February 4, 2012 - February 10, 2012, The Afro-American
By Sean Yoes Special to the AFRO
Final in a series
“Red Tails,” a new Hollywood motion picture starring Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. and Oscar nominee Terence Howard was released Jan. 20 in theaters across the nation. It tells the story of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black aviators in the United States Armed Forces. The AFRO reported on the adventures of the iconic airmen who despite battling prodigious racism and Jim Crow in America, fought for their country during World War II with incredible courage and honor and in the process shattered myriad racial stereotypes. In the wake of Hollywood’s depiction of the mythic aviators, the AFRO has unearthed the real story of the Tuskegee Airmen told through the stellar reporting of AFRO greats like Art Carter, Ollie Stewart and Vincent Tubbs.
The Tuskegee Airmen: The Living Legacy When they were young men in their 20’s, Dr. Cyril O. Byron Sr. and Lemuel Lewie couldn’t have been farther apart geographically and in some ways culturally. Byron grew up in New York City, the world’s greatest metropolis, while Lewie was born and raised in Columbia, S.C. under smothering Jim Crow. Today Byron, 91 and Lewie, 92 live just a few minutes from each other in Baltimore County. However, fate originally brought them together decades earlier and they forged a seemingly unbreakable bond in Tuskegee, Ala. as they prepared to fight for their country and defend the world against the rise of Nazism and Fascism during World War II as the military’s first Black aviators. Lewie’s earliest dreams were dreams of flight. “I wanted to fly all my life. I saw airplanes flying above me when I was a kid and I wanted to fly. I didn’t know anybody in my race that was flying at that particular time when I was a child and Blacks were prohibited from flying in South Carolina anyway.” But, like most Black men who were bold enough to dream of flight, Lewie’s path to the skies was obscured and delayed by overt racism. “It didn’t work out so fine,” Lewie remembered about his application to the Army Air Corps. “I applied in 1941 when I finished at Allen University in Columbia, S.C. with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in chemistry. So, I applied and took the examination…We all passed the examination and I made a very high score on it. But, the application had a statute of limitations on it,” Lewie explained. “So, if they didn’t call you within one-year’s time in South Carolina in Columbia where they were very prejudice down there. So, anyway they put the application on the back shelf and I didn’t hear from them,” He added. But, about a year after Lewie took the examination for flight school, an army officer in Jackson, S.C. encouraged him to re-submit his test results and a year after that he was finally approved to attend the aviation school in Tuskegee. Although Lewie never saw action overseas he finally realized his dream of flight in 1945. “I was sent to Midland Army air field
in Texas to become a bombardier and navigator,” Lewie said. “I was happy to get the opportunity to do something for the nation. We fought the battle on two fronts; we fought in the states and fought over there,” he added. Lewie’s fellow airman and long-time friend, Byron, wasn’t technically an aviator, but his role in World War II was essential to their success. “I was in the supporting staff…our motto was, ‘we keep them flying,’” Byron said. “Each airplane had a ground crew. There were eight different guys who were experts at different facets of keeping an airplane flying,” he added. The camaraderie that bound these men – ridiculed and belittled by the military establishment – buoyed them individually and collectively. “It was fantastic, we all worked together, we had to work together,” Byron explained. “Our whole outfit was AfricanAmerican…all our officers were Black. The 99th Flying Squadron – at that time – in the early 40’s we were the only African-American or Black air force unit in the United States Army Air Corps. We were known as the 99th Flying Pursuit Squadron,” he added. But, for Byron getting “over there” was almost as harrowing as the war itself. “The 99th Fighter Squadron we were the first to go overseas. We went from Tuskegee to New York City took a ship called the Mariposa and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. We were eight days
so they knew about the segregation. ‘You’re fighting for the kind of freedom that you do not have at home,’ they would say and we realized we were fighting two wars,” Byron said. And of course there were many ugly episodes, which would have caused lesser men to crumble or blindly strike out. “We had several incidents…we were in Naples and the kids use to run up to us and ask for candy. And we’d give them candy and they run on up the right side and then on the left side and we’d say they don’t think we’re too bright,” Byron said. “But, one day an Italian policeman was chasing them (children) and we said they’re not bothering us, and he said, ‘you don’t know why their running around?’ We said no… ‘they’re running behind you because the White soldiers told them that all Black soldiers had tails,’” Byron revealed remembering the Italian officer’s explanation. “We tried to laugh it off, but we took it. It was a culture shock but, then again we stuck it out, took a deep breath and did a lot of praying and hoping that we would get out of this,” Byron added. It took two
“Journey of a Tuskegee Airman,” a book about Lewie’s Tuskegee experience was compiled by his wife of 63 years, Reva Lewie.
more tumultuous decades after the end of World War II for Lewie, Byron and their Tuskegee brothers to witness the fall of legal Jim Crow in America and so much
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Two of the remaining Tuskegee Airmen Lemuel Lewie, 92 and Dr. Cyril O. Byron Sr., 91 met in Tuskegee, Ala. in the 1940’s and decades later now live just a few minutes from each other in Baltimore County. more. The Tuskegee Airmen in the face of blistering racism rebuked it with excellence. The military establishment attempted to cast them as cowardly, intellectually inferior and therefore unfit to fly. But the Black Aviators made liars of them all by performing with valor, skill and intelligence. Despite being reduced to second class citizenship in the country they fought so valiantly for they refused to bow under the weight of oppression; on the contrary the airmen thrived. They carried the burden of an entire race with grace and dignity and indeed they soared. The Tuskegee Airmen were truly the greatest of, “The Great Generation,” who made unparalleled sacrifices for their country and community. And now, more than six decades after their towering triumph they were the living stars of what must have been a surreal evening last month in the nation’s capital. Lewie and Byron and their remaining Tuskegee brothers were honored at the White House by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama during a screening of, “Red Tails,” the story of their epic lives played out on the big screen; a movie written by a Black man and directed by a Black man. With a wry grin Byron revealed he received a kiss from the First Lady that magical night. “I didn’t wash my cheek for three weeks,” he said with a laugh. “I was fortunate to see our president at his inauguration in Washington,” Byron added. “It was a fascinating experience I thought I’d never see. But, hey I’m here I’ve been blessed.” Photos by Sean Yoes
on the water by ourselves…and of those eight days on the water I was seasick six of those eight days,” Byron said. They initially landed in Casablanca in North Africa and eventually made it to the Mediterranean theater and specifically Italy where they were once again confronted with the reality of American Jim Crow. “A lot of Italians had been to the United States
The coin on the left was presented to Dr. Byron by President Barack Obama and the coin on the right was given to him by President George W. Bush.