Tuskegee
Airmen to receive honorary degrees
2/20/06
America's first African-American fighter pilots will receive
honorary degrees from Tuskegee University Thursday, Feb.
23, as part of the Sixth Annual Tuskegee Airmen Convocation.
The event recognizes the exemplary combat performance
of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, which included
the destruction of 260 enemy aircraft while not losing
a single bomber to enemy fire in more than 200 combat
missions, a record unmatched by any other fighter group.
Sixty-six were killed in action and another 32 were taken
prisoner.
Between 1940 and 1946 approximately 1,000 African-American
pilots trained at Tuskegee in segregated units. They earned
more than 850 medals during the war and became a symbol
of excellence and perseverance. Their extraordinary stories
of overcoming obstacles remains relevant today.
Sixty-three surviving airmen are scheduled to attend the
11 a.m. Convocation at the University Chapel in Tuskegee,
Alabama.
Two Minnesota airmen, Joseph Gomer and Vernon Hopson,
will be flying to Tuskegee's Moton Field as guests aboard
a four-seat Cirrus SR-22 provided by Cirrus Design Corp.
of Duluth, MN. Cirrus, a corporate sponsor of the Red
Tail Project,
Col. George Mills Boyd will be this year's convocation
speaker. Col. Boyd served as a squadron adjutant, detachment
and squadron commander, management engineer and jet fighter
radar intercept officer for 28 years with the United States
Air Force. He is also an original life member of Tuskegee
Airmen Inc., Class 45-G. He retired from the United States
Air Force as a major in 1971.
The Tuskegee Airmen and their crews became accomplished
pilots and technicians against great odds. Following the
war they had to again overcome many of the same adversities
to reach their personal goals. The Tuskegee Airmen have
forged a path of success and in doing so have become excellent
role models. They have expressed similar goals time and
again in the years since the war: Encourage youth to follow
their example in achieving their dreams. The Red Tail
Project was founded to assist in reaching that goal.
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