Tuskegee Airmen Share Story of Determination, Perseverance and Inspiration

Charles McGee had never been in an airplane prior to arriving at Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, in 1942.

After earning his pilot wings nine months later in June of 1943, McGee, a retired United States Air Force colonel, became one of the most decorated military pilots in the country. McGee, 91, was awarded the Flying Cross three times and was the recipient of 25 Air Medals flying missions in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Through his 6300 hours of flying - 1,151 of those in combat - McGee advanced from propeller powered airplanes like the P-51 Mustang to the jet-powered F-4.

McGee also served as a medium-sized bomber instructor, specifically B-25s.

“It’s a good feeling to know our character and performance came through in more ways than the color of our skin,” McGee said in his Bethesda home Wednesday.

McGee is one of several Tuskegee Airmen living throughout Washington, Maryland and Northern Virginia that will be celebrating Veterans Day this year. The men are also celebrating the 70th anniversary of blacks embarking on Tuskegee Army Air Field to receive flight training in 1941.

Only 450 of the more than 900 trained Tuskegee Airmen flew missions overseas in WWII battles in the skies over North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Europe.

Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Roosevelt J. Lewis, a Tuskegee Airmen historian from Alabama, said the Tuskegee Airmen flew more than 1,600 miles roundtrip escorting long-range bombers from Italy to Berlin during a 1944 mission. He said the famed escort garnered much discussion because very few of the Tuskegee Airmen’s P-51 Mustangs and the bombers they escorted were lost during the mission. The feat earned the unit the name the “Red Tail Angels” for their protection of the bombers during the mission.

Dressed in a signature Tuskegee Airmen red blazer, McGee sat in a wooden chair in the living room of his home and ran off a laundry list of missions he flew and memories from his 30-year career as a military pilot. Surrounded by pictures, framed American flags, hanging plaques and other items commemorating his decorated career, McGee’s face glowed with an underlying sense of pride. When McGee, a member of the 302nd Fighter Squadron, began to talk about coming home from war during the days of segregation in the Deep South, the glow on his face turned to a dull tarnish.

“Being a veteran at that time was different,” McGee said. “We weren’t welcomed in some places but we still had to rely on our dreams of being able to defend our country.”

Alexander Jefferson, 89, of Detroit, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and Tuskegee Airman, had similar thoughts of coming home from war.

“We came back with no celebration,” Jefferson said Thursday during a telephone interview. “We thought it would be different when we came back.”

Author of “Red Tail Captured, Red Tail Free,” Jefferson was one of 32 Tuskegee Airmen from the 332nd Fighter Group who was shot down during WWII. In August, 1944, Jefferson was shot down and taken prisoner. He was imprisoned until April 29, 1945 when tanks from Gen. George Patton’s 14th Armored Division liberated the camp he was being held in.

Jefferson, who is visiting Jackson, Miss. for a Veterans Day celebration, said the day is a time of reflection.

“Veterans Day for me is a remembrance of the men who didn’t come back who died fighting for their country,” Jefferson said. “They’re the real heroes.”

Lewis was moved by the determination and perseverance of the Tuskegee Airmen and learned to fly while he was a student at Tuskegee. He said he was even trained by C. Alfred “Chief” Anderson, who was the flight instructor to the Tuskegee Airmen. Lewis, current president of the Tuskegee Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen organization, said the famed black aviators who broke the color barrier for pilots in the military were trailblazers in the civil rights movement.

“They had to fight to become fighter pilots,” Lewis said Thursday by telephone from his Alabama home. “Then they had to fight to get overseas. No commander wanted them but they would not give up.”

From 1965 through 1991, Lewis served in the Air Force in several capacities. He said it’s important the history of the Tuskegee Airmen be preserved through literature and through teaching others to fly in their spirit.

“This is not a black story,” Lewis said. “Their story is one of perseverance.”

After his first flight more than 60 years ago, McGee said he knows he made the right decision to become a pilot. Through several presentations in schools and community centers each year, he said he stresses to children the importance of believing in themselves, the need for an education and the desire to never give up.

“Our accomplishments meant something to the future of our armed forces and beyond,” McGee said.

Download the movie