By Chivaun Perez/Reporter
TIFTON — Living legends visited Tifton on Friday afternoon to speak with students at Matt Wilson Elementary School.
Two of the original “Tuskegee Airmen” and one torchbearer spoke at a student assembly about the challenges the former airmen faced in their career and the importance of an education.
Val Archer and Hill Pouncy, both of the Atlanta Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., were a part of a group of African-American pilots who fought in World War II as the 332nd Fighter Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps.
They were the first African-American military aviators in the U.S. armed forces, joining when the military was still racially segregated. The Tuskegee Airmen were subject to racial discrimination, both within and outside the Army.
A series of legislative moves by Congress in 1941 forced the Army Air Corps to form an all-black combat unit, despite the War Department's reluctance. The black airmen who became single-engine or multi-engine pilots were trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Ala.
Archer and Pouncy talked to the Matt Wilson Elementary students about the value of education and shared some of their experiences facing racism in the U.S. Air Corps.
Archer explained that one of the Tuskegee nicknames, “the Red Tails,” came from their escorts painting the tails of their planes red. He said that they did this as one way to identify themselves.
“Back then, most bombers didn’t want to deal with us because we were black and they thought we were stupid or couldn’t do a good job. Our response was to paint our tails red. When we would escort them safely back to the base, they would ask, ‘Who were the escorts with the red tails?’ Then they would find out that we were the ones defending them. Eventually, they stopped avoiding us and started requesting us,” Archer said.
Archer said that restrictions for education and testing were so high for the Air Corps – in an attempt to keep African-Americans out – that only about one-third to one-fourth of the men who attempted to enter the group made it through the program. He also said that many of the Tuskegee men were denied promotions and made only $21 a month.
“Even back then, that wasn’t much money to live on. It impacted our families and kept them from getting good educations. The real story (of the airmen) is how we were able to survive that discrimination and serve our country,” Archer said.
Gregory Grant, another member of the airmen’s Atlanta Chapter, taught the students the history of the Tuskegee Airmen and explained the various types of planes flown during World War II.
Lauren Smith, the school’s media specialist, made it possible for the former airmen to visit Tifton this year.
“They are eye-witnesses to history,” Smith said. “Having them here is been an honor.”
