Tuskegee Airmen mural to be dedicated next week

May 12—If you've strolled through downtown Kokomo during the past week or so, you might have noticed several towering faces pop up on a wall across from the Artworks Gallery.

The faces belong to men who once called Kokomo home. They were among the more than 14,000 African American men who were able to call themselves Tuskegee Airmen.

According to the Howard County Historical Society, the term "Tuskegee Airmen," coined in 1955 by Army Air Corps veteran Charles E. Francis, refers to the African American men who were trained to fly combat and support aircraft during World War II, as well as the pilots' support teams. Training primarily took place around the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

Ten other states, including Indiana, also held Tuskegee Airmen training.

There were five airmen from Kokomo: Lt. Col. Bennett Hardy, Lt. John McClure, Maj. John Cunningham, Andrew Dunigan Jr. and Gordon Morgan. All of their portraits will appear on the mural.

The approximately 30-by-90-feet mural at 217 N. Main St. should be finished sometime early next week. A dedication ceremony is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Malcolm Byers came in from Amarillo, Texas, to complete the work.

More than 30 organizations came together to fund the project, with Robin Williams, vice president of the Howard County Memorial Corporation, leading the effort. She chose Byers for the job after seeing a mural he completed in Atlanta of former U.S. Rep. Robert Smalls.

The muralist explained he designed the mural with the help of digital photos of the local Tuskegee Airmen.

With 13 days allotted for the work, he's put in 12 hours some days to try and complete the project on deadline. On Monday, he said he had been hoping to avoid the rain that wound up showering the city several times throughout the week.

The wall was painted white at first, then speckled with numbers, letters, shapes and symbols. A lone smiley face was still visible between two gigantic faces earlier this week.

The seemingly random symbols will disappear before the mural's finished, Byers said. They work as a grid that guides him while he paints.

"I know it looks crazy without context," Byers said.

The artist, who has been spray painting for nearly a decade, said he thought the grid system would work best given the scale of the mural. He's tried out a few other methods in the past, such as using a projector, and felt most comfortable with the symbol grid.

Although he's created realist portraits around the nation, Byers said he's never been close to Indiana. It's his first time in the state and he's been enjoying the stay. He said he's been particularly interested learning about Kokomo's automotive history.

"Everybody's been really sweet," he said. "The weather's been really nice."

The mural comes as Williams is working on a traveling exhibit about the Tuskegee Airmen that will debut at Grissom Air Museum on Memorial Day, which is May 27.

Hardy, McClure, Cunningham, Dunigan and Morgan will appear somewhere in the 50 panels that were put together for the exhibit.

Other attractions include a copy of a Tuskegee Airman's medal and a field manual. Other parts of the exhibit will focus on flight and crew chiefs, who Williams said are often overlooked in lieu of the Tuskegee pilots.

As the exhibit visits other cities throughout the nation, Williams said, people who contributed to the war effort from those towns will also be celebrated. She called the city-specific initiative Hometown Heroes.

"The community has just really come out and supported it," Williams said. "Especially with the hometown heroes."

James Bennett III can be reached at 765-454-8580 or james.bennett@kokomotribune.com.