Tuskegee Airmen Essay, Research Paper

The Tuskegee Airmen

In 1948, President Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which called for “equality of treatment and opportunity” in the armed forces. On March 7, 1942, young black pilots stood at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. It was at this historic graduation exercise that these men were inducted the into the United States Army Air Corps.

Having won the right to fight in the war, the Tuskegee airmen went to Europe to fight. Under LTC Davis, they had their first fight against the highly prepared Italian island of Pantelleria. The successful assault on the island marked a great happening in the war, in which air power alone was able to win the battle. They then entered Sicily, and they participated in the invasion of Salerno and Anzio, the battles of Monte Cassino, and Rome; and then in southern France, Greece, the Balkans, and finally Germany – the Tuskegee Airmen truelly were heroic and had determination all the way during the battles.

The battles brought the races together, with their lives on the line. They achieved many things, but most importantly, they achieved the ultimate goal, which was the accomplishment of complete intergration of the United States Armed Forces. Many did not believe that integration in the United States Armed Forces would ever exist, but the Tuskegee Airmen proved the people who said that wrong with what they achieved. The Black officers were now given the same priveleges as White people and they were treated as individuals rather than by their skin color.

The greatness of this achievement by the Tuskegee Airmen can be seen in the many important positions held by Black American men and women in every Service and every Branch of the United States Armed Forces. The Tuskegee Airmen made it all possible. They truelly deserve to be called heroes.