RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas –
A member of an elite group of World War II-era American aviators proudly displayed his bronze duplicate of the Congressional Gold Medal during a special breakfast this week at Randolph's 99th Flying Training Squadron.
Presented four years ago in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., at a ceremony attended by President George W. Bush, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate majority leader Harry Reid and other dignitaries, the prestigious medal saluted the contributions of the only African-American fighter group in the Army Air Corps to the war effort.
Calling the medal his "status symbol," Dr. Granville Coggs, who was trained as an aerial gunner, aerial bombardier and multi-engine pilot for the 332nd Fighter Group, better known as the Tuskegee Airmen, said it represented the efforts of 16,000 to 19,000 people - "basically anybody who set foot on the Tuskegee Army Air Field between 1942 and 1946 ... because it took six or seven people on the ground to keep one pilot in the air."
Dr. Coggs, a Harvard Medical School graduate who went on to a distinguished career as a radiologist, joined another Tuskegee Airman, retired educator Warren Eusan, in addressing members of the Randolph community and other guests during the 99th FTS' third annual Tuskegee Heritage Breakfast. Part of the 99th FTS' history, the 99th Fighter Squadron was one of four squadrons that were part of the 332nd Fighter Group.
Although it took decades for the Tuskegee Airmen, who overcame racial prejudice and racial stereotypes to excel in their fighting mission, to receive recognition, their legacy lives on in the organization that tells their story and promotes their ideals. Dr. Coggs said young people can learn from that example.
"This is what our chapter is about in addition to promoting the legacy of those who have gone by - to encourage people to do their best, to be excellent," he said. "That's what we're all about."
Mr. Eusan, a longtime sixth-grade teacher in the San Antonio Independent School District, said his teaching position enabled him to tell the Tuskegee Airmen's story and inspire some of his students to join the Air Force.
"When I started working with the school children, I used to tell them about Tuskegee," he said, "and I inspired or helped them, whatever you want to call it, to go in."
The segregated flight-training program was created in 1942 and based at Tuskegee Institute and Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama; its graduates took part in more than 15,500 sorties and more than 1,500 missions in Europe and North Africa. Though they fought bravely for their country, they had to endure the Jim Crow segregation that afflicted their hometowns and had to attain higher standards than their white counterparts, including an early requirement for two years of college that didn't apply to prospective white pilots.
Despite the treatment, Mr. Eusan recalled the kindness of a commanding officer who allowed him and another black student at the Army Air Corps' instrument flying school in Bryan, Texas, to study in his office to avoid the noise created by enlisted Airmen in another barracks.
Dr. Coggs said the Tuskegee Airmen's story was largely untold until an HBO movie about the African-American fighter group, which starred Laurence Fishburne, appeared in 1995. He said another film about the Tuskegee Airmen, "Red Tails," written by George Lucas, should premiere soon.
"The people that I was in school with didn't know I was a Tuskegee Airman because I didn't talk about it and nobody knew about the Tuskegee Airmen," he said, referring to his undergraduate years at the University of Nebraska. "It really took the movie 'The Tuskegee Airmen' for people to become aware."
The heritage breakfast also featured presentations by Lt. Col. Jay Fisher, 99th FTS commander, who gave a mock check of $99.99 on behalf of the squadron to the Tuskegee Airman Educational Assistance Fund, and Col. Richard Murphy, 12th Flying Training Wing commander, who presented his ceremonial coin to Dr. Coggs and Mr. Eusan.
Colonel Murphy said listening to the recitation of the Declaration of Independence prior to Sunday's Super Bowl made him "proud to be an American."
"That's who you really are and what you carry forward is the greatness of being an American," he said. "I know the part in history you had to live through didn't really recognize you as true Americans. What's great is today we can say you are and you were true Americans and we appreciate everything you've done for our nation and for everything you've done to advance the United States Air Force."