Last month, General Charles McGee a Tuskegee Airman passed away, now there are only a few of these national heroes left.
One of the few remaining, Lieutenant Colonel Harold H. Brown, spoke with News Center 7 about fighting in World War II all the way to how our country looks today.
Brown said he knew he wanted to fly planes by the time he was 16 years old.
“When I was 16 years old, I saved up 35 whole dollars and went out and took flying lessons,” he told News Center 7′s Kayla McDermott.
The rest is history.
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But at this time, African Americans could not join the airforce —that is until the United States entered WWII.
“There was a lot of mounting political pressure at the time to let black aviators contribute,” Alyssa Leicht, museum curator for the National Museum of US Air Force said.
When the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 was signed Brown and other African Americans were given a chance.
Fresh out of high school Brown applied for the newly established Tuskegee Airmen School and was one of the few accepted.
“I was thrilled to death,” Brown recalled.
He became a Tuskegee Airmen, well known as “Red Tails”, our country’s first Black military aviators.
“They were so loyal to accomplishing their mission they became known as the Red Tail Angles,” Leicht said.
He was sent on numerous missions.
They were often requested by bomber groups to escort them on missions because they knew they wouldn’t leave their side, Leicht said.
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On Brown’s 30th assignment his flight was shot down over Germany.
But Brown being the skilled pilot that he is, Brown knew exactly what to do.
He climbed for altitude and right before the engine quit on him he was able to eject himself from the plane and open his parachute.
He fell into the snow.
“I thought what in the world am I doing up here all by myself?” Brown said.
But he wasn’t alone — he looked up and saw two German snipers.
“I threw the gun away and threw up my hands,” he said.
The German soldiers brought Brown to one of their camps where he became a prisoner of war.
He expected to be tortured, but what he did not expect was to be treated equally.
He said no one in the camp seemed to care about his skin color.
“We were all just prisoners. We were all treated the same,” Brown said.
Brown spent two months in the POW camp until American Troops arrived.
“When I got home I could count every one of my ribs,” he said.
He can still recall how it felt to see General George S. Patton on April 29, 1945, free him.
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The Tuskegee Airmen were considered heroes, but when they got home the reality of being an African American in America was inescapable.
“It was still totally segregated, everything. No changes had been made, it was just right back to life as usual,” Brown said.
Years after the Red Tails formed, President Harry Truman made a historic decision.
Brown said it always surprised him that the military were the first people to integrate in 1949.
“I always thought they would be the last,” he admits.
In 2007, the Tuskegee pilots received the highest military award, the Congressional Medal of Honor.
They were also invited to former President Barrack Obama’s inauguration, Brown recalls what it was like seeing a man that looks like him as president.
“I never thought I would see that in my lifetime, never, never, never,” he said.
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It’s been 81 years since the Red Tails came together and Brown continues to be recognized.
Last year he was honored at the National Veterans Museum in Columbus.
But Brown said he doesn’t feel like a national hero.
“I personally don’t see myself as having done that much,” he said.
There are plenty of others who disagree with this.
“He’s so a hero. The path he created opened the doors for not just African Americans, but opened the door for diversity,” Four-star General Maryanne Miller said.
Brown acknowledged the current tensions in the country, and how he has seen progress from when he was younger.
“You just can’t compare the two, I’m in a different country,” Brown said.
But he did say there is still more work we can all do to ease the tensions in the U.S., but he thinks we are on the right track.
If you want to learn more about Brown and his time as a Tuskegee Airman you can read “Keep Your Airspeed Up”, his life memoir.