskegee Airmen Inc. It is estimated that only 200 of the original 13,000 airmen are still alive.
The stark reality of those numbers led to the decision that the 34th convention will be the last of its kind. Next year, Tuskegee Airmen Inc. will join the International Black Aerospace Council at its convention.
"Our seniors are more frail," said Cora Tess Spooner, president of the Tuskegee group. Some came to this final gathering in wheelchairs, others dragged around oxygen tanks, a few were accompanied by nurse's aides. "Some of them don't come because of economic issues--they are on fixed incomes.
...
Tuskegee Airmen is the nickname given to the men who trained in Tuskegee, Ala., one of the only places in the 1940s that blacks interested in military aviation could train. About 1,000 became pilots. Some were trained as airplane mechanics and radio control workers and for other support jobs, but all were considered Tuskegee Airmen.
Today, there are fewer than 300 African-American pilots in the U.S. Air Force, said Spooner, whose father-in-law was an airman.
When the airmen started, the War Department said black men couldn't be trained to pilot aircraft.
"The first thing one has to appreciate is the context in which these men occurred," said Alvin Thornton, a political science professor at Howard University. "One, there was a perception about the intellectual inadequacy of African-Americans. Secondly, there was a perception that African-Americans did not have the same will to defend and fight for democracy and freedom."
With the first class graduating in 1942, the airmen became role models, Thornton said.
"The Tuskegee Airmen allowed black people to hold their heads up," he said. "You heard examples where these young, professional fighter pilots were so impressive."
After World War II, many of the men went their separate ways and lost touch with each other. But nearly all dedicated themselves to mentoring black children and encouraging them to seek careers in aviation.
Learn more about the Tuskegee Airmen here.
Posted by William Polley at August 20, 2005 11:53 PM
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Comments
hi. im doing a project on the tuskegee airmen and how they played a role in ww2. and i was wondering if you could give me any information about any of the men that are still alive so that i may try and contact them.
Posted by: ashley jennings at March 17, 2008 2:40 PM