Tuskegee Airmen Remembered

Tuskegee Airmen Remembered. . , In 1941 the American military did not want the Tuskegee Airmen to fly. By May 8, 1945, the end of World War II in Europe, only the Nazis felt that way., The heroics of the Tuskegee Airmen led to President Truman's 1948 order ending racial segregation in the Armed Forces., This statue was dedicated by The Society for the Restoration of the Gary Bathing Beach Aquatorium and Octave Chanute's Place in History, Inc. May 8, 2005. , second marker: , Mustang Fighter , The plane above you, to the right, is a P-51 Mustang World War II fighter. This replica is 60% of the original size. It was dedicated 9/18/16 in the presence of Lt. Robert Martin, then Age 97, a Tuskegee Airman who flew 65 missions during World War II. He was shot down, came back across enemy lines, and flew again for America. , , The replica is painted as Lt. Martin's P-51 had been painted with the exception of the swastikas, which a pilot earned for each Nazi fighter shot down. While the Tuskegee Airmen destroyed over 409 enemy aircraft, Lt. Martin wants you to know he didn't shoot down any. Airmen were credited with 4 kills; the army air corps would never give any of them a 5th, which would make them an "ace", so we did! , , It was only through the work of Eleanor Roosevelt and A. Philip Randolph that the Tuskegee Airmen squadron came Into existence in 1941, at a time when blacks were generally given menial jobs in both civilian and military life., The 992 Tuskegee pilots and their all-black support staff of several thousand won 150 distinguished flying crosses and 744 air medals, 66 were killed in action, and 32 were POWs. They lost few, if any, of the bombers they escorted. They were so exemplary that in 1948 president Truman cited them as the reason he ended racial segregation in the armed forces, which led to the first air force black general (a Tuskegee Airman), he acceptance of the black man as an authority figure, and eventually, the election of Barack Obama as president. , , Of the greatest generation, the Tuskegee Airmen were perhaps the greatest in that they had to fight discrimination just to be able to fight for America. , , Like Octave Chanute, their brave deeds changed the history of flight and the history of America for the better. The Aquatorium Society created this memorial to honor and thank the Tuskegee Airmen for helping in the fight for democracy both in war and peace.