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A 100-year-old Tuskegee Airman may soon get honorary promotion — to general | |
(30 minutes later) | |
Tuskegee Airman and retired Air Force Col. Charles E. McGee could soon get an honorary promotion to the rank of general, two Maryland legislators announced Tuesday. | Tuskegee Airman and retired Air Force Col. Charles E. McGee could soon get an honorary promotion to the rank of general, two Maryland legislators announced Tuesday. |
McGee, 100, of Bethesda flew 409 combat missions during World War II, the Korean War and the war in Vietnam, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Rep. Anthony G. Brown said in a statement | |
The Democratic legislators from Maryland announced that their provision authorizing the promotion was included in the House- and Senate-negotiated National Defense Authorization Act. That must now be voted on by the full House and the full Senate and approved by President Trump. | |
That is expected before the end of the year, Van Hollen’s office said. | That is expected before the end of the year, Van Hollen’s office said. |
“I could not think of a more fitting recognition from a truly grateful nation,” Van Hollen said in the statement. | “I could not think of a more fitting recognition from a truly grateful nation,” Van Hollen said in the statement. |
Brown said: “As a barrier breaking African American pilot and commander in the Air Force, Col. McGee’s service has inspired generations of African American aviators who followed in his footsteps.” | Brown said: “As a barrier breaking African American pilot and commander in the Air Force, Col. McGee’s service has inspired generations of African American aviators who followed in his footsteps.” |
Heroism amid bigotry: He was the last Tuskegee Airman to earn his wings and fly | Heroism amid bigotry: He was the last Tuskegee Airman to earn his wings and fly |
McGee had a distinguished 30-year career in the Air Force and was the first African American to command a stateside Air Force wing and base in the integrated Air Force, the legislators said. | |
The Tuskegee Airmen were a pioneering group that included more than 900 black pilots who were trained at the segregated Tuskegee airfield in Alabama during World War II. | The Tuskegee Airmen were a pioneering group that included more than 900 black pilots who were trained at the segregated Tuskegee airfield in Alabama during World War II. |
They were men from all over the country who fought racism and oppression at home and enemy pilots and antiaircraft gunners overseas. | They were men from all over the country who fought racism and oppression at home and enemy pilots and antiaircraft gunners overseas. |
More than 400 served in combat, flying patrol and strafing missions and escorting bombers from bases in North Africa and Italy. The tail sections of their fighter planes were painted a distinctive red. Twenty-six Tuskegee Airmen remain missing in action. | |
Last year, a day after he turned 99, McGee took a birthday trip in a modern jet and spoke of a lesson he’d learned in the skies: “We human beings are one aspect in a mighty grand universe,” he said. |
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