A Nebraska member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen plans to attend President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20 — thanks to some help from others.
From staff and wire reports | Posted: Monday, January 5, 2009 12:00 am
A Nebraska member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen plans to attend President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20 — thanks to some help from others.
Paul Adams, of Lincoln, is among the surviving members of the World-War II-era fighter wing that was made up of the U.S. military’s first black pilots.
When Adams was growing up in the segregation era, president of the United States represented just one of many jobs once off limits to black people.
Flying an airplane was another.
Many historians say the distinguished record of the first black fighter squadrons helped pave the way for the Civil Rights movement, which in turn made it possible for Barack Obama to run for president.
The roughly 1,000 pilots who trained at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute flew 15,000 missions in North Africa and Europe, destroying 260 enemy aircraft. The pilots’ stellar reputations as bomber escorts earned them the nickname “guardian angels.”
Adams says watching a black man become president will carry special meaning, but being invited to watch in person means even more.
Adams didn’t think he’d be able to make the trip because of the cost and lack of affordable places to stay in Washington D.C. He says a number of groups got together to help him and others make the trip.
After the war, Adams re-enlisted in the Air Force and served for 20 years as a supply and intelligence officer, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel. The Air Corps he joined in 1942 was segregated; the Air Force he left in 1963 was integrated.
In 1964, he embarked on his second career as an industrial arts teacher at Lincoln High School. He retired from the school in 1982.
Adams has received high honors in his 89 years, including the Congressional Gold Medal and having a Lincoln elementary school named after him.