Faded windsocks snapped in the breeze as onlookers crowded around vintage aircraft, sharing the tarmac at historic Moton Field in Tuskegee with sleek corporate jets and red-nosed Navy aircraft. But the real attractions were the old men—some in wheelchairs—scattered through the crowd.
The people at Moton Field were there to honor the men as part of the grand opening of phase 1 of the Tuskegee Airman National Historic site, featuring the remaining original hanger.
Samuel C. Hunter Jr., of Colorado Springs, Colo., and other airmen entered the museum first, followed by the public who packed in to see everything from bright yellow training aircraft to parachutes hanging from the rafters.
“It’s really a thing to behold,” Hunter said. “It brings back a lot of memories.”
Hunter said the airmen meet annually among themselves, but this is different. They shared this reunion with the public.
Wearing hats and other mementos of their time as pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps, they signed autographs, shook hands and drew onlookers as tangible pieces of the Tuskegee Airmen’s history. Hunter joked he should start charging $5 an autograph.
“I think we are able to enlighten people about what transpired,” Hunter said. “It’s interesting to see the kids today. It’s a different youth than we were.”
Hunter graduated in 1943 at 23 and was a B-25 Liberator pilot.
“I had 18-year-olds in class with me who couldn’t drive but they could fly a plane,” he said.
Josephine Simpson, of Tuskegee, brought her grandsons, two sets of twins — one in strollers, the others walking at her side.
“I wanted to bring them out so they get a taste of the Tuskegee Airmen history,” she said.
Among the aircraft on display on the tarmac stood a group of naval aviators, Lt. Beth Zdunich, Lt. Haji “Omar” Shareef and Lt. Cmdr. Rich Green, from Pensacola and Whiting Field Naval air stations.
“I’m in awe,” Shareef said. “This is where it all began.”
As Shareef sees it, the Tuskegee Airmen made it possible for the three to be where they are today.
Zdunich agreed the Tuskegee airmen helped break race and gender barriers in the military.
“If it hadn’t happened here, my career wouldn’t exist,” Green said.
The airmen’s legacy of breaking race and gender barriers typified the presentations by the event’s speakers.
Gov. Bob Riley said it’s essential for the next generation to know the airmen’s story.
Dr. Benjamin F. Payton, president of Tuskegee University, agreed.
“There is a future out there that beckons us,” he said. “But that future is rooted in an understanding of where we came from.”
Riley added the airman’s story was inspiring to the world.
“They showed the world that race has no monopoly on excellence and heroism,” Riley said.
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