Who Is Charles McGee?

            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.