women who are part of the teske airmen story. during world war ii, it is often referred to as the tuskegee experience. this morning, i'd like to start with the definition of a tuskegee airman. a tuskegee airman is any person, man or woman, military or civilian, black or white, who served at tuskegee army airfield or at any of the other locations that supported programs stemming from the teske dx periods between 1941 to 1949. all these individuals are considered tuskegee airmen. the tuskegee experience that we will be discussing was a unique and extremely important development in race relations in the history of our country for black citizens and the nation as a whole. it established in 1941 through political and legal

maneuverings, america's ability to be enlightened and to be challenged. to appreciate the significance of the tuskegee experience, it's necessary for it to be viewed through the content of the american racial climate and the tonic that it was executed. the impetus of establishing a flying program for blacks began at the beginning of world war ii . as a consequence of black discontent, resulting from decades of nontreatment as second-class citizens, and pacific league, the denial of opportunities to serve our military other than jobs of service or labor. in the face of strong resistance from the military establishment and most officials in the war department, a relentless effort was carried out by a number of black organizations in a -- and a sympathetic white minority to accept blacks for military

aviation training in the army air corps. after considerable debate on the subject, the government agreed to establish a program in which blacks would be trained in all aspects of military aviation. morton failed tuskegee, alabama was selected to conduct the training for the pilot. the first class, designated 42c began with 13 trainees, 12 cadets, and one military officer. their training started on july 19 1941. of the 13 students that began the initial training five graduated from the final training and received their wings. on march 7, 1942. the first five graduates were captain benjamin davis junior

future commander of the 99th and 332nd fighter group and later the first black air force general. second potential lieutenant curtis, second lieutenant the bow, second lieutenant george s roberts, and second lieutenant mac ross. one of the key evolutions to getting to this point was in 1941, first lady eleanor roosevelt, at the urgings of her close friend and social activist mary beth noon, moved to help expand the training program at tuskegee, alabama. in march of the year, eleanor roosevelt not only visited the tuskegee institute, but incredibly, and in against the advice of her secret service detail, she asked to meet with a flight instructor charles

anderson, and to take her on a flight. this single act of flying the first lady for more than one hour had great symbolic value to the advocates of black military aviation. this visibility helped to open the door for the department of black military aviation units to the european theater. unfortunately, they were still in segregated units. in total, there were 2483 pilot trainees then enter training in teske, alabama, of which 992 graduated, earning their wings as pilots. from 1942 through 1949 -- use me, 1946. there

there were 352 pilots that deployed to europe. they flew the p 47 and the p-51 mustang. at chinook illinois the , enlisted personnel were recorded together in world war i barracks, separated from the main base. portion of the barracks was to provide a space to eat, sleep, and study. at the onset, it was under the direction of a white staff and flight instructors. after a couple of false starts the army air corps chose a lieutenant colonel later

brigadier general to command the unit. he applied his knowledge of racial problems and concerns during his command of the base. he devoted his heart and soul to providing a fair opportunity for military aviation in the cadet trainees. colonel parish's job was extremely difficult. he had to comply with the war department's regulations requiring segregation. he had to maintain some level of segregation to keep the base's population compliant. as well as the population of alabama. the cadets were subject to rigorous military training and

discipline similar to that at military academies. the mental and physical stresses that were prevalent throughout the air corps were designed to test each candidate's respect for authority, commitment to duty, and honor. it also prepared them for the rigors they would experience later in their military careers while in combat. colonel parish was able to remove the first doubts about black performance in the air corps. it was a resounding success. blacks could be taught, trained, to fly and fight and maintain aircraft to the same standards the air corps applied to all units. moving on to the combat record. their achievements include the destruction of enemy aircraft.

rail traffic, ammunition depots, as well as the destruction of one destroyer by machine gun fire. the outstanding performance of the ground crews, armorers, and other technicians was critical to the success of these pilots in combat. to give you an idea how effective they were, while operating with the 12th air force, they flew 6381 sorties. from 1944 -- excuse me, june 1943 to may, 1944, they flew 9152 combat sorties in support of the 15th air force. from june 1944 to may 1945 they

flew 175 escort missions bomber escort. the key to remember with this is during that era, the loss of a single bomber was 10 men lost. the u.s. at that time could put together aircraft quickly. the loss of highly trained individuals to man and operate those aircraft in combat was the real loss. the tuskegee airmen fought to make sure that capability was maintained by war fighting forces. total combat sorties were 15,533. total aerial kills were 112. i would like to ask everyone here a question at this point in our presentation. how many of you have heard that the tuskegee airmen never lost a bomber under their escort?

