eventually becoming one of the most requested radio crewmen at chanute field in illinois. >> i workedline radio operator at the only african-american on the flight line. >> reporte even so with racism in full bloom he wasn't allowed to even ride from his segregated barracks to the flight line with the rest of the crew. if james pride was disappointed he never actually learned to fly a plane before leaving the service, he was even more disappointed when he returned home to washington. >> they sent mm chanute field to fort meade for discharge. >> re soon learned even after serving his country earning two sets of sill she wings s very wings he wouldn't find a decent job firing negroes. he learned about a military project started two years before. a code-breaking division of the sis. the u.s. signals intelligence service. it was both civilian and military operating out of what had been arlington hall school for girls in nearby virginia. and while most of the work there was classified the biggest secret at arlington hall station was that african-americans were working there, too. historian

mechanic and crackerjack radio operator earning two sets of silver wings, stationed eventually at chanutehere white pilots were training and needing flight hours, they needed him. no air corps pilot could fly without a mechanic and radio operator onboard. >> i worked as a line radio operator the only african-american on the flight line. >> reporter: he flew 1,600 flight hours at shoe ss chanute but in the back of the plane a. pilot, copilot seat and the radio operator sits right behind them behind a partial wall. >> reporter: he saw white enlisted men move up to higher ranks and the better jobs but james pride like other black americans were virtually e when it came to promotion. the message wasn't hard to read. if you weren't white, you weren't worthy but a different message would come through morse co. that would change his life. and just what part does morse code play in what happens next? we continue the story tonight on news 4 at 6:00. >>> in holteealth time to think about cutting back ob sugar. one of the many headlines in the new dietary recommendations. a government panel recommen