[flag flapping] [engine rumbling] [dramatic music] male narrator: March 24th, 1945. U.S. Army airfield, Ramitelli, Italy. Pilots from America's
first all-Black fighter group were called to the briefing room. Their mission: Escort B-17 bombers on the first leg of an attack on Berlin. Their direct orders:
Protect the bombers at all costs. Halfway through the mission,
something went wrong. - We were supposed
to be relieved by a white fighter group, and they didn't show up
because they had weather problems. narrator: Knowing they'd be pushing
their fuel supplies to the limit, the fighter pilots stuck with the bombers
and headed to Berlin. [engines droning] As the warplanes approached the target, the suddenly came face-to-face
with the enemy. [jet engines roaring] One of Hitler's secret weapons:
the world's first jet fighters. - When they tell you have
the best fighter plane in the sky and all of a sudden you see a couple of fellas
come flying rings around you and there's nothing you can do about it,
that's a pretty helpless feeling. narrator: But as the fighter pilots
took on Nazi jets in the skies over Berlin,
back home on the ground, their brothers-in-arms were fighting
a very different battle by taking on
the United States military itself. - Segregation seemed
to be the number one... [chuckling]
aim of the Army. - When they turned us out
of the officers' club, they said, "You have an officers' club.
It's right over there." It's a barracks with a ping-pong table. - We called it Uncle Tom's cabin. - We decided to take a stand. It was a matter of pride and a matter of just reaching
the end of our rope. narrator: Together, the Black aviators
in Europe and those in America would wage a two-front war
against fascism and racism and help pave the way
for a civil rights movement yet to come. [ragtime music] - I always wanted to fly. I had to fly. That was my ambition all through my youth. I built model airplanes, I studied about people
like Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, and so forth. - Back in those days,
when a plane flew overhead, you went outside and looked at it. - In Detroit in the fourth
and fifth grades, I skipped school
and go to a small airfield about a mile away. If my mother ever caught me,
she would've killed me. - I'd been reading about pilots
in World War I. They were all brave,
they were all handsome, they all wore long, white scarves, and I said, "This is the kind
of combat I wanted to be." [militaristic music] narrator: There were
no romantic pilots in the air on September 1st, 1939, just a brutal surprise attack
by Hitler's Germany on neighboring Poland. Central to Germany's plan
for overwhelming victory was its air force, the Luftwaffe. [high siren] - Hitler had introduced
a new concept of warfare. It was called air power. His Stuka dive bombers had caused
that country to surrender for the first time
with little or no land army. - Hitler flies to survey what he has done:
the destruction of a nation. Poland divided between
the Nazi Germans and the Soviets. Good view of what attack
from the sky achieves. The flying field pitted
with bombed craters. narrator: Days later, Britain and France
declared war against Germany. Italy and Japan sided with Hitler. World War II had begun. [crowds cheering] [upbeat music] Far from the conflict,
the United States proclaimed neutrality. But with bombs falling in Europe, Americans geared up to fight,
Black America included. - I believe it was my duty
and responsibility. My father did and my grandfather did. That the country's in trouble,
you work with it. You do what you have to do. - You can't turn your back
on your own country, so we're as patriotic as anybody else. And so we wanted our chance to prove that we could do something. narrator: But for African Americans, answering the call of duty
meant defending a country that saw them as second-class citizens. More than 70 years
after the end of slavery, state-sanctioned segregation was rampant, and while life in northern cities was nominally better, racial oppression
was a national fact of life. The armed forces were no different. They segregated Blacks into separate units overseen by white officers who assigned the men
low-level, menial duties. Some branches of the service barred Blacks from their ranks altogether. - I wrote the War Department. I wanted to know how one goes about getting into the flying training program. The first letter of rejection I received said in no uncertain terms there were no facilities
