Showing posts with label World War II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World War II. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 02, 2022

WWII's only Black female unit will finally get Congressional Gold Medal

The House voted Monday to award the only all-female, Black unit to serve in Europe during World War II with the Congressional Gold Medal.

The 422-0 vote follows a long-running campaign to recognize the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. The Senate passed the legislation last year. The unit, known in short as the Six Triple Eight, was tasked with sorting and routing mail for millions of American service members and civilians. Only a half-dozen of the more than 850 members are still alive.

Sunday, January 16, 2022

Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee dies at 102

Retired Brigadier General Charles McGee, part of the pioneering all-Black Tuskegee Airmen during World War Two and one of its most decorated pilots, died on Sunday at the age of 102, his family said in a statement.

McGee, who flew 409 combat missions spanning World War Two, Korea and Vietnam, died in his sleep Sunday morning, a family spokesperson said. "He had his right hand over his heart and was smiling serenely," his youngest daughter Yvonne McGee said in a statement released by the spokesperson.

"Today, we lost an America hero," Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Twitter. "While I am saddened by his loss, I'm also incredibly grateful for his sacrifice, his legacy and his character. Rest in Peace, General."

After flying as a Tuskegee Airman in World War Two, he built a legacy for the next three decades as an Air Force pilot during the North Korea and Vietnam wars. He retired about 50 years ago.

After his military career, McGee worked as a business executive and an airport manager in Kansas City, Missouri. He also served as president of the Tuskegee Airmen association.

McGee is survived by his three children, 10 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.

Thursday, January 06, 2022

Lawrence N. Brooks, oldest US veteran of WWII dies at 112

Lawrence N. Brooks, the oldest World War II veteran in the U.S. - and believed to be the oldest man in the country - died on Wednesday at the age of 112.

Thursday, November 11, 2021

New bill would provide GI Bill benefits to descendants of Black World War II veterans

Congressional Democrats are reintroducing legislation that would repay the families of Black American veterans who served in World War II who were unable to take advantage of the original GI Bill’s benefits.

The GI Bill Restoration Act would provide descendants of these veterans a transferable benefit that could be used to obtain housing, attend college and start businesses, according to the announcement Thursday from the bill’s sponsors.

To mark Veterans Day, the bill was unveiled by House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., in the House and is expected to be introduced by Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., in the Senate. The lawmakers said that GI benefits were limited to Black veterans because most state and local veterans administrations were largely run by white officials.

The bill would extend access to Post-9/11 GI Bill educational assistance benefits to the surviving spouse and direct descendants of these veterans who were alive when the bill took effect. It would also extend access to the VA Loan Guaranty Program, which helps provide home loans to veterans and surviving spouses.

Under the legislation, the Government Accountability Office would be required to establish a panel of independent experts to assess inequities in how benefits are distributed to minority and female service members.

Tuesday, July 02, 2019

Tuskegee Airman gets diploma 80 years after high school

James Shipley, who was unable to finish high school but went on to serve as crew chief for the famed Tuskegee Airman has received an honorary diploma nearly 80 years after leaving high school.

During a speech, Shipley acknowledged he wasn't a good student during high school, but he was happy to receive a diploma.

Shipley said discrimination was more prevalent when he was younger. "People are beginning to realize that color doesn't matter. It's what's in the heart," he said to applause.

Military historian Jeremy Amick, who organized the event says Shipley didn't have a chance to earn his diploma years ago. He attended an all-black high school that wasn't credentialed through 12th grade. Shipley would have had to travel to Sedalia for his final year, and he didn't have the resources to do so.

The event took place at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1003 in St. Martins. Attendees included Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, retired Army Maj. Gen. Hank Stratman, and a representative to U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley.

Sunday, June 23, 2019

Tuskegee Airman Who Flew 142 WWII Combat Missions Dies at 99

World War II pilot Robert Friend, one of the last original members of the famed all-black Tuskegee Airmen, has died at the age of 99.

Friend’s daughter, Karen Friend Crumlich, told The Desert Sun her father died Friday at a Southern California hospital.

Born in South Carolina on 1920’s leap day, Friend flew 142 combat missions in World War II as part of the elite group of fighter pilots trained at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute. The program was created after the NAACP began challenging policies barring black people from flying military aircraft.

