Luke AFB Thunderbolt, April 2022

“We train the world’s greatest fighter pilots and combat ready Airmen”
Ceremony honors legendary group
INSIDE
April 2022 Vol. 21, No. 5
STORIES
Educational partnership, 3 Ideas wanted, 5
Pilot for a Day, 6 Women of Weapons,
8 and 9
FEATURE
CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL AWARDED
SeeP age7
C ou rtes y photo
by STEPHEN DELGADO
Thunderbolt staff writer
Luke Air Force Base has had numerous spe- cial days, but March 24 was an extra special day to remember. The ninth annual Tuskegee Airmen Commemoration Day celebration was held at Hangar 999, sponsored by Luke AFB’s 944th and 56th Fighter Wings, and the Archer- Ragsdale Arizona Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.
Lt. Col. Stanley Brown Jr., president of the ARAC, kicked off the event followed by the invocation.
Pastor Jim Porter, chaplain of the ARAC for 16 years, gave the invocation, sharing a touching story about his father, a B-17 pilot in World War II.
Porter spoke about how the escorts protect- ing the bombers were Tuskegee Airmen, and that he wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the superb job provided by the escorts that made it possible for his father to return home safely from bombing missions.
The event went on to feature a tribute to the ceremony’s honoree, the late Tuskegee Airman, Brig. Gen. Charles E. McGee, who died Jan. 16, at the age of 102.
Brig. Gen. Gregory Kreuder, 56th Fighter Wing commander, and Col. Mark Van Brunt, 944th FW commander, also addressed the ceremony.
Appearing via video, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, introduced key- note speaker, retired Gen. Ronald Fogleman, 15th Chief of Staff of the Air Force.
Before providing his address, retired Col. Richard Toliver and William Norwood, retired United Airlines pilot, presented Fogleman with the Tuskegee Airmen red coat. In his address, Fogleman recalled a red
coat he had been given years earlier, but quit wearing it because he felt he didn’t earn it. As Fogleman went on, he spoke fondly of
his 50-year relationship with Toliver. The two were part of an operations and test group test- ing the F-15 Eagle.
Fogleman, who flew nine different aircraft in his illustrious career and 315 combat mis- sions, expressed his honor and pride in being part of the ceremony.
The honoree, the late Gen. McGee, led a life that legends are made of. He flew 409 combat missions in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and had 6,308 flying hours in his military career. His awards and decorations are numer- ous, to include the Distinguished Flying Cross,
U.S. Air Force cou rtes y photo
the Bronze Star Medal and the Air Medal. He retired from the military in 1973, and went on to hold many prestigious functional and honorary aviation positions post-retirement.
President George W. Bush awarded Mc- Gee and more than 300 surviving Tuskegee Airmen the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian award. Add to that, he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, and in 2012 served as a consultant for the George Lucas film, Red Tails.
What’s more, the ceremony honored one of the few surviving Tuskegee Airmen, retired Lt. Col. Asa Herring, and retired Maj. Fannie McClendon, who was also part of the legend- ary 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.
Herring graduated from high school at age 16 and went through the Tuskegee Airman training, but the war ended before he had an opportunity to see any action. However, he re- enlisted a few years later and saw action in the Korean and Vietnam wars, flying 300 combat missions. He went on to be the first African American to command a squadron at Luke.
McClendon was part of the heralded African-American 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. In 1945 unsent mail, mostly to troops on the front, was bulging out of warehouses in Birmingham, England. The Army estimated it would take six months to get the mail where it needed to go, but the 6888th completed the job in half the time.
At the age of 101, McClendon was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President Joe Biden in March of this year.
The Tuskegee Airmen Commemoration Day celebration tugged at a plethora of emotions from sadness of the loss of many
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V anes s a D el gad o
Iain Lamphier, great grandson of Tuske- gee Airman, the late Brig. Gen. Charles McGee, reads a poem dedicated to his great-grandfather during the ninth an- nual Tuskegee Airmen Commemoration
V anes s a D el gad o
Retired Gen. Ronald Fogleman, former Air 􏰀orce Chief of Staff, addresses at- tendees at the ninth annual Tuskegee Airmen Commemoration Day celeb ra-
Day celeb ration on March 2 Air Force Base, Arizona.
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