to train Negroes to fly in any branch
of the American military service. - If you became a pilot
in the United States Air Force, you automatically became
a commissioned officer, which meant that you could give
any white non-commissioned officer orders. [soft dramatic music] narrator: For the Air Corps, it was
unthinkable for Blacks to command whites, let alone fly airplanes. As justification, Air Corps leaders pointed to a 1925 report written by the Army itself. - The document said
that Negroes were lazy, they didn't have enough sense,
they had no coordination. - And they lacked the intelligence
to handle sophisticated-type of chores like driving tanks or flying airplanes. And even if they did, they lacked the bravery
to successfully engage in combat. This is ludicrous. - This 1925 War College report really reflects the racist atmosphere in the United States
in the interwar period. The Klan, the Ku Klux Klan, experienced a resurgence in the 1920s. Particularly violent years. It was a very reactionary period. - The 1925 study,
"The Use of Negro Manpower in War," became really influential, and it's very unfortunate that it did because it remained influential
until the late 1930s, early 1940s. [dramatic music] - The bombs of Nazi air raiders blasted
this French farm. Everything ravaged by fire and explosives. Scores of towns are flame-scorched rubble. narrator: Throughout 1940, the Nazi army
continued its rampage across Europe. One country after another fell
to German attack as Hitler spewed visions
of racial superiority and world conquest. - [speaking German] [crowd cheering] narrator:
With the conflict engulfing Europe, mobilization in the U.S.
kicked into high gear. Civil rights leaders demanded
that President Franklin Roosevelt create equal opportunities for Blacks
in the growing war effort. - The Air Corps is something that African Americans really wanted
to participate in because to be a pilot was the epitome
of, you know, skills. You had physical, mental,
psychological skills. And, well, if you could do that,
it meant you could do anything. [crowd cheering] narrator: 1940 was an election year, and President Roosevelt was running
for an unprecedented third term. In a bid to win the Black vote, the president promised
to create Black flying units. Roosevelt handily won the election. African Americans scored
a partial victory. They won the right to fly
for their country, but only in a single, segregated unit. - The sticking point was integration, and there was no way the Army
or the military was going to acquiesce to that. It would be an experiment
that would be dangerous in wartime, and that was the excuse
that they used at the time. narrator: Civil rights leaders
sharply denounced the move, but not everyone agreed. - I really didn't care whether it was a segregated unit
or non-segregated. I wanted to fly. And I would do anything
to get the opportunity to fly. - When they said they were opening up
the Air Corps for Negroes, I made a race down to enlist. Wasn't so much my patriotism. I wasn't that crazy about America then. - You gotta understand
that different people felt different ways. I knew that the Army was segregated, I knew the whole United States of America was totally segregated, and I didn't like it, but, uh, at all times, you're still fighting for equality. narrator: On March 22nd, 1941,
under orders from the White House, the Army reluctantly activated
the nation's first Black aviation unit, the 99th Pursuit Squadron. The unit would be made up
of just 33 pilots and several hundred ground crew, a tiny fraction of the 30,000 pilots
the Army planned to train. - We were the tokens. We had, I believe, enough young Blacks with good educations that they could've made three, four fighter groups
and three or four bomber groups. They didn't want us. - Commanding general Hap Arnold
of the Army Air Forces is forced kicking and screaming
at every step along the way realizing that he has to do this
to satisfy the civilians but just resisting it because
he believes it's bad for his service. The generals refer to it
without any irony whatsoever all the way through as the "experiment," and I don't think there's any doubt that they all expected
the experiment would fail. narrator:
Thousands of young, ambitious Black men applied for the coveted spots. - In order to get into the
cadet training program, Black or white, one had to have
at least two years of college at a time when I think fewer than 1% of
