Tuskegee airmen. We have the pleasure of hearing from jim pride former Radio Operator of the Tuskegee Airmen. Major anderson, former Ground Support serviceman of the Tuskegee Airmen. Bill fontroy, former pilot cadet. And finally, steven mccoy. Chairman of the speakers bureau. Please help me in welcoming these brave men of the Tuskegee Airmen. [applause] good morning, everyone. How are we this morning . Excellent. Except. First id like to thank the wonderful production the general gave us and give her a round of applause again. Thank you. Id also like to thank cadet cable for her wonderful introduction of us. The Tuskegee Airmen seated here and i will like to welcome you to this Panel Discussion about the history and legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen. We wish to thank the American Veteran center for allowing us to speak this morning in this wonderful venue. We wish to express our special thanks to our contact within the American Veterans center, wes smith. Please feel free to chat with our donors at the completion of our panel this morning. Id like to start off with a brief introduction. Seated before you you have ivan ware, bill fontroy and major anderson. This morning, they are here to represent the 16 to 19,000 men and women who are part of the Tuskegee Airmen story. During world war ii, it is often referred to as the tuskegee experience. This morning, id like to start with the definition of a tuskegee airman. A tuskegee airman is any person, man or woman, military or civilian black or white, who served at Tuskegee Army airfield or at any of the other locations that supported programs stemming from the tuskegee experience between 1941 through 1949. All these individuals are considered Tuskegee Airmen. The tuskegee experience that we will be discussing was a unique and Important Development in Race Relations in the history of our country for black citizens and the nation as a whole. It established in 1941, through political and legal maneuverings americas ability to be enlightened and to be challenged. To appreciate the significance of the tuskegee experience, it is necessary for it to be viewed through the content of the american Racial Climate and the timing that it was executed. The impetus of establishing a flying program for blacks began at the beginning of world war ii as a consequence of black discontent resulting from decades of maltreatment as second class citizens and specifically the denial of opportunities serve our country in the military in jobs other than service or labor. In the face of strong resistance from the military establishment and most officials in the war department, a relentless effort was carried on by a number of black organizations and a sympathetic white minority to persuade the government to accept blacks for military Aviation Training in the Army Air Corps. After considerable debate on the subject, the government agreed to establish a program in which plaques would blacks would be trained in all aspects of military operation. Morton field tuskegee, alabama was selected to conduct the Flight Training for pilots. The first class, designated 42c began with 13 trainees, 12 cadets and one military officer. Their training started on july 19, 1941. Up to 13 students that began that initial training, five graduated from the final training and received their wings. On march 7 1942. The first five graduates were benjamin excuse me, captain benjamin o. Davis jr. , future commander of the 19th and 3 32nd fighter groups and First Black Air force general. Second lieutenant Lemieux CurtisSecond Lieutenant charles depot, Second Lieutenant george s. Roberts and Second Lieutenant mack ross. One of the key evolutions to getting to this point was in 1941, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, at the urgings of her close friend and social activist moved to help expand the Pilot Training program at tuskegee, alabama. In march of that year, Eleanor Roosevelt not only visited the Tuskegee Institutes field but incredibly and against the advice of her secret service detail, she asked the chief flight instructor, charles a. Chief anderson, to take her on a flight. This single act of flying the first lady for more than an hour had great symbolic value to the advocates of black military aviation. It brought a visibility to tuskegees Pilot Training program. This in turn, helped open the door for the deployment of black military aviation units to the european theater. Unfortunately, they still were in segregated units. In a total there were 2,483 pilot trainee that is entered training in tuskegee, alabama of which 992 graduated earning their wings as pilots, from 1942 through 1946. There were 352 pilots that deployed to the european theater of operations. They flew the p39, p40, p47 and finally the p51 mustang with the 99 and 33nd fighter groups. The Technical Training of the ground crews was connected at chanute Army Airfield in illinois. At chanute, the enlisted personnel were quartered together in world war i era barracks separated from the main base. A portion of the barracks was divided to provide a separate estimate for the trainees to eat, sleep and study. At the onset, the Tuskegee Army airfield was under the direction of a white command staff and flight instructors. After a couple of false starts, the Army Air Corps made an excellent selection of a base commander in the person of