Its been a wild and rolling couple of days. A lot of history packed into a very short period of time. I want to begin today as i did yesterday with a quote. I introduction only, i want to ask, anyone in here not see saving pry and saving private ryan . Anyone not see it . Thats what i figured. For those of us that have served, particularly for those of us that have faced combat. That opening scene is something that you will never forget. I hope you never forget it. But the sea most important to me, actually, came later in the movie. Tom hanks laying on the rubble called over private ryan. Asked him to kneel down and he said to him two words. Earn this. Any victory Worth Winning must be deserved. As victories our increased and scale so much it be our exertions. Serve victory. Winston churchill said, we shall not win through the evils and our enemy we shall wind through the merit and ourselves. Deserve victory. Let that be the touchstone of every thought, word, and eat. Frankly i think about that pretty much every day. Am i living up to my own expectations or the expectations of others . Today, we are going to hear from people that deserved victory and earned it. Yesterday and the day before we heard from a lot of people that from on the ground, incredible legends that foot in the air. It is truly my pleasure to introduce mr. Gerry burton. We will begin the program with mr. Jerry burton. applause thank you everyone. Thank you. It is my honor to be in the room again with the original tuskegee airmen. And a second p. O. W. In the room. Another Fighter Pilot from world war ii. You are going to have a special treat of the gentlemen that a lot of people, one, dont even know still are around. Without further ado, i want to make sure we have enough time to see them all. Lieutenant colonel james the third. applause . As colonel. You are Fighter Pilot of three wars. Next, we will have Lieutenant Colonel alexander jefferson. applause . Colonel jefferson, combat pilot. P. O. W. Colonel joseph peter spurs. applause . Melania colonel peter bursts has a special designation with his name. Law he did 49 missions before becoming p. O. W. And then, somehow escape and evaded and flew with the russian army. Incredible stuff. So with that, lets give them all around of applause and we will dig into applause . We will start on the end. Colonel harvey. Colonel harvey has a special hat on. I like to see it because a lot of people think of tom cruise when they see the hat. The unfortunate part is, tom cruise was not the first. Colonel harvey is a part of a top gun squadron. A group that went to the list field, took an airplane, took their Maintenance Group and became top gun. The First Top Gun of record for the u. S. Air force. Right. Colonel harvey, would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you want people to know about your service and time flying combat airplanes and then becoming a top gun . Oh boy. I know its a long list. I never made any model aircrafts or anything like that never did anything as far as aircraft goes. I lived in a small town in pennsylvania called new gala station. You can imagine how big that is. I said in my front yard one day and i saw this flight of p forties fly over information. I said i would like to do that and that was it. laughter so i got into the military. I was drafted. I tried to enlist and the Army Air Corps in january 43. They said they were not taking enlistments at that time. The reason they said that is they did not want me in the Army Air Corps. I was drafted in march of 43. I went to fort maine maryland. Took my exam, physical. To i went to jefferson barks missouri for basic training. I finished my basic training at the jefferson missouri, and based on my score that i had on merit and test, they put me in the Army Air Corps. Army air corps engineers. They sent me for bellevue or virginia. For deliver, my mission was to go into the jungle, those out an area. That was part of the engineer battalion. We used to go out and practice every day. I said no, this is not for me. So i applied for cadet training. There were ten of us. Nine whites and myself. Two of us passed. From there went to biloxi mississippi for 30 days of basic training, more basic training. I finished there and went to tuskegee and the rest is history. Thats pretty good stuff. A lot of times you do things, you start off not realizing how far you are going to go. Colonel alexander. He is another one of those that did some things that a lot of people would not expect. I know when he started, he did not figure he would write his own book. I see the book sitting here, and the title, red tail captured, red tail free. To go to the red tail free part, i want to ask you first, where did you come from . What squadron did you fly in . And then, can you tell us that they you remember that you said i am a p. O. W. But i will be okay . Okay. All right. I guys and girls. Ive got five minutes to talk about something that takes me two hours. Yeah. Let us start out real quick. Alexander jefferson. Born in detroit, michigan. Went to college in atlanta, georgia. The war is going on. I graduated in 1942. Japanese bomb crew harbor. Anybody . What date . Okay United States congress made lets see i have to do the shortly. laughter congress developed the 99th squadron. They allowed blacks to fly and we started in 1941. I graduated in 42. The wars going on. The draft is about to get me. So rather than get drafted, i went down and volunteered for this new air corps. That was just developed. I graduated in january 42. I flew combat by the three 32nd Fighter Group. Ill selfcontained. I flew combat with the three or first Fighter Squadron commanded by general, at that time colonel viola davis. Well get back to that. I flew combat at 19 missions. I escorted the 17s from italy up into germany. We flew top cover. We had one mission. Straight thing. Going, try to knock off radar stations on the coast how of Southern France. I got hit, it came up through the floor, i bailed out. I build up in Southern France which was occupied by the germans at