African Americans had a college degree, so this really is the cream of the crop. - We had no doubt that we could do it, and the question
was give us the opportunity. narrator: As the training site
for the new squadron, the Army chose Tuskegee, Alabama. - Tuskegee's very isolated. It's in the middle
of this very racist state. The town of Tuskegee is divided. The white citizens don't want
this operation there because it'll mean more African Americans
in Tuskegee. [upbeat music] narrator: But the town was also home to a famed Black college,
the Tuskegee Institute, which was already training
civilian pilots. Now the college would train
military pilots as well. For many young recruits, the trip to Tuskegee
was their first experience with the South. - When you left states like Pennsylvania,
New York, and Michigan, and Chicago going south, when your reach Washington, D.C.,
you had to change trains, and you were given seats
in the segregated coaches. [suspenseful music] - When we crossed into Virginia, I was notified that I was in
a different country, or a different part of the country,
and things were different. - When I got to the South, I realized that all those articles I read
in the paper were true, 'cause lynchings were common. [ominous music] - Many of us did not leave the base
very often. We would travel back and forth between Tuskegee Institute
and Tuskegee Army Airfield, but we didn't just get off the bus
sort of to do anything. We just went from one point to the other for the simple reason
that it was like no-man's-land out there. [upbeat jazz music] narrator:
The hostility of the surrounding community helped forge a tight-knit world
within the training program itself. - I called it a little oasis. The campus had its own theater,
own drugstore, own recreation. Everything was contained right here. I come to meet my wife
when we were students here at Tuskegee. - He was coming up
from the athletic field, and that's when I first met him. - She finished college, and she went to work
at Tuskegee Army Airfield. - And I think he asked
if he could walk home with me, so maybe that was our first date. - And later, when I received
my commission, my wings, I felt that I could ask if she wanted if fly with me
for the rest of our life, and she said yes,
and that was 65 years ago, and we're still together. narrator:
Before the fledgling program got underway, it received an unexpected boost. - Eleanor Roosevelt is, in some respect, a patron saint of African American pilots. Franklin Roosevelt never really
made a decision that I can think of that wasn't always political. Eleanor Roosevelt--
I won't say she was his conscience, but it she felt something was right,
she would pursue it. [upbeat music] narrator: On a visit to Tuskegee,
the First Lady met Chief Anderson, the Institute's top flying instructor. "I've always heard
that Negroes can't fly," she told him. "I wonder if you'd mind taking me up." - Contact. [engine revving] - The Secret Service agents
were horrified. "We can't protect you up there." And she just ignored them.
She said, "I want to fly." narrator: Anderson and Roosevelt flew in
the Alabama skies for more than an hour. When the two landed, a photographer
at the airfield snapped a shot. The First Lady took the photo back
to the White House and pressed her husband
to support the airmen. She remained a staunch backer
from that day forward. - From all parts of the country,
these men have come to take the acid test. narrator:
For the new recruits arriving in Tuskegee, the hard work began on July 19th, 1941, as the Army inducted the first class
of 13 aspiring pilots into its ranks. More classes followed through the summer. From "Reveille" at daybreak
to "Taps" well after dark, the new cadets trained. [martial music] - First week, I just sweated. Then we found out
who the smart dudes were, and we put them in charge of teaching us. - Those of us who had a better
formal education worked with others so that they would get through,
so it wasn't a question of, "Well, we're gonna make it,
and they're gonna be held behind." It was to work together. - That was one time I was
with a colored group where everybody was for everybody else. I'd never seen colored people so united
in all my life. [bright march music] narrator: After a few short weeks
of ground school, the men began to fly. [peaceful music] - Flying itself was so much fun. In the air, there's no Black or white
or green or whatever. You're a pilot. And that helped to mute some of the racism
on the ground. Because we wanted to fly. That was it.
