Greetings!
I was invited to speak at Prairie State College in September when they hosted the RISE ABOVE Traveling Exhibit (formerly known as the CAF Red Tail Squadron). The RISE ABOVE Traveling Exhibit is a 53’ mobile movie theater featuring two compelling original short RISE ABOVE films that tell the story of the Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Air Service Pilots (WASP).
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Thanks to Valerie O'Neil and Keith Renfro who joined me for the Tuskegee Airmen Rise Above VIP Night at Prairie State College. |
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Statues of Tuskegee Airmen, New Historical Marker to Be Dedicated at Freeman Field
The RISE ABOVE exhibit is now headed to Freeman Field in Seymour, IN for an entire week of events, October 3-8, in honor of the dedication of a new Indiana State historical marker that explicitly, finally, recognizes the significance of the Freeman Field Mutiny in the fight for Civil Rights in the US and desegregation in the US Military.
EAA Young Eagles Rally October 8 at Bult Field
I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you to put volunteering for our next EAA Young Eagles Rally first. Our next program is at Bult Field on October 8.
If you're not planning to volunteer, however, or want to enjoy the speakers earlier in the week, here's a link to the schedule of events in Seymour, that culminates in the dedication of the new state historical marker and two life-size sculptures of Tuskegee Airmen.
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President
Chicago "DODO" Chapter
Tuskegee Airmen
P.S. Thanks to Jim Warren for sharing more of his father's story in this month's newsletter (below). Please hit a reply to reach our amazing resident historian, Vince Saunders to share your Tuskegee Airmen family story in a future newsletter and on the TAIChicago blog.
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Black Activism During the War Years |
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by Vince Saunders
In 1903 W.E.B. Du Bois wrote in “The Souls of Black Folk" that “the problem of the 20th century will be the problem of the color line,” a phrase used earlier by Frederick Douglass to refer to Southern racism against Black people.
Du Bois rejected Booker T. Washington’s conciliatory approach and argued that African Americans should fight for their freedom and political equality. It was undoubtedly this approach that laid the foundation for the American civil rights movement.
Photo Credit: Registration at Freeman Field in 1944, courtesy of the Indiana State Archives.
A. Phillip Randolph Threatens Mass March on Washington
Other examples of this type of black activism continued during the war years, even in the small town of Seymour, Indiana. The “Freeman Field Mutiny,” as it became known, was a non-violent act of protest that stemmed from an event on April 5, 1945, when black officers (pilots) stationed at Freeman (Army Air) Field, took a stand by attempting to enter the whites-only officers club on the base. Eventually, those pilots who tried to gain entrance were arrested, but most were released upon recommendation of an Air Force judicial inspector (segregated officer’s clubs were in violation of Army Air Field regulations).
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However, the base commander, Robert Selway, Jr., then wrote new guidelines applicable to all base personnel regarding regulations on the use of buildings such as officer’s clubs. Using those new guidelines, he tried to force all of the black officers to sign a document affirming these unjust and discriminatory regulations, threatening them with arrest for disobeying a direct order by a superior officer during wartime, a very serious offense. (National Air & Space Museum, 2020)
Photo Credit: Colonel Robert Selway reviews members of the 618th Bombardment Squadron at Atterbury Air Field in Indiana in 1944.
Fighting for Freedom Overseas. Facing Racism at Home
Out of all the black pilots, however, only a handful signed. One hundred and one officers were arrested for their refusal to acknowledge the document. In his 1944 article “Citizens of Negro Blood” for Collier’s Magazine, Indiana Hoosier businessman and Republican presidential nominee Wendell Willkie stated that World War II “has made us conscious of the contradictions between our treatment of our Negro minority and the ideals for which we are fighting."