that time. I spent nine months as a p. O. W. Half my time in poland and then in germany. I was liberated in 1945. Then i came back to the United States and spent the rest of the time in the air force. As you can tell i put all of my thoughts on paper. Its all written down. Well go from there. I tried to make it quick. I ended up with nine and a half months in germany as a p. O. W. I think thats significant. There were 32 of us, blacks, who were p. O. W. s in germany by the end of the war. Well go from there. That is incredible. Thats it. Incredible. Colonel peterburs. Listening to the other two, tuskegee airmen, a question came to my mind. Well do the same thing and i will go back to colonel harvey. First thing is where are you from . Where do you go through training . Where was your training at . Then tell us a little bit of your time as a p. O. W. My time as a p. O. W. Is not very long. I was born in st. Paul minnesota 25th of november 1924. I did my formative years in wisconsin growing up in the milwaukee area. I had the vocation of becoming a priest and went to a seminary after great school. By the third year of a 12 year track to priesthood, i was coming down the stairs to the gym to play pool on a sunday morning, seventh december 1941, i heard the japanese per bombed pearl harbor. I knew at that time i was going to join the service and fight for the country. I left the seminary on my 18th birthday of 1942. I was accepted into the Aviation Cadet program and in my training in the south east air command, alabama, georgia, florida, that area. I graduated as a Second LieutenantFighter Pilot, 19 years old. I went through combat training after that in the p forties. Thank accumulated about 150 or so hours in the p40. I was in the 55th Fighter Squadron. They had converted from p38 two p51 i had only experience on the p40. I got about 20 hours on the p51 and entered combat. December 1944. I flew nine subsequent missions, most of them very exciting. The last one was the most interesting. You want me to continue . Go ahead. On the 49th mission, the eighth air force was putting about 1500 bombers near berlin area. My squadron was escorting some 450 b17. It was an eventful until the bombers started dropping bombs and we got hit by a swarm of turbo jets. I was flying high cover and observed a fighter blow up a b17. I rolled over and started a full frontal. I came into a 6 00 position just about the time he blew up the second b17. He rolled over and started down to the deck and i chased him and he disappeared into some clouds. I got hit in the left engine. I saw smoke and fire. I did not follow him into the clouds. I saw an airfield full of german aircraft and started straightening it. Those of you who are Fighter Pilots know youre not supposed to do that too much. When i was by myself, 20 years old and thought what the heck. I made too many passes and destroyed at least five on the ground and set a hanger on fire. As i was coming up on my last pass i felt a thud. The condor part of hitlers fleet. I blew that up. I felt another thud. I made it back to 10,000 feet. When i finally had to bail out at 300 feet over bern. I was captured immediately and interrogated and then went to p. O. W. Camp after a five or sixday march through germany. At that time it was just pandemonium. Thousands going east and thousands going west. German army going up and down on motorcycles trying to keep some kind of sense to the pandemonium. I got to the camp which was mostly russian prisoners of war. Spent about ten days there. Russians were right outside of berlin. The russians are fighting in berlin. Security at the camp is very lax so i escaped. You walked away . I walked away how and started down the road and after about five or six miles i heard a rumbling and hid in a ditch. A tank unit came by. I came out and fortunately the russian tank unit, the lieutenant could speak english so i communicated with him. He gave me a rifle and said hop on were going to windward. I thought with the russian tank unit through berlin up to wittenburh where i was repatriated by an army patrol came across to meet the russians. I eventually got back to paris and stabbed and all that kind of stuff. I started my way home on the last convoy to from europe. I got home and anxiously awaited to marry my fiancee joseph in whom i named my aircraft after. In the process of doing the paperwork i needed my mothers permission to get married because i had not turned 21 yet. Very nice. Thats it. You are in the northern part of germany. I was in the southern part. Close to 10,000 american the owh. A heck of a lot of us. We did not have a chance to escape because we were heavily guarded. It was heck. Well. Colonel harvey . A german ace was in the states in 2013 looking for the pilot who shot him down. Did you make contact by any chance . So your question again. Germanys leading ace was in the states in 2013 looking for the pilot that shot him down. Did you make contact by chance . laughs i never claimed a two six two. By the time i was liberated the war was over. You do not worry about those kinds of things. I got home and got married. 60 years went by and finally, through various european researchers, swedish, norwegian, and german researchers, they came to the conclusion that i was the one who shot down a top german ace. He had 206 confirmed aerial victories. He had 198 victories on the north sea area. Most of his victories there were from russians. He transitioned to the turbo jet and on his First Mission he shot down three aircraft. The first time in that aircraft. And he managed to shoot down three aircraft. He was the one, on the 5th of may 2005 we met in california. We became close friends. He was a real gentleman. We spent the rest of his life and i together doing various shows and stuff. He told me when he went into the clouds, he made a left turn hoping to avoid me if i tried to follow him. He said as soon as he started his turn his left engine disintegrated and he had to bailout at 1000 meters. He sprained both of his legs and ankles but he bailed out. He