This is certainly a disgrace. Why in the world did it take this long to recognize the Tuskegee airmen?
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush saluted the Tuskegee airmen on Thursday, six decades after they completed their World War II mission and returned home to a country that discriminated against them because they were black.
"Even the Nazis asked why African-American men would fight for a country that treated them so unfairly," President Bush told the group of legendary black aviators, who received a Congressional Gold Medal -- the most prestigious Congress has to offer.
The Tuskegee Airmen were recruited into an Army Air Corps program that trained blacks to fly and maintain combat aircraft. President Roosevelt had overruled his top generals and ordered that such a program be created.
But even after they were admitted, many commanders continued to believe the Tuskegee Airmen didn't have the smarts, courage and patriotism to do what was being asked of them.
Nearly 1,000 fighter pilots trained as a segregated unit at a Tuskegee, Alabama, air base. Not allowed to practice or fight with their white counterparts, the Tuskegee Airmen distinguished themselves from the rest by painting the tails of their airplanes red, which led to them becoming known as the "Red Tails."
Hundreds saw combat throughout Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, escorting bomber aircraft on missions and protecting them from the enemy. Dozens died in the fighting; others were held prisoners of war.
More on the story.
2 comments:
What a show today. These great airmen had to received an award from an airman who was a drunk and skipped out of serving this country but became President. Now what's wrong with that picture. A coward giving medals to brave airmen. It gets better. Boehner aka Boner didn't last 8 weeks in the military when he used a fake bad back to skipped out of serving the military. Boner couldn't even pronounce Tuskegee correctly. Blacks had to prove they were Americans by putting their lives on the line yet whites could sit safe at home and say they are true Americans only. If you live long enough you see everything.
Yeah, I saw the Gerbil. For him to solute the Tuskeegee airmen was a joke. Here is a cokehead, draft dodger, town drunk, and election stealing Gerbil President soluting real military men that served their country. And it took this long to honor those men.
Post a Comment