My VIP for this week is Charles McGee, a veteran pilot who was a Tuskegee Airman during World War II. He later flew missions in the Korean and Vietnam wars. In his thirty-year military career, he flew 409 fighter combat missions. He passed away Sunday at the age of 102 years.
According to [Tuskegee Airmen Inc,], McGee
had said that the Tuskegee Airmen “proved wrong those that believed Blacks were
not able to master sophisticated equipment, that Blacks lacked courage, or that
Blacks did not have the wherewithal to fight a determined enemy. It was the
Tuskegee Airmen that ended up with a stellar WWII aviation war record and
thereby edged the military toward integration and America away from
segregation.”
The Associated Press reported that
McGee retired as an Air Force colonel in 1973, but he received an “honorary
commission” four decades later that promoted him “to the one-star rank of
brigadier general.”
In addition, then-President Donald
Trump recognized McGee during his 2020 State of the Union address. McGee was
also called “an American hero” by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
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