ok. gentlemen? education time. ladies and gentlemen, i am here to tell you that the myth of never losing a bomber is false. the total number of bombers lost while under escort by the tuskegee airmen was 27. this is going by records on the enemy side and our site. by comparison, the number lost by other squadrons was 46 over the same period of time. even though they lost aircraft this shows they were above the standard of the typical p-51 unit. please feel free to pass that information on. [laughter] two date 66 tuskegee pilots

gave the ultimate sacrifice and were killed in european and north african combat zones. additionally, 32 were shut down and captured and later repatriated after the war. a little-known side note was that the air corps also had a bombing group made up of lack airmen -- black airmen. they trained black pilots, navigators, bombardier's, radio men, and ground support staff. on the operation and maintenance of the b-25 bomber. they never deployed to the pacific theater due to the end of the war. i will touch on another aspect that does not get a lot of

light. women's contributions. unfortunately, most of us see hollywood and what their idea of the tuskegee airmen are. in reality, it was different. as the tuskegee airmen fought, they were supported by a dedicated and often forgotten cadre of women. nurses, mechanics, supply and ferry pilots. secretaries. they nursed injured bodies and injured souls. they packaged and repackaged parachutes, cleared land for runways. and did many other duties to keep the base operational. when black activists urge president truman to desegregate the military, they pointed to the heroism of the red tails.

many of those personnel where women. the actions of black servicemen and women show they were -- they had earned the right for the treatment enjoyed by all americans. this is what i would love for you to carry away with you. without the bold imagination of member club assumed, the sheer -- mary mcleod bethune, the sheer stubbornness of her friend and visionary eleanor roosevelt, it is doubtful that the testy tiananmen -- that the tuskegee airmen would have come into existence or have been successful as they were. at this point in time, i have a few questions for the gentleman on our board. i would like to ask mr. pride to please come down.

mr. pride is one of our distinguished -- ok, that is fine. excellent. i would like to ask the first question. >> youngest guy up here except for -- [laughter] >> mr. fauntroy? please give us one moment, folks. >> ok. >> ok. mr. fauntry, where are you from? >> washington, d.c. columbia hospital for women,

where i was born. several years ago. [laughter] >> not too long ago. what was your inspiration when you first left home? >> we had an officer in the police department here. who was an all-american football and basketball player. you could see that i was interested in basketball. >> oh, no doubt. >> i idolized that gentleman. after my father, he was the greatest man i knew. he joined the tuskegee airmen shortly after the war started. graduated and was killed in an airplane accident in michigan. he was my inspiration. of course, i was just 15 years old when the war started. by the time i turned 17, i had decided i didn't want to go to

the navy. i went to the bus station where they recruited in the army. with the permission of my mother, i asked if i could go into the army air corps. they give me a test. apparently, i passed it. to my mother's surprise. [laughter] i went off to bowling field to take physical, psychological psycho motive, and some other tests. on february 1, 1944, i was sworn in the army air corps reserves. may of 1945, i was sworn into the army air corps because i had turned 18 in march. i took more tests.

to my surprise, i passed and was sent to tuskegee army airfield. i stayed there until may of 1945. i was in class 45i. the war ended when they found out 45i was being trained. [laughter] that's not true, but that's what we like to think. i was able to go through three of the four phases being trained a pilot before they declared a surplus and i was discharged at

the army air force base, november 8, 1945. the main thing about my training , i like to think, is the gentleman who went before me came back and taught me. my instructor in basic flying was lieutenant captain leonard jackson out of fort worth, texas. he taught me how to fly and do combat fighting, night flying. cross-country. those men came back and taught me well. they taught us well. my other claim to fame is, my first check ride, after 20 hours of flying, they are going to

give you a test. it is for you to prove that you learn what your instructor was supposed to have taught you. my first check ride was with chief anderson, who happened to have taken mrs. roosevelt up. i did not know this until after i came out of the service. man, was that a big deal when i found out that was the man who gave me my first check. i am very proud to be associated with the tuskegee airmen. all these gentlemen are idols of mine.

to you young people, my god has done with me what i've done. i did not do it alone. thank you. [applause] >> i would like to ask, mr. pride, what was your inspiration when you were growing up? where are you from? >> i am from washington, dc, also. my inspiration was african-american newspapers. every other week or so there would be a photo of a tuskegee airman. when i was 16 years old, i decided i wanted to be one of them. like everybody else at that time, we all wanted to serve our country. our country at the time was 160 million people.