Friend’s 28-year Air Force career included service in the Korean and Vietnam wars. He also worked on space launch vehicles and served as foreign technology program director before retiring as a lieutenant colonel and forming his own aerospace company.

[SOURCE: KTLA]

Tuesday, June 04, 2019

He Served With D-Day’s Only African-American Combat Unit. His Widow Is Still Fighting for His Medal of Honor

Seventy-five years after American troops landed in smoke, fire and chaos on the beaches of Normandy, France, a Maryland woman is fighting for recognition for her late husband, who is likely D-Day’s last unsung hero.

Corporal Waverly “Woody” Woodson Jr., was a 21-year-old medic from West Philadelphia when he splashed down in four feet of churning sea and waded toward Omaha Beach around 9 a.m. on the morning of June 6, 1944.

Woodson was wounded, hit by burning shrapnel that raked his landing craft and ripped open his buttocks and thigh. The soldier next to him was killed. A medic slapped dressings on Woodson’s wounds, and they, along with three other medics in their crew, crept up the beach while crouched behind a tank. They were the first African-Americans to set their boots on Omaha Beach.

For the next 30 hours, Woodson would survive German snipers and his own searing pain to save scores of lives. Decades later, Woodson would learn that he had been nominated for the Medal of Honor.

But he would not receive it, not even when President Bill Clinton belatedly awarded the nation’s highest award for valor in 1997 to seven black soldiers who’d been denied their D-Day decorations by an Army afflicted by institutional racism. “History has been made whole today,” Clinton said.

Woodson’s white marble gravestone at Arlington National Cemetery is inscribed with his final Army rank — staff sergeant — and his decorations, the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star, the fourth-highest award for bravery.

Waverly Woodson died in 2005 but his widow, Joann Woodson, who turned 90 on May 26, has made it her mission to see that her husband’s heroism is acknowledged. “I will fight for him as long as I live,” Woodson said from her home in Clarksburg, outside Washington, D.C.

Read more: He Served With D-Day’s Only African-American Combat Unit. His Widow Is Still Fighting for His Medal of Honor

Sunday, May 12, 2019

New Book “Sweet Georgia Brown: Impact, Courage, Sacrifice, and Will” Is a Chronicle of the Military Achievements of Black Women During World War II

Lawrence E. Walker is a native of New Jersey, president and CEO of PureHistory.org, an online social search engine and media network focusing on American History and around the World, and recipient of the Army Person of the Year award in 1997 for his groundbreaking research on the history of black women who served during World War II. He has completed his book “Sweet Georgia Brown: Impact, Courage, Sacrifice, and Will”: an inspiring work the celebrates the lives, accomplishments, and perseverance of black American women who served their nation during the Second World War despite significant endemic racial and gender discrimination.

Walker writes, “Charity Adams Earley, commander of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion in World War II, summarized the history of women in the military when she wrote in 1989: ‘The future of women in the military seems assured... What may be lost in time is the story of how it happened. The barriers of sex and race were, and sometimes still are, very difficult to overcome, the second even more than the first. During World War II women in the service were often subject to ridicule and disrespect even as they performed satisfactorily... Each year the number of people who shared the stress of these accomplishments lessens. In another generation young black women who join the military will have scant record of their predecessors who fought on the two fronts of discrimination segregation and reluctant acceptance by males.’”

Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, Lawrence E. Walker’s book is a fascinating record of the intersection of African-American, women’s, and modern military history in the United States.

Readers who wish to experience this engrossing work can purchase “Sweet Georgia Brown: Impact, Courage, Sacrifice, and Will” at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

BUY THE BOOK AT AMAZON

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional New York-based, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors’ books, including distribution in the world’s largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not overwhelmed with logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and the like. Its roster of accomplished authors and publishing professionals allows writers to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues to focus on their passion: writing and creating.

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Tuskegee Airman who went missing during World War II identified 73 years later

The Defense Department announced Friday that it has accounted for the first of more than two dozen black aviators known as Tuskegee Airman who went missing in action during World War II.

Capt. Lawrence Dickson, a fighter pilot who had trained at the Tuskegee Army Flying School, was 24 when he went down over Austria on Dec. 23, 1944, while on a mission.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) had been investigating the possibility that human remains and other items found at a crash site in Austria this past summer were Dickson's.

