Tuskegee Airmen

waltky · Nov 24, 2015

Story of little known Dominican Tuskegee airman comes to light...

Once Unknown, Story of World War II Latino Tuskegee Airman Uncovered
Nov 24, 2015 | Among the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, America's first African-American military air squadron which heroically fought in World War II, was a little known about Hispanic pilot named Esteban Hotesse.

Born in Moca, Dominican Republic, but a New Yorker since he was 4 years old, Hotesse served with the Tuskegee Airmen for more than three years before he died during a military exercise on July 8th, 1945. He was just 26. As a black Dominican, Hotesse was a part of a squadron credited for single-handedly tearing down the military's segregation policies, while helping to change America's perception of African-Americans during the Jim Crow era. He is believed to be the first Dominican soldier to serve on the well-known squadron. His historic role was recently discovered by a group of New York academics. Enlisted on Feb. 21, 1942, Hotesse was part of the 619 squadron of the 447 bombardment group known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Though his squadron never flew in combat, he took part in the battle for civil rights at home.

Hotesee took part in what is known as the Freeman Field Mutiny. In 1945, Hotesse and the rest of the Tuskegee airmen attempted to integrate an all-white officers club at the airfield base in Seymour, Indiana. Under military regulations, any military officer clubs were open to any officer regardless of race, but Freeman Field segregated black from white officers. More than 100 black officers of the Tuskegee group were arrested when they defied orders and sat in the white club anyway. It wasn't until 1995 that the record of their reprimands was expunged. Not only were they pioneers, in U.S. aviation, as black members of the U.S. armed forces -- they were pioneers in the Civil Rights movement.

Hotesse's contributions as an American pioneer -- underscoring the importance of Hispanic servicemen and women during our nation's greatest war -- would have gone unnoticed had it not been for 29-year-old Edward De Jesus. An academic working part-time as a researcher at the Dominican Studies Institute at CUNY, De Jesus, like Hotesse, was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to the United States at the age of 4. "I had never heard or read about Dominicans in World War II," De Jesus, 29, said. "It's significant for me because growing up looking at American history documentaries it was always hard to identify because you never see someone like you in these documentaries."

De Jesus uncovered Hotesse's story while helping a team of researchers working on a three year project about the role of Dominicans in the war effort. He dug through and found his census records, naturalization form and marriage certificate, and eventually came in contact with Hotesse's relatives. Hotesse was survived by his Puerto Rican wife Iristella Lind Hotesse, with who he had two daughters: Mary Lou and Rosalie Hotesse. One of his granddaughters, Iris Rivera, donated a collection of photos and articles to the Dominican Institute. "The family was waiting for this moment, for him to be recognized," De Jesus said. Hotesse's story is among 10 on display at an exhibit at the Dominican Institute honoring Dominican veterans and their contributions during World War II.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/...-war-ii-latino-tuskegee-airman-uncovered.html
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waltky · Jul 5, 2016

Original Tuskegee Airman passes on to the wild blue yonder...

Dr. Roscoe C. Brown, Jr., an original Tuskegee Airman, dies at 94
3 July,`16 - Another original member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen has died, according to a short statement released by his family Monday.

Dr. Roscoe C. Brown, Jr., a Washington, D.C. native, died on Saturday at age 94. The notice shared on his Public Figure Facebook page reads: "Our beloved father, grandfather and great grandfather passed away on July 2, 2016. We thank you all for your love and support during this time."

The NBC affiliate in New York City wrote Monday that Brown had fallen critically ill over the winter and had a pacemaker installed. He was trying to get back into exercising when he was interviewed in May. Not one for idleness, Brown completed the NYC Marathon nine times! Capt. Brown commanded the 100th Fighter Squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group, known as the Tuskegee Airmen, during World War II. He flew 68 long-range missions from August of 1944 to March of 1945. He's credited with being the first 15th Air Force pilot to shoot down a German jet fighter, a feat that happened on March 24, 1945 while escorting bombers near Berlin. It was the longest escort mission to take place in the war.

Brown's airplane, a P-51 Mustang named "Bunnie" was named for his eldest daughter, Doris, born while he was fighting overseas. The Airman earned multiple awards for his actions in WWII including: The Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with eight Oak Leaf Clusters. In 2000 he was among those in attendance when President George W. Bush presented the Airmen the Congressional Gold Medal. And in 2006 he, and the Airmen, were presented the Congressional Medal of Honor by unanimous vote of Congress.

Brown served as a Production Advisor in 2012 for the production of the stage play "Fly" and sat down for an interview with Ford's Theatre. "The reason the Tuskegee Airmen are really being recognized now is that we challenged the stereotype," Brown said during the interview. "We defeated a stereotype that African-Americans didn't have the intelligence, the ability to do this. And we did it, we did it as well, may times better than other folks..." After leaving the Air Force, Dr. Brown went on to a long career in education. He was the Director of the Center for Urban Education Policy and University Professor at the Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York (CUNY). He was also the past President of Bronx Community College of CUNY, and was formerly Director of the Institute of Afro-American Affairs at New York University.