1/10 of them, 16 million, went to war. i am proud to be a tuskegee airman. >> thank you, sir. thank you. [applause] my next question is for dr. ware. please tell us where you are from and also, did you dream of joining the military when you are young? if not, what inspired you to? -- what were you aspiring to be? >> what was the question again? [laughter] >> did you dream on joining the military when you are young? >> no, i did not dream on

joining the military when i was young. i found out my grandfather had been a military person in the civil war, but i found that out later. i had a military heritage. i was just unaware of that. i was in junior college, my sophomore year. that is when the war broke out. our whole class of six guys went down to the -- it wasn't a reception center, it was a place where you could sign up. we had not been drafted. we were enlisting the military services in the 1940's. there was nothing unusual. we were taught that was the way most young americans reacted. we were all athletes. we played baseball, football.

the normal things that young men did, that is what we thought we were doing. the exception came when you completed high school. everybody, it was compulsory to complete high school. if you had any ambitions -- practically everybody had ambitions to go on -- it was beyond high school. there were many problems. there were not that many schools. if you had to go some distance then you had to maintain yourself while you are going to school. i selected, not out of choice, to go to a junior college. only seven miles from home. it gave you everything a regular college gave you academically. my sophomore year there, i got my call to active duty. it was an honor to me to join the enlisted reserve corps.

we first started out because there was a war going on. you want to do be a part of something. they said, no, get your college training. get as much education as you can, and then you will be of more use to the service. i tried to do that. however, in my sophomore year, my final year, i was called to active duty as an enlisted reservist. it was to stay out until i completed my education. well, it worked out just as they said. junior college was only two years. at the end of my sophomore year, myself and the other four gentlemen, we went down and reported for active duty. we had all joined the enlisted reserve corps prior. i was in the service about three

weeks when they gave us an opportunity to ask questions and get whatever answers we needed. i wanted to find out how i could get from the army to the air corps. the answer was, forget it. that was the best advice they could have given me. there was no way to get out or change at that time. in a short time, i was on the atlantic ocean in november. we were fired on twice on our way to england. we landed there. the majority the ships made it through. we were not the exception. after about five months in england, we were about ready to hit the channel. finally, general eisenhower gave the order. the largest assembly of ships in

the history of warfare and mankind took off and headed for france. i don't know what went on there. we were just standing in line, day after day, waiting for your outfit to be called. the third week, we got our call. we went to southhampton and boarded up to go to france. we did not know where we were going. we landed at the primary landing point for american gis. there were several beaches omaha and utah beach. the british had their beaches. we landed at utah. it was not a difficult thing as a young man to adapt to the

military life. it was demanding but we had somewhat of a family history. my grandfather had been in the service. i didn't know too much about that. we were just responding to the things that went on around us. the rest of our buddies were signing up. it was only natural to be a part of what was going on. i did not intend to be a professional military person. foot after world war ii, coming back to school, i needed to have as much fun in order to not take a full-time job. it was the government's package for gis. they would give you a certain amount of money but it was not enough. they took care of the payments to the school but you had to live off of $60 a month.

a growing male, or female for that matter, would find it very difficult to manage on 60 a month. i took rotc, which gave me additional money, enough to make ends meet. with my military service, rotc was something i enjoyed doing. leadership. i realized when i was taking rotc, the tremendous leadership among the men i had served with. a young first sergeant, 27 years old, was our leader. everything i learned -- sort of learning by experience. i never looked forward to having

a career in the force. but once i got out of college and had a commission and examined my possibilities, used the experience i had, 3.5 years of service to start with -- to go back in the service, not as a staff sergeant but a second lieutenant -- i knew all about second lieutenant by that time. [laughter] it was not a difficult choice. i have never regretted it. i would recommend it to all of you. i'm inspired as a lookout and i see so many crisp young uniforms. i was not the neatest soldier. we were a medium automotive maintenance company. if it had wheels on it, we could repair it. we did that for 2.5 years in europe.

true we did not win the war, but we made our contribution to the war effort. we were proud of that. some of the edge was taken off when we got back to the states. we had to readjust to what we had left in the states. that is what everybody had to bear. it was not unusual. but i think i have said enough. we need to hear from you, sir. [applause] >> my next question goes to major anderson. the good thing is, you never lose your rank, major. please tell us where you are from and also, when did you decide to get involved with the military? >> my name is major anderson. major is my first name.

[laughter] not a military rank. my parents gave it to me. i was born march 5, 1925. which makes me 89 years old today. i am happy to be here with you today and to speak with you. while in the military, i was enlisted -- >> i don't think it is on. >> while in the military, i was an enlisted personnel. i consider myself representing the enlisted men in the services. i recall vividly in boot camp, during world war ii, we called

it basic training. in basic training, the man i fear the most was my sergeant. i didn't care about the officers or majors or colonels. i never came in contact with them anyway. the sergeant. the sergeant said, private anderson, you don't address a noncommissioned officer as sir. "yes, sir, sergeant, sir." [laughter] that is the way it was with me. in 1941, when the war began, all eligible men 18 and older were required to sign up for the

draft. to be drafted into the military. when the war began, i was 15. when i became 18, i signed up. within three months time, i was drafted into the military. i began my boot training in mississippi. boot camp, basic training. i was sent to illinois for aircraft maintenance training. for your information, the pilots, they were sent to tuskegee, alabama. they had the tuskegee institute for classroom study.