On Friday morning, the DPAA informed his daughter, Marla Andrews, 76, of East Orange, New Jersey, that the remains were those of her father.

"I feel great!" she said in a telephone interview. "I really do feel a relief . . . I had a good crying jag."

Dickson is probably the first missing Tuskegee Airman found since the end of World War II, the DPAA has said.

The heroic pilot was among the more than 900 black pilots who were trained at the segregated Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama during the war.

He was on his 68th mission and had already been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for meritorious service.

There were 27 Tuskegee Airmen missing from the war. Now there are 26.

Read more: Tuskegee Airman who went missing during World War II identified 73 years later

Friday, July 06, 2018

Black World War II veteran finally promoted to second lieutenant after 76 years

Seventy-six years after being denied his officer status in the U.S. Army, a Philadelphia man was ceremoniously commissioned Friday as a second lieutenant.

John James of Southwest Philadelphia, now 98, completed officer training in 1942, but he was denied his rightfully earned bars because he is black.

In 1941, James was drafted into the Army. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he was preparing to ship out to the Pacific, but took a chance on applying for officer training in Fort Benning, Georgia.

“It was a long shot,” James recalled. “There were 21 of us in a class of 200. All the rest were white.”

He finished training in about three months, but, the day before he was to receive his commission, the camp’s contact officer pulled him aside.

“I go into his office and he said, ‘I’m not going to grant you your bars. You’re being transferred,’” recalled James.

During World War II it was not uncommon for African-American soldiers to be denied an officer commission if they were to be assigned to a predominately white unit. At the time, it was against Army regulation for white soldiers to be subordinate to blacks.

James spent the war as a corporal, serving as a typist with a quartermaster battalion supplying front-line combat units in North Africa and Italy for three years. He was part of several key moments of the war, including the Battle of Salerno and the Battle of Monte Cassino.

At the end of the war, he returned to Philadelphia and studied to be a mortician. With mortuary jobs scarce and a family to support, he jumped at an opening at the post office.

“Naturally, I was not going to leave that,” said James. “That was sure money.”

Life carried on. James spent 35 years at the post office. He had three kids. His wife passed away in 1969. He eventually remarried and took on three stepchildren. He retired. He spent a lot of time fishing.

All that time he never told his children anything about being an uncommissioned Army officer, until three years ago when his daughter discovered the class photo from Fort Benning.

“Throw it in the trash,” he told her.

Instead, Dr. Marion Teresa Lane framed it and hung it on the wall. The James family history has a long military streak: They have had an ancestor in every American war since the Revolutionary War (except the Spanish-American war, which the Jameses sat out).

Because of her lineage, Lane belongs to 13 heritage organizations, including the Daughters of the American Revolution. The former national president of the Society of Descendants of Washington’s Army at Valley Forge, she currently is on the board of the Museum of the American Revolution.

With all that under her belt, as well as a 38-year career in public education, Lane said she knows how to work through red tape. She was determined to get her father’s commission.

At the commissioning ceremony in the Museum of the American Revolution’s Liberty Hall, complete with color guard, Casey said he was “humbled” to finally present James with his officer’s certification.

“Although not awarded the commission owed to him, he bravely rose to face one of our most challenging times in history,” said Casey. “He was denied recognition of his service to his country simply because of his race, because of the color of his skin.”

Also lauding James was Gen. John Jumper, a former Vietnam fighter pilot, who is now the museum’s board chair and acting interim president. He said one of America’s greatest attributes is an ability to correct its mistakes, even if it’s long after the fact.

“This is not the first time soldiers of African descent struggled to fight and serve their nation,” he said. “Since the beginning of the U.S. Army in 1775, soldiers of African descent had to fight for their right to fight for their country.”

In many ways, James is the story of African-American patriotism – its noble honors and crushing disappointments. After two centuries of public service, the family is sending another generation into the field: James’ grand-nephew is now enlisted in the Army.

[SOURCE: YORK DAILY RECORD]

Sunday, August 27, 2017

WWII veteran awarded long lost medals at age 99

Richard Bell Jr. made the 12-hour, overnight hauls by starlight.

A driver during WWII in the famed Red Ball Express, he was one of a group of primarily African-American servicemen responsible for speeding supplies to the front lines in France after the invasion of Normandy.