colonel, later Brigadier General noel f. Parish. Colonel parish applied his Broad Knowledge and understanding of racial problems and concerns during his command of the base. He devoted his heart and soul to providing a fair opportunity for military aviation in the cadet trainees. Colonel parishs job was extremely difficult. He had to comply with the war departments regulations requiring segregation. He also had to maintain some level of segregation on the twice keep the bases white complement contented, as well as the racially intolerant population of alabama that surrounded the base. Meanwhile, along with the racial pressures, the cadets of tuskegee were subjected to the standard rigid military training and discipline similar to that experienced by cadets at military academies. The mental and physical stresses that were prevalent throughout the air corps was specifically designed to test each cadets respect for Authority Commitment to the duty, and honor. It also prepared them for the rigors that they would experience later in their military careers while in combat. Over the period of a year, colonel parish was able to remove the first doubts about black performance in the air corps. It was a resounding success. Blacks could be taught, trained to fly, fight and maintain aircraft to the same standards that the air corps was applying to all of its aviation units. That moved on to their combat record. The airmens combat achievements included the instruction of enemy aircraft, ammunition depots as well as the destruction of one destroyer by machinegun fire. The outstanding performance of the ground crews armorers, ordnance and other technician as well as the Administration Staff was critical to the success of these pilots in combat. To give you an idea how effective they were, while operating with the 12th air force, they flew 6,381 combat sortees. From june 1943 through may 1944, they flew 9,152 combat sortees in support of the 15th air force from june 1944 through may 1945. They flew 179 Escort Missions or bomber escort. The key to remember with this is during that era, the loss of a single bomber was 10 men lost. The United States at that time could put together aircraft quickly. The loss of highly trained individuals to man those aircraft and to operate those aircraft in combat was a real loss and the Tuskegee Airmen fought to make sure that capable was maintained by war fighting sources. The total combat sorties was 15,9543. Total aerial kills was 112. Id like to ask everybody a question. How many of you have heard that the Tuskegee Airmen never lost a bomber under their escort . Ok. Education time. Ladies and gentlemen im here to tell you that the myth of never losing a bomber is false. The total number of bombers lost while under escort by the Tuskegee Airmen was 27. This is going through air force records both on the enemy side and on our side. By comparison, the average number of bombers lost while under other p51 squadron protections in theater was 46 for the same period of time so even though they did lose aircraft, their effectiveness showed they were a stretch above the average p51 unit in theater at that time. Please feel free to pass that information on. To date, 66 tuskegee pilots gave the ultimate sacrifice and were killed in north africa and european combat zones. Differential 32 were shot down and captured and later repatriated after the war. A little known side note, was that the air corps also had a Bombing Group made up of black airmen. They were the 477th Bombardment Group at selfridge Army Airfield. They trained plaque pilots, navigators bombardiers, radio men and Ground Support staff on the operation and maintenance of the twin engine b25 mitchell medium bomber. The unit was programmed to deploy to the Pacific Theater but they never deployed due to the ending of the war. Id like to touch base on another aspect of the Tuskegee Airmen that doesnt get a lot of light. Womens contributions to the Tuskegee Airmen. Unfortunately most of us see hollywood and their idea of what the Tuskegee Airmen are. In reality, it was very different. As the Tuskegee Airmen fought in the skies of world war ii, they were supported by a dedicated and often forgotten cadre of women. They were nurses, mechanics supply and ferry pilots and secretaries. They nursed injured bodies and injured souls. They packaged and repackaged parachutes cleared land for runways and base buildings delivered supplies and did many other duties to help keep a base operational. When black activists urged president truman to desegregate the military in 1948, they pointed to the example and heroism of the red tails their air cruise ground crews and base support staff. Many of those personnel were women. The actions of black servicemen and women proved they earned the right for equal treatment enjoyed by all loyal americans. Its important at this point in time to note this one aspect and please, this is what id love for you to carry away with you. Without the bold imagination of mary mathune the sheer stubbornness of her friend, first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and numerous unrecognized women warriors, it is doubtful that the Tuskegee Airmen would have come into competitivence or been as successful as they were. At this point in time, i have a few questions for the gentlemen on our board. I would like to ask mr. Pride to please come