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Tuskegees recount WWII heroics
Pioneer black pilots tell tales of bravery, perserverance in war
By Elena Brown
brownele@mscd.edu

Photo by David L. Yost • dyost2@mscd.edu Retired Col. Fitzroy “Buck” Newsum speaks to the audience April 11 at the Tivoli Turnhalle. Newsum is a member of the Tuskegee Airmen who recently received the Congressional Gold Medal. The group is known as being America’s first black military pilots. Nearly 1,000 pilots were trained and graduated from the flight school in Tuskegee, Ala.

Reverence was in the air April 11 when the Tuskegee Airmen made their way into the Tivoli Turnhalle.

Retired Col. Fitzroy “Buck” Newsum, 88, Col. James Harvey, 83, Col. John Mosley, 85, and Tech Sgt. William Walters, 89, each took to the microphone to reflect on their experiences.

The octogenarians may have age in common, but it was their race and the audacity of their goals that would forever bond them into history books. That’s because in 1941 blacks in the military were mainly cooks and janitors. These men were born for the skies.

“I saw my first plane at 10 years old, and I knew I wanted to be in that cockpit,” Newsum said.

The men did not set out to become pioneers. They just wanted to fly planes, and if they could do so by serving the military, then so be it. But the goal would have to be reached by paving their own runway. And the Tuskegee Airmen did just that.

The Tuskegee Airmen were America’s first group of black pilots trained by the then racially segregated American military. Nearly 1,000 pilots were trained and graduated from the flight school in Tuskegee, Ala.

“The Tuskegee Experiment was designed to fail,” Harvey said, citing the mere nine months given to a black firm to build a functioning airfield, the remote location of that airfield, and the high washout rate of pilots generally.

The colored men did not fail. The Negro men succeeded. The black men excelled.

“I hope you have already decided what you want to do with this life,” Newsum said. “Set yourself a goal you want to accomplish in life, and go out and fight for it.”

Amid harsh criticism, the men performed valiantly. They destroyed 261 enemy aircraft and flew nearly 1,600 missions escorting bombers. Most notably, they never lost an American or Allied bomber.

Their outstanding record in World War II helped influence President Harry S. Truman to pave the way toward racial integration, not only in the military but also throughout the United States.

“When you get to be as old as I am, when you look back at those years, you could ask yourself, did I do a good job? And I can answer yes,” Newsum said.

Although six decades have passed, the men were finally honored with the Congressional Gold Medal on March 20 in Washington.

“The Gold Medal will be housed in the Smithsonian Institute, but I have a copy,” Harvey said as he proudly displayed the medal to the audience who stood to acknowledge the achievement.

“This event was phenomenal,” said Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Mitchell. “They had to work twice as hard with double the standard and they prevailed.” Mitchell is a career counselor with the U.S. Army.

The Black Student Alliance at Metro and Metro’s History Club collaborated for the Tuskegee Airmen: Black Knights of Aviation event. The Metro Poetry Club dedicated a book of poems in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen.

“We learned about them in fourth grade,” said 11-year-old Ray Field. “They’re very important men.” Field was in attendance with the Denver Urban League. “They let me know I can do something with my life.”

Many organizations respect and honor the Tuskegee Airmen for their beginnings including the Organization of Black Airline Pilots, the International Black Aerospace Council and the National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees.

“We weren’t just doing it for us. We were doing it for our people,” Harvey said. “We’re saying, look, we can do anything anybody else can do. We just need the chance.”