“No lights, period,” he said. “You took the fuse out of the truck. That’s the way you did it.”

After the war, Bell was honorably discharged and returned home to Baltimore where he worked 30 years at Bethlehem Steel.

Now 99 and living in Blackstone, his great-nephew was preparing a family history when he discovered that Bell had been awarded a series of medals but never received them.

“When I saw that he had these awards, I asked to see them,” said Benjamin Sessoms Jr., an Ettrick resident. “He looked at me and said he didn’t have them. I said, ‘Did you lose them? What happened?’ He said he just didn’t have them.”

Bell said he’d never been that concerned about it: “To tell you the truth, I wasn’t worried about any medals at the time. I was worried about getting home.”

Undeterred, Sessoms made it his mission to see that his great-uncle receive the honors he had earned.

And on Saturday, it happened. Decades after those long, 12-hour hauls, Bell, surrounded by generations of family members who’d gathered for a family reunion at the Eastern Henrico Recreation Center, received six service medals. They include the American Campaign Medal, American Defense Service Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII, Sharpshooter Badge and Rifle Bar, and the World War II Victory Medal.

In attendance was U.S. Rep. Dave Brat, R-7th, whose office helped facilitate efforts to get Bell his medals; U.S. Army Brigadier Gen. Jeffrey W. Drushal; and a full color guard from Fort Lee.

Read more: WWII veteran awarded long lost medals at age 99

Friday, June 30, 2017

Tuskegee Airman, Congressional Gold Medal winner George Watson dies

George Watson Sr. of Lakewood NJ, one of the original Tuskegee Airmen has died. He was 96.

Mr. Watson died of complications due to pneumonia on June 19. Services will be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Calvary Lighthouse Church, just a few hundred feet away from the Watson home on East County Line Road.

During his 26 years of service in the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force., he was assigned to stations in Germany, England, Turkey, Iran and McGuire Air Force Base in Burlington County, his grandson Bryce Watson said.

His duties during World War II included delivering aircraft parts to the "Red Tails," the nickname for the African-American airmen responsible for flying escort for heavy bombers. His grandson said he was injured while on guard duty, but later returned to service.

After retiring, Tech Sgt. Watson managed the Greenwood Cemetery in Lakewood, his grandson said. He also made a life out of talking to schools and community groups about the Tuskegee Airmen.

Two films were made about the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, and Watson was interviewed and credited for his contribution to George Lucas' 2012 movie "Red Tails." Experts estimate that fewer than 200 of the airmen are still alive.

[SOURCE: NJ ADVANCE MEDIA]

Friday, April 21, 2017

Tuskegee Airman Buford A. Johnson dead at 89

Buford A. Johnson, a Tuskegee Airman who served as a mechanic and crew chief in the Army Air Corps and U.S. Air Force and spent his retirement years introducing new generations to the history of the World War II African-American fighter corps, has died.

Johnson, of Highland, died Saturday, April 15. He was 89 and a retired master sergeant after an Air Force career that included World War II and the Korean War, according to his family obituary.

Johnson served from 1945 to 1966, starting with the famed 99th Fighter Squadron formed for African-American service members in Tuskegee, Ala.

Johnson was with the 99th from 1946 to 1948, the year President Harry S Truman issued an executive order desegregating the armed forces.

[SOURCE: http://www.pe.com]

Sunday, April 09, 2017

99 year old Tuskegee Airman to lead Memorial Day parade

One of World War II's Tuskegee Airmen will lead the township's 55th Annual Memorial Day Parade this year.

Charles Nolley, a 99-year-old Edison N.J. resident, has been named the Grand Marshall in the upcoming parade, Mayor Thomas Lankey announced Friday.

Nolley was drafted into the second World War in 1943 and served as one of the first black aviators in the history of the U.S. armed forces.

He trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama to become part of the Army Air Corps' four squadrons of all all-black servicemen. Nolley flew combat mission over Europe for three years with the 99th Pursuit Squadron.

"Not only is Mr. Nolley a witness to history, he is living history. His story is one of perseverance, dedication, service and success," Lankey said in release. "We are privileged to have Charles and his wife Martha as neighbors, and we are honored to have him as our parade Grand Marshal."

