WOW! I just met a Tuskegee Airman

[underpants]

Lt.Col. Howard Ball

I couldn't stay to hear him speak or take questions so I went into the meeting room where he was.

Me:"Colonel?!?" (he had a hearing aid)

Lt.Col. Howard Ball "Yes"

"I am sorry I can't stay but I just wanted to meet you and shake your hand"

"Well thank you"

Me"No thank you Sir"

He was looking mighty dapper and he still has a very strong handshake.

WOW! an honest to goodness real life Tuskegee Airman. I never even thought that I might have the chance to meet one of those remarkable individuals.

How cool is THAT!?!?!

http://history.acusd.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/Tuskegee.html

[arwalden]

1. Very Cool!

[RetroLounge]

2. Damn. That is cool.

RL

[ewagner]

3. Lucky you!!!

I'd love to meet and talk to one of the original Tuskegee Airman.

They were remarkable in so many ways....remarkable just to make it to Tuskegee at that time; remarkable to be selected for the program; remarkable to survive the bigotry of the military at that time; remarkable airmen....

all of them men of inconquerable courage.

I salute them to this day...........

[GOPisEvil]

4. That's extremely cool!

Lucky you! :thumbsup:

[demnan]

5. Wow! That's great!

[XNASA]

6. I too had the priveledge, about 4 months ago.

We had 3 Tuskegee Airmen speak at a luncheon at work. Great stories. Wonderful, brave men.

[underpants]

8. Correction-Lt.Col Howard BAUGH not Ball

That's what I get for listening to our nutty PA announcer (some classic announcements in the past)

His Caddie in the parking garage sports a Distinguished Flying Medal license plate.

DU'er Commander Bunnypants got his autograph. I'm not one for autographs really.

Having serious internet trouble here at work. Hopefully this posts.

[undergroundrailroad]

7. Wow! That was very nice of you to pay your respects to a living legend

of aviation and civil rights.

How cool? VERY!


Undergroundrailroad

[HamdenRice]

9. My recollections of Tuskegee airmen...

My father was in the 332nd Fighter Group of which the 99th Fighter Squadron was part.

First of all, a quible that my father always corrected. It is a bit unfair to always talk about the Tuskegee airmen, rather than the 332nd Fighter Group. Usually the term is meant to apply to the first squadron of fighter pilots trained at Tuskegee and assigned to the command of African American Army Air Force General Benjamin O. Davis, as the 99th Fighter Squadron. But after the 99th proved their prowess (despite vicious criticism) General Marshall expanded the black pilot program to an entire fighter group, the 332nd. Moreover, this group included not just pilots, but mechanics, intelligence, medical corp -- every other function you would expect in a large fighter group, and all African American staffed and led. My father was a corporal in the 332nd.

There was a lot of officer/enlisted man comraderie, and after the war, my father stayed in touch with some of the officers as well as many fellow enlisted men. One night when I was in college, nearly 30 years ago, my uncle from California was in town, at the time still in the Air Force, and my father and mother had a dinner party. A 332nd pilot they both new attended.

He told me the story of a mission over Germany. Remember, the 332nd consisted of fighter pilots who often escorted bomber groups. Bomber groups were still segregated and entirely white. Bombers were much larger planes with longer range, and so they would pick up their fighter escorts closer to the targets. Although the bomber group commander was in overall command of the mission, it was up to the fighter squadron commander to instruct the bomber group commander when the mission had to end because the fighters would run out of fuel first.

The fighter squadron, of which this guest was a pilot, heard the radio trafic in which the black fighter squadron leader told the bomber group that it was time to turn around. The bomber group commander said over the radio he wasn't taking commands from a nigger and stayed over the target area. The fighters had no choice but to stay with the bombers.

The bombers finally decided to turn back. According to this dinner guest almost every fighter pilot ran out of fuel before reaching their bases in Italy, and crashed. He himself ran out of fuel a few miles from base and managed to glide to base. As he told this story, we were sitting next to a table lamp. I'll never forget what he said next:

"See this face? This is not the face I had when I went into the war. I glided in, but without power I crashed on the runway and my head went through the cockpit, and the glass shredded my face."

As he leaned into the lamp light I could see that his face was lightly striped with scars running from the front of his fact to the back of his head. He continued:

"I was in the hospital till the end of the war. After the war, all us black pilots were given the choice of either resigning our commission with officer's rank or being demoted to enlisted men, because the Air Force was not going to have any more black pilots. I resigned with my officer's rank. But when the Korean War began, they called me up and I went back into the Air Force as a pilot and officer."