was basically out of the war at that time. He would say my friend joey saved my life. Because if we had gone up again, he felt he would certainly have been killed. Thats the way it was at the end of the war. I was thinking how fortunate you were to be able to bailout. I was thinking about that while you were talking. Out of all my time of training in the air tuskegee, i never had one minute on how to bailout. You bailed out of a p51 . The u. S. On the right side. Are you kidding . I build on the left side. Our job was to knock out radar stations on the shores of Southern France. Later on i found out that these radars controlled the guns around Southern France, on the harbors. We came in at about 15,000. Polls we dove in probably around 250 miles per hour. We went right across the top of these radar towers. A lot of buildings underneath where the machinery is going on. At about 200 feet, we hear boom. As i went along, fire came up out the floor. I asked myself how do i get out of this thing . Finally i decided very quickly, full power, pull up and i think i may have gotten to about 1000 feet. At the same time down on the left side you had a little wheel that controlled the flaps back and forth. I pulled the red lover and the canopy popped off. As i am going up, i got to about 1000 feet i think. Turn the stick loose, and quite naturally the nose with truck abruptly. And when it dropped abruptly, bang. I hit the big buckle. And threw me out. I remember the tail going by, nice and slow and easy. But they told you if you bail out. Not one, two, three, then you pull the d ring and the parachute will deploy. When that came out, i saw the tale go by. I looked down. I saw trees. I said oh no. You pulled a during, and bang. The parachute opens and i swung down and hit a tree. I said well, all of a sudden i heard a voice. speaks german i said oh, hell. It started with two or three german soldiers escorting me. On that same mission, we lost one guy. One was killed. Here there was a prisoner. I was a prisoner. And when other guy. We lost five men on that one mission. We later found out, they controlled the guns firing off the coast. One day as a p. O. W. , there were three or four guys this p. O. W. s. I spent the rest of the time hungry, but as a p. O. W. , we existed. I will leave it there. And later on i will go into the book were a very good. Colonel harvey. I was going back to you and you asked a question. But i want to give you a chance, first of all, we want to know where you are from first. I did not do that at the original outset. Two, i am curious flying salon with the military, what airplanes were you actually qualified in to fly . Out of all those, throughout all those years. What airplanes . Where are you from . What airplanes . Like i said before. And from a small town in pencil gay pennsylvania. We were the only black family out there. There was not any prejudice whatsoever. I got along fine with everybody. There was only i was the only black in the school. The only sports we had was tumbling and basketball. I was the anchorman on the tumbling team captain of the basketball team. In my senior heroes class president and valedictorian. Then i was treated latest any other person and like i said when i noticed i was subjected to segregation is when i took the train to 44 pennsylvania to maryland when we stopped in washington d. C. And we had a two hour layover. So i got off the train went and had breakfast. Came back to get back in the car that i wasnt. And i said no. He said no. You ride in the car where knee grows right. Welcome to the south. In other words the segregation and discrimination i could feel it. That was my introduction to segregation. I did not let it bother me. The way i looked at it, i did not have a problem. They had a problem. I just did what i had to do to accomplish what i had to accomplish. Like i said before, i went to engineering school. I did not care for that. Then off the tuskegee i went. The rest is history, like i said. Give us the airplanes that your qualified. Every coif time qualified and is in primary i flew the p. T. 19. Made by fair child. Long win model plane. We flew the standard bt 13 also known as the ball tea vibrator. Advanced the 86. Then we finished advanced training. We got ten hours in the p 40 at tuskegee. I got my ten hours theyre, and from there we went to South Carolina for combat training. There, we were flying the p 40 and later switched to the p 47. When i finished combat training, that was in april of 45. Had my bags packed. Then caught a train to go to norfolk. Went to the three 32nd. We got a message saying to hold us. The war in italy was over, and in may, hitler gave up the following month of may. I would have been on the high seas. I did not make it overseas to join the group. At that time, the germans had excellent intelligence. Hitler knew i was coming. Thats why he gave. A it. Man, like i said we got p 40 sevens. Then since i did not go over, i join the 99th and kentucky and we flew p 47. I flew p 47s up until the time of immigration and i was in june 49. They broke the three 32nd. Another pilot of the 99th and i, we were assigned to a group in japan. Before we departed, our 2 01 file had been forwarded to the Wing Commander. There was our picture. The Wing Commander called all the pilots into the base the eater and said we have to negros pilots assigned to the squadrons. And he said no way are we going to fly with. Them no way. Anyway, the other pilot and i reported to the Wing Commander. And he said, what do you want us to call you . I said well, i am a first lieutenant. And he is a Second Lieutenant. He said okay. But then he made a mistake. He said we have three Fighter Squadrons on the base. To be 51 squatters and an f 80 squatter. Which squatter do you want to go to . I said the f80. So he put us both in the age of 80 squatter. The trainer version. We flew in advance the ftc six, and the boxy there is a hood you can pull up and you cannot see. Out what they had, they had me get in the backseat. The pilot upfront which was one of them got in