25 July 2006
Documentary on Tuskegee Airmen Teaches Hope, Patriotism
Congressmen hope to send the film to schools throughout the United States
Washington -- Several of the original Tuskegee Airmen were reunited July 25 at the screening of a new educational film on their heroic and trying experiences in the U.S. armed forces during World War II.
The screening of On Freedom's Wings: Bound for Glory -- The Legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, held at the Rayburn House Office Building, was sponsored by the Pennsylvania Veterans Museum.
"We got the opportunity," said Air Force Captain Luther Smith, one of the original Tuskegee pilots. "We were determined to prove we were as patriotic, as dedicated and capable of defending this country as anyone else."
The Tuskegee Airmen played a pivotal role in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, as they were members of the first African-American aviation units after President Franklin Roosevelt pledged in 1940 that these units would be created.
Racism and segregation in the 1940s, however, produced a negative attitude toward blacks in the armed forces; thus the crews often were not respected.
Members of these units were referred to as "Tuskegee Airmen" because their units were trained at segregated training facilities in Tuskegee, Alabama.
Despite these obstacles, the Tuskegee Airmen produced some of America's greatest achievements during World War II, including escorting long-range, heavy strategic bombers on approximately 200 missions throughout Europe without losing a single American bomber to enemy aircraft -- an accomplishment that never has been matched.
Several of the congressmen who hosted the screening expressed their hopes that the film would be sent to schools throughout the country. There already have been requests from 18 schools in Philadelphia.
"This message needs to go out to every school in every congressional district in America," said Representative Curt Weldon, who noted that he is one of approximately 25 former classroom teachers in Congress. "I'm an educator and I did not know the Tuskegee story. I don't think that I'm the exception.
"This is the kind of story that will motivate our young people," the Pennsylvania representative continued. "Here you've got a group of people who were singled out and persecuted. They were denied. They were ridiculed, and they were looked down upon. Everything that was humanly possible to hurt these people was done to them. But … they got tougher. They came closer together and said, 'We're not going to be had.'"
"I think that America has to know what every group of people, minorities and women, have done, not only to make this country as great as she is, but to protect her against anyone that would attempt to destroy her," said Representative Charles Rangel of New York.
"[The Tuskegee Airmen] insisted that they be able to put their lives in harm's way, to soar the skies … to protect our planes … and come back and rejoin the civil rights movement," Rangel said.
The message of the documentary, Weldon said, is "one of the most important messages … that we can share with the next generation."
"Every American needs to understand what the Tuskegee Airmen symbolize," Weldon said.
"It says to every American that you don't have to go through life complaining," he said, "but to do something about it."
The Pennsylvania Veterans Museum is a nonprofit organization with the mission of preserving the legacy of American military veterans from the state. The museum opened in Media, Pennsylvania, in November 2005.
The film is available on the Web site of the Pennsylvania Veterans Museum.
More information on the Tuskegee Airman also is available on a Web site of the National Park Service.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