also, a field for the pilots to be trained. the enlisted personnel like myself went to a field in illinois not too far from chicago for our training. my training was as an aircraft sheet metal worker. my occupation was to repair bullet holes. our job was to keep the plane flying. i was stationed in kentucky. most of my time in the military was spent at the field in kentucky. 1944-1945.

the unit of the group that i was assigned to was the 477th bomber group. the 477th bomber group never saw action. before we completed our training, the war ended. we remained stateside during the war. i was discharged in 1945. that is my career with the military. >> thank you. [applause] gentlemen, i have another question for each of you. i would like to ask you, what is

your most vivid memory of serving in the military? i would like to start with mr. pride. go to pride, please. sir, your most vivid memory. >> my most vivid memory was during gunnery school. at central field, florida. we started off with shotguns shooting skeet. during the training, we ended up shooting skeet out of the back end. on one particular day, i made 50 out of 50. i went back to the squadron. they said, you have the day off from gunnery school because you did so well. you have kp tomorrow.

[laughter] [applause] gunnery was something i enjoyed. that was one of the schools i finished. the other was radio operator maintenance guy. i flew 1600 hrs during world war ii. thank you. >> thank you, sir. [applause] mr. fauntroy, your poignant memory. >> solo. after training me, they asked me to pull up into the field. it was just a field, no runways, just a grass field. we pulled up. he stood on the grass and looked up at me.

"go on up there and kill yourself." i took off. i knew what to do. i took off. went through the pattern, came down. bounced all over the place. never landed, i just kept going. i came back and landed properly. he had taught me to do that. i pulled over to pick him up. he said, no, go over and kill yourself. that is one of the things i remember.

after you solo, for two more days, you have to shoot three landings. i shot the three landings. on the fourth day, they said you are on your own. i am supposed to practice what they taught me. believe me, that first hour out there, all i did was ride and think how proud my mother would be to see her boy flying an airplane. [applause] >> dr. ware? >> thinking back, the memory i cherish the most occurred when i was in korea. it was a night when i was assigned to be the officer of the day. as night was approaching, my responsibility to be in charge

of the flag detail. all of you know handling the flag is a significant task. very meticulous, carrying of that responsibility. it turned out the headquarters for the air force and army are side-by-side. when he went up on top of the roof to lower the flag, each one had its own flag, they were on the adjacent ends. i can look across to the next building. there was an army lieutenant who is doing the same thing i was doing. he was in charge of the flag detail, lower the flag. as he played the notes, it struck me that i was the person representing all the people in korea.

they were hard at work, doing their jobs. my duty was to safeguard the flag and represent them. i felt an unusual feeling. i can't really describe it. witnessing the flag come down. i may have held that salute a little longer than i have ever held a salute. it struck me we were many thousands of miles from home doing our duty. that was significant to me. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, at this point in time, we will keep the program moving. i have a few brief comments i would like to make, and then we are going to close. we, the members of the east coast chapter of the tuskegee

airmen, thank you for joining us. i would like to stress that we are still in service to the country today. our mission is to expose you to education opportunities specifically in the aviation realm. we have established a youth in aviation program where we expose youth to career opportunities in aviation. we operate a flight school aircraft maintenance facilities, and an air traffic control exposure class twin light and youth. we also provide educational grants to college-bound students. please continue to support us and follow us online. eccta.org. as we work to enlighten our youth to the opportunities that aviation provides.

and promote the legacy of the tuskegee airmen. i would like to thank you. a round of applause for our panelists. [applause] >> on this first day of 2015, we want to know how optimistic are you for the u.s. in 2015 -- better off, worse off, or the same? that is the question on the facebook page. here are a couple of responses. leonard says "things will be much better, especially if republicans work with the president to this country is only much, much better than it was when president obama took office." wendy says "we don't want the republicans to work with obama. we want obama stopped. that's why we voted for them."

"q&a" has been marking a decade of compelling conversations by featuring an interview from each year of the series. today, former congressman bob ney. the ohioan resigned from timers in 2006 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges for trading political favors. he spent 17 months in prison and wrote a book about his experience. "q&a" at 7:00 eastern. then at 8:00, astronauts and private citizens who have flown into at program begins with walter cunningham, the lunar module pilot on apollo seven in 1968. >> the 114th court congress gavels in on tuesday, noon eastern. watch coverage of the house on c-span and the senate on c-span2, and track the gop-led congress and have your say

you don't -- have your say as it unfolds. new congress, best access on c-span. >> now, remarks from 2 vietnam era medal of honor recipients. sergeant first class melvin morris received his medal of honor this year following a government review that found evidence of discrimination in past ward practices. this discussion is part of an event hosted by the american veterans center in washington. it is almost 40 minutes. [applause] >> good morning. can you hear me? the medal of honor is awarded by the president of the united states in the name of the u.s. congress.

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