JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas –
Less than six weeks after an exhibit devoted to the accomplishments of the Tuskegee Airmen opened at the Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Airman Heritage Museum, several members of that barrier-breaking Army Air Corps unit will be honored at JBSA-Randolph.
The Tuskegee Airmen Tribute, June 11-12, 2015, will celebrate the legacy of the first all-black unit in the Army Air Corps, which distinguished itself during World War II with more than 15,500 sorties and 1,500 missions in Europe and North Africa and earned numerous combat awards.
During the first day of the tribute, four of the documented original Tuskegee Airmen, also known as DOTAs, will ride in two two-ship T-1A Jayhawk formations flown by 99th Flying Training Squadron instructor pilots. The orientation flights will culminate in a "fini-flight"-type celebration.
"We're absolutely thrilled to be able to fly some of the DOTAs, celebrate their service and honor them for all they've accomplished in blazing a trail for serving their nation's military," Lt. Col. Oliver Johnson, 99th FTS commander, said. "They were the pioneers in integrating the armed forces. It's one of the greatest American stories - what they overcame and what they accomplished."
The 99th FTS traces its lineage back to the 99th Pursuit Squadron and 99th Fighter Squadron, the first of four African-American fighter squadrons in World War II whose aircrews and support teams were based at Tuskegee Institute and Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama.
"It's also appropriate to honor them at a time we're celebrating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II," Johnson said. "America's greatest generation is quickly fading away and we have the honor of flying them."
A post-flight celebration and social open to the JBSA community, at 4 p.m. June 12 at the Parr Club, will highlight the second day of the tribute. The event will feature musical entertainment, comments by 12th Flying Training Wing leaders, an introduction of the Tuskegee Airmen who are present and a presentation of gifts to them. Members of the audience will have an opportunity to mingle with the Tuskegee Airmen and listen to their stories.
"One of our goals for the celebration is to create a World War II-era setting with period-appropriate music and Airmen dressed in uniforms of that period," Lt. Col. Spencer Burkhalter, 99th FTS chief of training, said.
Graphic displays focusing on the Tuskegee Airman experience and the Tuskegee Airmen on hand for the event, as well as tables filled with memorabilia, will add to the atmosphere of the celebration.
"We want our Airmen to get involved in their history and hear their stories so it will add to their pride," Burkhalter said. "We're trying to increase people's awareness of the Tuskegee Airmen. We want people to know that they were not only pilots, but members of other career fields as well."
The 99th FTS honored some of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen with breakfasts from 2009 to 2012 and is co-sponsoring this year's tribute with the San Antonio Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., an organization that preserves their legacy and seeks to inspire young people through education. The 99th FTS' headquarters in Hangar 12 is filled with photographs and other mementos that celebrate the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Johnson said the Tuskegee Airmen were pioneers and heroes.
"Not only did they defeat Nazism in Europe, but they also defeated racism and discrimination back home in the United States," he said. "They led the way to the integration of our nation's military when President Truman signed Executive Order 9981 abolishing racial discrimination after World War II. Every American regardless of race, color, religion or national origin owes the Tuskegee Airmen a huge debt of gratitude for the battles they fought for freedom and equality in the U.S."