[SOURCE:NJ.COM]

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Black WWII veteran receives 6 long-overdue medals


A World War II veteran who is the last-known living Buffalo-area resident to have served in a segregated unit has received six long-overdue medals.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and Rep. Brian Higgins, a Buffalo Democrat, presented George Watts with the medals during a ceremony Wednesday at a city fire station.

Watts was a sergeant assigned to an all-black Army engineer unit that served in the Philippines campaign. He was honorably discharged in 1946. Two years later President Harry Truman integrated the U.S. military.

Among the belated decorations Watts received was the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory medal.

Schumer and Higgins say racism likely kept Watts and many other black soldiers from receiving the military honors they earned with their service during the war.

[SOURCE: http://www.syracuse.com]


Monday, November 21, 2016

Oldest remaining Tuskegee Airman, Willie N. Rogers , dies at 101

We have lost another one, another hero, another example of excellence, we have lost another Tuskegee Airmen. God bless his soul.

Willie N. Rogers was an American hero, and at age 101, he was a living example of the nation's history.

He was a member of the "Greatest Generation," which defeated the Axis powers in World War II, doing his part as a master sergeant in the all-black Tuskegee Airmen during the era of racial segregation in the U.S. military.

The longtime St. Petersburg resident died Friday, 11/18/2016 from complications of a stroke.

He was the oldest surviving member of that original legendary 100th Fighter Squadron, The Tuskegee Airmen.

Mr. Rogers received his Congressional Gold Medal in November 2013.

Also in recent years, he was presented with the keys to the cities of Lakeland and St. Petersburg. His portrait hangs in the St. Petersburg Museum of History.

[SOURCE]

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Special honor: Stretch of Indiana Highway renamed to recognize Tuskegee Airmen

Those who drive on Interstate 65 through Jackson County (Indiana) will be reminded that America’s first African-American aviators and their support staff prepared for war here, while fighting for equality at home.

Beginning Friday, highway signs designated the stretch of the interstate from Seymour to the Bartholomew County/Johnson County line as the Tuskegee Airmen Highway in honor of the aviators, some who trained during World War II at Freeman Field in Seymour and Atterbury Air Force Base in Columbus.

Read more: Special honor: Stretch of I-65 renamed to recognize Tuskegee Airmen

Monday, September 28, 2015

Tuskegee Airman Eugene Jackson, 92, dies

A Portland native who belonged to a groundbreaking World War II fighter squadron that helped lead the way toward desegregation of the U.S. military has died.

Eugene B. Jackson, 92, of North Marshfield, Massachusetts, died Sept. 20, according to his close friend and attorney, Paul Kaufman.

Jackson, who was born in Portland and graduated from Portland High School in 1941, served with the Tuskegee Air Squadron during World War II.

Jackson, who maintained the radio and communication equipment on the aircraft flown by the African-American pilots, received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007 along with other Tuskegee Airmen.

[SOURCE]

Monday, September 07, 2015

Tuskegee airman, WWII hero from N.J., dies at 90

Calvin Spann, a New Jersey native and one of the original Tuskegee airmen, died Sunday at his home in Texas. He was 90.

Spann, who was born Nov. 28, 1924, and grew up in Rutherford, volunteered for the Army Air Corps and was sent to Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1943 to start aviation cadet training. He was sent to Italy as a replacement combat pilot after completing his training.

Lt. Spann flew 26 combat missions over Nazi Germany.

As a fighter pilot, he participated in the longest bomber escort mission in 15th Air Force history: a 1,600-mile, round-trip mission, from Ramitelli, Italy, to Berlin.

Read more: Tuskegee Airman, NJ Native, Dies

Saturday, July 18, 2015

President Obama honors nation's oldest veteran

President Obama honored a very special veteran Friday: 110-year-old Emma Didlake.

A resident of Detroit, Didlake is believed to be the nation's oldest veteran.

"We are so grateful that she is here with us today," Obama during a brief Oval Office photo opportunity.

He added: "And it's a great reminder of not only the sacrifices that the Greatest Generation made on our behalf, but also the kind of trailblazing that our women veterans made, (and) African American veterans who helped to integrate our Armed Services."

Didlake "was a Private during the course of her service and her decorations include the Women's Army Corps Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, and World War II Victory Medal," the White House said in a statement.

"It's a great honor to have her here," the president said.

Read more: Obama honors nation's oldest veteran