Brown also sat on numerous boards, among them national boards of Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the American Council on Education, the New York Botanical Garden, the Museum of the City of New York, the Phipps Community Development Corporation, the City Parks Foundation, Libraries for the Future, and the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute. He was also Vice Chairman of the Arthur Ashe Athletic Association and of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, and chaired the National Scholarship Selection Committee of the Jackie Robinson Foundation. Brown is survived by four children, as well as multiple grandchildren and great grandchildren.

http://www.wave3.com/story/32369729/dr-roscoe-c-brown-jr-an-original-tuskegee-airman-dies-at-94
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APACHERAT · Jul 5, 2016

NINE MYTHS ABOUT THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN -> http://www.tuskegee.edu/sites/www/u...rmen/Nine_Myths_About_the_Tuskegee_Airmen.pdf

waltky · Nov 21, 2016

Uncle Ferd says dem old planes look like dey's from another century...

Oldest Remaining Tuskegee Airman Dies at 101 in Florida
Nov 21, 2016 — Willie Rogers, the oldest surviving member of the original Tuskegee Airmen, died in St. Petersburg. He was 101.

The Tampa Bay Times reports as he approached his 100th birthday, Mr. Rogers lived in a senior apartment complex in downtown St. Petersburg, and walked the short distance every Sunday to services at historic Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. He had lived in St. Petersburg for the last 50 years of his life.

Tuskegee Airmen - Circa May 1942 to Aug 1943

Rogers was drafted into the Army in 1942 and was part of the 100th Air Engineer Squad. Rogers also served with the Red Tail Angels. In 2007, President George W. Bush awarded him with the Congressional Gold Medal. St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman acknowledged Rogers' death on social media Saturday.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/11/21/tuskegee-airman-willie-rogers-dies-101-florida.html
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WWII Mystery: Are 'Missing' Sailors Actually in NY Cemetery?
Nov 21, 2016 | It's a mystery of World War II: What happened to the 136 missing sailors from the explosion and sinking of the USS Turner?

After all, the ship did not go down in battle or even in the open sea, but while anchored near New York Harbor in 1944, so close to the city that shockwaves from the onboard munitions blasts shattered windows in some buildings. Now, newly discovered documents show that the remains of four of the missing sailors were indeed found and buried not long after the disaster in separate graves for unknowns in a Long Island veterans cemetery. And the researcher who found the documents suspects many more remains could have been found and buried along with them in those same simple gravesites, marked only with the words "Unknown U.S. Sailor" and "January 3, 1944," the day the destroyer sank. "Just don't throw them in the ground and forget about them," said military historian Ted Darcy, who is turning over his findings to the Pentagon. "These guys have been neglected by our government. It's not fair, especially to their families."

Darcy's hope is that the military will exhume the four gravesites, identify the remains and rebury them with a proper memorial. The Pentagon still officially lists 136 Turner sailors as missing. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the federal office responsible for recovering and identifying the nation's missing war dead, didn't respond to repeated requests from The Associated Press about Darcy's findings. The Turner, a 10-month-old destroyer returning from convoy duty in the Atlantic, was anchored a few miles off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, when an explosion erupted below deck, setting much of the ship ablaze. More explosions followed, the last breaking the ship in two. While no cause of the initial blast was ever determined, a Navy report mentioned anti-submarine munitions were being defused around the time.

A gravestone, left, with the inscription UNKNOWN U.S. SAILOR, is adorned with a flower and a small pumpkin at Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, N.Y

More than 150 men were rescued, but 136 others went down with the ship, according to Darcy's research. He said the Navy's National Archives file on the yearlong salvage operation contains no information, including how many sets of remains were eventually recovered from the 55 feet of water where the ship sank. Darcy contends many of the bodies would have likely been intact on the ship in compartments sealed with watertight doors. According to 1944 interment records for the Long Island veterans cemetery in Farmingdale, the remains of four Turner sailors were buried in individual graves within a year of the disaster. But Darcy, a retired Marine from Locust Grove, Virginia, believes all or most of the remains were found and comingled in the four graves. "I went to the Navy and they said, 'Hey, we don't know how many are in there,'" he said.

Darcy said comingling of unidentified remains was a fairly common practice, particularly when the Navy was overburdened at the height of World War II. The Long Island cemetery has multiple graves containing the remains of more than one WWII serviceman, while the remains of 388 USS Oklahoma crewmembers disinterred in 2015 for identification were buried in 45 mass graves in Hawaii. Another WWII MIA expert, Mark Noah, founder of Florida-based History Flight, said he "wouldn't doubt it at all" if Turner graves contained the remains of multiple sailors. "Skeletal remains can pack out a full coffin with more than a dozen people," he said. Loved ones from the Turner disaster were initially told only that their sailor was missing. If remains had been found and buried, they were never informed. "Oh, my goodness. I would've liked to have known that," 82-year-old Marjorie Avery, of Corsicana, Texas, told the AP by phone. Her father, Henry S. Wygant Jr., was the Turner's captain and still officially listed as missing.

Several relatives of now-deceased Turner sailors who survived the disaster told the AP their loved ones also were never told about the graves. Two of the last Turner survivors still living — James Thomas, of Leivasy, West Virginia, and Robert Mowry, of Irwin, Pennsylvania — also said they didn't know. More than 70 years later, their memories of the disaster remain clear yet tinged with stoicism typical of so many WWII veterans. "It's just one of those things that happen in a war," said Mowry, 91. "It was just us at the wrong place at the wrong time, that's all."

http://www.military.com/daily-news/...are-missing-sailors-actually-ny-cemetery.html
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Johnny Brady · Nov 22, 2016

Re the Tuskegee airmen, one of the best tributes I heard was from a white bomber crewman in a TV documentary a while back, he said something like- "We rarely saw our other fighter escorts because they were ranging far and wide, but the Tuskegee fighters were always there with us when we glanced outside, and it made us feel good"

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