Tuskegee Airmen Visit Westmont

Five members of the Los Angeles chapter of the famous Tuskegee Airmen will visit Westmont for a colloquium and reception with students 3:30 p.m. Jan. 19 in Page Multipurpose Room on the upper campus.

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American fighter pilot squadron of the U.S. Armed Forces. Instituted in 1939 in Tuskegee, Ala., the group was a profoundly segregated part of the new Army Air Corps during World War II.

More than 966 black military aviators were trained at an isolated training complex near the town of Tuskegee and at Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University. Four-hundred-and-fifty black fighter pilots under the command of Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. (who later became the U.S. Air Force’s first black general) flew more than 15,553 sorties and 1,578 missions in the aerial war over North Africa, Sicily and Europe.

The airmen, now in their 70s and 80s, overcame tremendous social and political barriers to become an elite squadron known for never losing a bomber to an enemy fighter while flying. They won numerous honors, including the Silver Star, 150 Flying Crosses and the Legion of Merits.

 Toya Cooper, college counsel and special assistant to the provost for diversity initiatives, will moderate the discussion. The airmen will then meet and talk with students informally. The provost’s office and Intercultural Programs sponsored the event.

 For more information, call Intercultural Programs Director Elena Yee at (805) 565-6132, or e-mail eyee@westmont.edu