Kirk Watson: “On July 19, 1941, the United States military began a revolutionary program in Alabama to train black Americans as…”

“On July 19, 1941, the United States military began a revolutionary program in Alabama to train black Americans as military pilots. The program helped change military culture and negative perceptions of blacks in the military, especially the Air Corps. The Division of Aeronautics of Tuskegee Institute, the famed school of learning founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881, and I am a descendant of his, conducted flight training for aspiring black pilots; and my cousin, still alive, living here, Ira O'Neal, was one of those pilots. The first classes of Tuskegee Airmen were trained to be fighter pilots for the famous 99th Fighter Squadron slated for combat duty in North Africa. By the end of the war, 992 men had graduated from pilot training at Tuskegee, 450 of whom were sent overseas for combat assignment. I should also note that 16,000 men and women supported the Tuskegee Airmen program. Mr. Speaker, the 450 pilots that flew combat missions over North Africa and Europe, five of them live in the 33rd Congressional District of Los Angeles and Culver City, which I represent. And they are Wilbert Johnson, William B. Ellis, Elbert T. Hudson, Samuel R. Hughes, and Roger B. Duncan. Mr. Speaker, although pilots that flew twin-engine aircraft did not see combat, it does not take away from the barriers that broke because of their service. In my district there is an individual that flew twin- engine bombers. He is Oscar H. York.…”