down. Mr. Pride is one of our distinguished dodas. Thats fine. Excellent. Id like to ask the first question of mr. Fontroy. Im the youngest guy up here. Mr. Fontroy, please give us one moment, folks. Mr. Fontroy, where are you from . Washington, d. C. , Columbia Hospital for women where i was born. Ok. Several years ago. Not too long ago. Mr. Fontroy what was your inspiration when you first left home . We had an officer in the Police Department here who was an all american football and basketball player and you can look at me and see that i was interested in basketball. No doubt. Yeah. I idolized that gentleman. After my father, he was the greatest man that i knew. He joined the Tuskegee Airmen shortly after the war started graduated and was killed in an airplane accident in michigan. He was my inspiration. Of course, i was just 15 years old when the war started. By the time i turned 17, i decided that i didnt want to go in the navy so i went to 11th and new york avenue to the bus station where they recruited in the army and i, with permission of my mother, asked if i could go in the Army Air Corps and they gave me a test. Apparently i passed it, to my mothers surprise. And i went off to bowling field to take a physical, psychological, psycho motive and some other test and on february 51 1944, i was sworn in the Army Air Corps reserves. May of 1945, i was sworn in to the Army Air Corps because i had turned 18 in march. I went to keisler field, took some more tests and to my surprise, i passed and was sent up to Tuskegee Army airfield as a preaviation cadet. I stayed there until may of 1945. I was put in class 45i. You mentioned 42. 45i was my class. And for you folks that dont know it, the war ended when they found out 45i was being trained. Thats not true. But thats what we like to say. I was able to go through three of the four phases to become a pilot before they declared a surplus and i was discharged at andrews Army Air Corps base november 8. Tomorrows my anniversary 1945. The main thing about my training, i like to think, is that the gentlemen who went over before me came back and taught me. My instructor in basic flying was lieutenant captain Leonard Jackson out of fort worth texas. He came back and taught meow me how to fly the at6 and do night flying, cross country. Those men came back and they taught me well, they taught us well. I guess my other claim to fame is that in primary my first check ride you guys or girls interested in flying know that after 20 hours of flying theyre going to give you a test. And its the test is for you to prove that you learned what your instructor is supposed to have taught you. My first check ride was with c. Alfred anderson, chief anderson, who happened to have taken mrs. Roosevelt up. I didnt know any of this until i came out of the service. But, man, was that a big deal with me when i found out that that was the man that took me up and gave me my first check. I am very proud to be associated with the Tuskegee Airmen. All of these gentlemen are idols of mine. But to you young people, my god has done with me what ive done. I didnt do it alone. Thank you. Id like to ask mr. Pride. Mr. Pride, what was your inspiration when you were growing up and where are you from . Im from washington, d. C. Also. Home boy. And my inspiration was the local African American newspapers. About every other week or so there would be a photo of a Tuskegee Airmen event and when i was about 16 years old i decided i wanted to be one of them. I wanted to fly. And like everybody else at that time we all wanted to serve our country. Our country at the time was 160 million people. Onetenth of them went to war. I am very pleased to be a tuskegee airman. There were many workers during world war ii. Thank you, sir. My next question is for dr. Ware. Dr. Ware, please tell us where your from and did you dream of joining the military when you were young . If not, what were you aspiring to be . What was the question again . Did you dream of joining the military when you were young . No, i didnt dream on joining the military when i was young. I found out after i came out of the military that my grandfather had been a military person in the civil war. But i found that out later, that i had a heritage, a military heritage. I was just unaware of that. I was in junior college, my sophomore year of junior college. Its only two years there so it was my final year of junior college, when the war broke out. And of course our whole class of six guys, we went down to a place where you could sign up. We already we hadnt drafted but we were enlisting people and enlarging the military service. This was in the 1940s. And it was nothing that was unusual. We just thought this was the way that most Young Americans reacted. We were all athletes. We played ball and baseball in the summer, football in the fall. But whatever the normal things that young men did we thought we were doing. But the exception came when you completed high school. Everybody, it was compulsory to complete high school. So if you had any ambitions and practically everybody had ambitions to go on, it was beyond high school. Well, there are many problems. There werent that many schools. And if you had to go some distance, then you had to maintain yourself while you were going to school. I selected, not out of choice, but forced choice, to go a junior college. It was only seven miles