Tuskegee Airmen honored in Horseheads

Stefan Ayanian
·2 min read

HORSEHEADS, N.Y. (WETM) — This year marks 83 years since the famous World War II Tuskegee Airmen service group was formed in 1941. They were honored today for Memorial Day weekend at the Wings of Eagles Discovery Center in its Return of the Red Tails 2024 event.

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The service was held with a display of Tuskegee Airmen artifacts and some family members of the group were in attendance honoring their legacy. One of the relatives was Albert Johnson, whose uncle was Lieutenant Robert Johnson who served with the Tuskegee Airmen and died in action in 1944.

“Looking back at these historic events kind of reminds me a little bit of trying to drive a car by looking in the rearview mirror. You’ve got a glance in the rearview mirror once in a while just to stay straight, but it’s really important to look forward,” said Johnson. “I think that this commemoration is a positive way to not only keep an eye on that rearview mirror, but also look forward. If you think about where we were as a country in the 1940s and what we have become. We have our issues, we have our problems, but we also have this vista of technologies, and we have learned ways to work together across economic lines, across ethnic lines in order to build a better society going forward.”

The keynote co-speaker of the event, Michael A. Joseph II said, “The Tuskegee Airmen have touched many American lives because the work that they did showed the U.S. government that segregation was a waste, it was grossly inefficient and people of African ancestry could function, could perform great feats of heroism, could operate complex machinery, as evidenced by them being very successful as fighter pilots, as bomber pilots and crews during World War Two.”

The picture above is of Tuskegee Airman 2nd Lt. Herbert Thorpe, who was supposed to be the honorary keynote speaker. He passed away in January this year at the age of 101.

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