A final note of personal connection to our Chapter--in addition to Jim Warren's father, Lt. Col. James C. Warren, and former TAI Chicago president Roy Chappell, among others, who were part of the 101: Jeh Charles Johnson was United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2017. From 2009 to 2012, Johnson was the general counsel of the Department of Defense during the first years of the Obama administration. Jeh's uncle, Robert B. Johnson, served with the Tuskegee Airman during World War II and in 1945, Jeh’s uncle was part of the Freeman Field Mutiny. (Jeh's also my 2nd cousin twice removed.)
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The Tuskegee Airmen Mutiny at Freeman Field |
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Contributed by Jim Warren
Lt. Col. Warren was one of the 101 arrested at Freeman Field. He wrote a book, The Tuskegee Airmen Mutiny at Freeman Field, to finally tell the true story of what happened. His book became possible after he found out that transcripts of actual phone calls and meetings had been declassified.
Shortly after the publication of his book, Lt. Col. Warren noted, “the Air Force chose to exonerate all airmen who had participated in the Freeman Field Mutiny. During the 1995 Annual Convention of Tuskegee Airmen, exactly 50 years after the mutiny, the Air Force made its formal announcement.”
Thanks to Jim Warren, son of Lt. Col. James C. Warren, who shared this summary of the Freeman Field Mutiny
With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the United States Armed Forces began recruiting greater numbers of African American men for segregated "Negro units." By 1941, the Army Air Corps formed a fighter squadron of 47 officers and 429 enlistees to train at Tuskegee Field in Alabama. This group was known as the 99th Pursuit Squadron. Later, they became known as the 332nd Fighter Group. They also expanded into the 477th Bombardment Group (Medium). They later became known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
Starting in 1943, the 332nd Fighter Group saw action in North Africa and the Mediterranean; the 477th Bombardment Group (BG) "fought a more insidious war at home."
The 477th BG moved from Selfridge Field, MI (by surprise) to Godman Field, KY, under the guise of relocating them to a location with better flying weather. The unit was later moved to Freeman Field in Seymour, IN, which had better-flying facilities, but amidst racial tension over Black officers being denied entrance to “Officers Club # 2.” This racial separation violated 1940 Army Regulation 210-10, outlawing segregated clubs.
A second club was set up for Black officers: the officers called it "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and refused to patronize it.
To get around Army Regulation 210-10, First Army Air Force lawyers wrote a new regulation, Base Regulation 85-2, to justify segregation, claiming conditions other than race. It stated that certain clubs and recreation facilities were for Supervisors and others for Trainees. However, Supervisors meant White officers, and Trainees were Black officers. How did they consider officers from the 332nd FG with Distinguished Flying Crosses and Purple Hearts on their chest to be classified as trainees?
The officers challenged this unequal treatment by entering the segregated "supervisors" club on April 5, 1945.
Approximately sixty airmen were arrested, with more arrested on April 7 and 8. On April 10, upon being ordered to sign an endorsement to the new Base Regulation 85-2, 101 officers refused and were arrested for Violation of Articles Of War #64: Disobeying a Lawful Order of a Superior Officer. They were rounded up and sent back to Godman Field.
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Photo Credit: Image of the Freeman Field Mutiny courtesy of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
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When they disembarked from the planes at Godman, they were met by Military Police armed with machine guns. To make matters worse, they were laughed at by Axis Prisoners of War, who seemingly walked around the base without supervision.
Intense pressure from civil rights organizations, along with President Roosevelt's death, led to the release from arrest of the 101 officers. One casualty of the rebellion was 2nd Lt. Bill Terry. Terry was convicted of jostling the Officer of the Day upon entering the club. He was fined $150 and dishonorably discharged from the Army. As a result of the controversy, the War Department revised regulations on segregation and ended segregated officers' clubs.
Since then, the Mutiny at Freeman Field has been viewed as a "bellwether for integration of the U.S. military."
In 1995, the Air Force corrected the records of the men who requested that the Letters Of Reprimand placed in their military records by General Hunter be removed, and they also set aside Terry's conviction."
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