DU moderators generally do not allow discussion of racism, so expect this post to be locked and deleted.

[HamdenRice]

12. Addendum to recollection ...

I also just remembered this interesting tidbit about this pilot's story. He knew how to fly before he joined the Army Air Force.

He grew up on Long Island, when it was still agricultural. As a boy, he was fascinated by a local crop duster, and he would spend hours on a dirt farm road, watching this crop duster work. If you have ever seen a crop duster work a small farm, it is very arobatic. One day the pilot, a white man, asked him why he was always watching him work. The boy explained he was fascinated by flying. The crop duster eventually took the kid up in the plane and began teaching him how to fly.

[underpants]

13. I think that that story definitely needs to stand

I don't think they will lock it.

See my post below (if our internet here at work doesn't fizzle out again) about my boss's reaction. What a jerk.

That man and all the Tuskegee Airmen AND the support crews are a truly great story and should be told and retold to the coming generations.

[HamdenRice]

18. Another odd tidbit: Tuskegee Airmen, military intel and Air America Radio!

One of the stories that my father used to tell me that seemed just too incredible to believe was about NY politician/businessman, Percy Sutton.

Sutton was originally from Texas, one of 15 children, all of whom apparently ended up in the professions. Before the war, he was a stunt pilot. He joined the Army Air Force from New York. He became an officer, a pilot and the 332nd's intelligence officer.

Here's the weird part. Sutton is very light skinned:



The story is that when black pilots were shot down behind enemy lines, Sutton would impersonate a European and go behind enemy lines, working with the partisans to retrieve the pilot.

After the war, according to my father, Sutton worked briefly for the subway system, where many black veterans found work, and put himself through college and law school.

Sutton became a Manhattan Borough President, and was counsel to Malcolm X. He eventually invested in radio, owning Inner City Broadcasting, including WBLS and WLIB. Recently, Inner City leased most of its facilities of WLIB to Air America Radio, and here in NYC, WLIB is called "the flagship station of Air America Radio."

PS It is shocking that this thread is being allowed to last this long
<edited>

[BikeWriter]

16. Your post deserves to stand as written! It is history. Thank you.

Just the opinion of one veteran.

[Bridget Burke]

10. The Confederate Air Force became the Commemorative Air Force...

Back in 2002.

The organization has been buying, restoring & flying WWII planes for many years. The original name was not deliberately racist--just thoughtless.

I've often wondered if a few remarks from visiting Tuskegee Airmen led to the name change. The Minnesota wing of the CAF boasts a P-51C, now painted in the colors of the Tuskegee Airmen.

www.cafsmw.org/smw-aircraft/Mustang.html

[underpants]

15. My boss's reaction (there is one in every crowd)

I had to get him to sign something. He has pictures of Reagan in his office yes he is THAT much of a Republican-usually I wouldn't peg him for the type but this is how our brief conversation went:

Me:"Did you go see the Colonel?"

Him(looking up at me with a look of great disdain)"No but I am sure it was a VERY interesting speech... -very sarcastic-...now if it was a Son of Confederate Veterans I would go see that"

Me:"Well if it was an ACTUAL Confederate Veteran that would be something otherwise they are just poseurs soaking up other people's glory"

As I left the office he said something but I didn't catch nor do I think I need to know what it was.

[commander bunnypants]

17. he said that-ouch

and you stole my thread glory

CB

[VOX]

11. Very cool to shake hands with HISTORY...

Well done. :toast:

[kwassa]

14. I meet one every Sunday, he goes to my church

88 years old and still moving right along. A long-retired agricultural scientist. Wonderful guy.

[BikeWriter]

19. I found some pictures of the Colonel.

http://farmville.net/2001/20011110_02/

[underpants]

22. Yep that's him

I found those earlier but I am having fits with the internets at work. Thanks.

[BikeWriter]

27. You're very welcome. :-)

[SmileyBoy]

20. AWESOME!!!

I'd be all befuddled and anxious if I had the chance to meet someone like that.

[Midlodemocrat]

21. UP, that is very, very cool.

[underpants]

23. Yes it was

Again WOW!

[AFSCME girl]

24. You are so lucky!!

That is very cool - congratulations :bounce:

[maveric]

25. They never lost a bomber they escorted.

Also:
# they flew more than 15,000 sorties

# destroyed over 1,000 German aircraft

# received hundreds of Air Medals

# more then 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses

In a very short period of time.

Outstanding.
Ans after the war they were allowed to retire as officers or stay on as ENLISTED MEN.
What a hose-job that was.

[CatBoreal]

26. That is way too cool!

GWE over here.