Celebrating differences is important to many. February being Black History Month gives us the opportunity to celebrate the victories and struggles of the African American race. Bladen County resident, Ms. Erica Campbell took time to pay respect to the Tuskegee Airmen at a monument for them in Walterboro, South Carolina.
The Tuskegee airmen: the first black servicemen to serve as military pilots. The monitory men were seen flying with distinction during World War II according to several online news sources. The Tuskegee Airmen Memorial on the grounds of the Colleton County‘s Lowcountry Regional Airport commemorates the heroism of the determined young men who enlisted during WWII to become America’s first black military airmen. Before being sent into action, the now famous African-American Tuskegee Airmen received their final months of combat training at the airport, at what was then the Walterboro Army Airfield according to a South Carolina blog.
According to History.com, “Though subject to racial discrimination both at home and abroad, the 996 pilots and more than 15,000 ground personnel who served with the all-black units would be credited with some 15,500 combat sorties and earn over 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses for their achievements. The highly publicized successes of the Tuskegee Airmen helped pave the way for the eventual integration of the U.S. armed forces under President Harry Truman in 1948.”
Although the United States Armed Forces were officially segregated until 1948, WWII laid the foundation for post-war integration of the military. In 1941 fewer than 4,000 African Americans were serving in the military and only twelve African Americans had become officers. By 1945, more than 1.2 million African Americans would be serving in uniform on the Home Front, in Europe, and the Pacific (including thousands of African American women in the Women’s auxiliaries) according to NationalWW2Museum.org.
The National WWII Museum honors the contributions of the Tuskegee Airmen in World War II.
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