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dailyrepublic.com | Well said. Well read.
CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Black history event celebrates unsung Solano heroes/sheroes Susan Hiland
shiland@dailyrepublic.net
VACAVILLE — Coach Steven Green’s rallying cry of “Who ya rooting for?!” echoed Saturday through Andrews Park. Green, the Vacaville High School junior varsity football coach for 33 years, was one of five unsung heroes/sheroes honored at the community’s inaugural Black History Month ceremony. He has since died, but his rally cry lives on in the students and alumni of Vacaville High. The Tri-City NAACP, the downtown Vacaville business group, Citizens Financials and Icon Connects hosted the event. The theme was “Amplify Our Voices: Celebrating African American Life and Contributions in Vacaville, California: Past, Present, Future.” Rischa Slade, a student affairs specialist at Solano Community College and the first African American to serve on the Vacaville City Council, was the keynote speaker at the event. Slade is a long-time Solano County resident who might also be remembered for her work with Child Haven and Opportunity House. She is many things, from a political activist to a mother, politician and even a grandmother. “I have had many firsts as an African American woman, in my life,” she said during the ceremony. She reminded everyone that Black history is American history. Johnicon George, president of the TriCity Branch of the NAACP, has wanted to do a formal ceremony to honor unsung heroes
Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic
Alexander Underwood holds a model of a B-66, the plane he flew in during his 100 combat missions over Vietnam.
Black History Month inspires Fairfield man to tell his Vietnam War story
Todd R. Hansen
See Event, Page A9
thansen@dailyrepublic.net
FAIRFIELD — Alexander Underwood listened intently when his high school history teacher recounted his time as a Navy pilot during World War II. “He used to talk to our history class about what he experienced when he was flying in the Navy, especially the (Battle of the) Coral Sea,” Underwood said. It inspired the teenager to perhaps become a pilot. “Then he dropped the bomb on me, that he never saw a Black pilot,” Underwood said. The teacher, apparently,
Susan Hiland/Daily Republic
Keynote speaker Rischa Slade addresses the crowd at the inaugural Black History Month celebration at Andrews Park in Vacaville, Saturday.
had not heard of the Tuskegee Airmen, the decorated pilots of the European theater. That discouraging comment did not, however, depress Underwood’s dreams. So after he graduated from Thomas Edison High School in North Philadelphia in 1958, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. His father had served as an Army bugler during World War I and was stationed in France. Underwood, 80, of Fairfield, took his oath in February 1959, the start of a 20-year career that includes a unique distinction. “I’m the only African American enlisted man to complete 100 missions over North Vietnam,”
Underwood said. He was twice stationed at Travis Air Force Base, and it was from there that he logged more than 5,000 hours in the C-141 Starlifter. Underwood’s story is part of the archives at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Also at that location is a memorial to the 82 Douglas B-66 Destroyer crewman who died in the line of duty, a monument dedication Underwood attended Aug. 27, 2004. Of those listed on the memorial, 35 perished from 1963 to 1972. But Underwood was not a pilot. See Story, Page A9
Tales from Texas: Struggles didn’t stop when power returned Tribune Content Agency
Mario Carrillo holds his 2-week-old daughter Izel close to keep her warm after their Austin, Texas, house lost power early Monday morning.
AUSTIN, Texas — Cold but undaunted, Courtney Flores thought her family was doing moderately well after almost two days without power to their South Austin home. But then the water started pouring down from the attic. It was Tuesday, about an hour before sunset, as they scrambled to limit the already extensive damage while packing up for an escape to a friend’s house, knowing that the
Mario Carrillo/ Austin AmericanStatesman/TNS
INSIDE Biden deems Texas a major disaster. Page A7.
driving conditions would worsen after dark. They made it safely, finally warm but – like many other Texans – facing uncertainty. “For the next who knows how long, we have to figure out a lot of unknowns, like where to live until our home is habitable again,” Flores said. The Flores family was among those featured in
an American-Statesman story earlier this week on the struggles of life without electricity, and the newspaper checked on two of those families to see how they’re doing as the weather, at least, begins returning to normal. But there remains a lot for them – and millions of other Texans – to sort out after a harrowing week when worstcase scenarios kept getting worse, when an ice storm that would have paralyzed the state in normal times fell on top of snow during a polar cold snap that had
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already brought the state’s electric grid dangerously close to failure. It was a week of impossible choices, starting with a big one: Stay home and risk the bitter cold or seek refuge and risk dangerous roads? As days passed without power, those caring for children, sick or elderly family members and pets faced added burdens and no easy answers. It all happened during a pandemic that limited
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