We wanted to fly. narrator: Soon, the men transferred
to Tuskegee Army Airfield just down the road from the Institute. - There, the instructor pilots
were all white, and they were all military officers and some were supportive,
and some were not. - The washout rate was better than 50%. The demands were very high
by the instructors. - Some people were washed out
or failed out because they were not particularly
obeisant to some of the white officers, or they were too cocky. I was pretty cocky, but I was pretty good, so therefore, I didn't really expect
to be washed out. [soft dramatic music] - It was very depressing to see one of your classmates wash out. There wasn't very much offered
for Negro students at that time, and an opportunity to fly was,
well, a great honor. We really felt it,
and when it was denied you, it hit you hard. There was one fellow, actually, went out and crashed after he was notified that he wasn't going
to make it. [birds singing] - This whole community of Tuskegee was waiting and watching. It was as if they were a part
of the family, and it was a family. [suspenseful music] [ominous music] - Pearl Harbor was really the day
that I thought, [sighs]
"Oh, what now?" [siren wailing] Life was so uncertain during those days. From that point on,
we just took it a day at a time because you really didn't know
what your future was gonna be. [waves crashing] narrator: America was now officially
at war, fighting in defense of democracy, a bitter irony for Black Americans. [soft dramatic music] - Your nation calls on you to go out
and fight and die for your country, and you can't even sit down
in a restaurant and eat a hot dog. It's not a pleasant feeling
when you look at it in the long range, and you think,
"What am I giving my life for? What am I volunteering to die for?" narrator: In response to a 1942 survey, 20% of Black Americans believed
life under Hitler would be no worse
than the racist conditions they endured at home. - African Americans have served
in every war that the American colonies
and the United States has fought, bar none. narrator:
They served the Union in the Civil War, they rode with the cavalry
in the Indian Wars, they fought in the trenches
of World War I. From the very first Black soldier
in military service, it held the promise of equal rights. - The idea was that once
they had served their country in war, put their lives on the line,
and served that way, it would be harder
to discriminate against them afterwards. narrator: But with every war's end,
no matter how valiant their service, Blacks had been denied equal rights. Civil rights leaders were determined
that World War II would be different. In early 1942, the "Pittsburgh Courier," the leading Black newspaper of the day, called for a national campaign
to fight for a double victory. - African Americans were actually fighting
a war on two fronts: the standard war
that everyone else understood, which was for victory over fascism, but the double V, the other prong, meant victory over racism
and discrimination at home in the United States. [jazz music] - And we wanted to demand
that they give us the benefits and the privileges
of first-class citizenship, and we did that because we were looking
to the future and hoping that those who came behind us wouldn't have to go through
what we went through. - It wasn't a question of, "Do I support my country
that is segregating me?" It's my country.
I helped to build this country. I was here before most
of the people were here. The fact that much of the white population
was prejudiced was not our fault. We knew it was going to change.
We knew we could help to make it change. And that's why we did it. Because it's our country and we need
to defend it as well as anybody else. narrator: But someone dead-set
against a double victory was the newly-assigned commander
of Tuskegee Army Airfield, Frederick von Kimble. - Colonel Kimble was of the old school, and he believed very firmly
in segregation. - When he became base commander, he had colored and white signs put up
around the base. [soft dramatic music] - You couldn't go in the PX together. In the lunch room, you could be separated.
You were separated. In the theater,
they even had the whites in front and the Blacks in the back. narrator: Morale on base began to sink, and word spread to the Black community
about von Kimble's repressive command. - If anybody wanted the Tuskegee
experiment to fail and was more preoccupied with making
certain that segregation was preserved then seeing these cadets succeed,
Kimble was that man. narrator: But in the midst
of the rising tensions came a moment to celebrate. On March 7th, 1942, members of the first class of cadets
defied von Kimble and the odds to receive their silver wings. [upbeat music] - It was a real proud moment in your life
when you get those wings. narrator:
Of the original 13 pilot trainees, only five made it to graduation day. - It wasn't until the first five received
their wings when my class was in the auditorium
watching the ceremony that I began to believe,
"Oh, wow. They are gonna allow some of us to pass." narrator: Friends and family
who had worked and sacrificed along with the airmen attended
the graduation as well. - They didn't even have a special place
for us to sit. We were standing way in the back
of that makeshift building. Everything was temporary at that time. George had been writing, "If I can manage somehow, we'll get married in Tuskegee." [Mendelssohn's "Wedding March"] Immediately following the ceremony, the emcee says, "Folks, wait.
Don't leave. We have a wedding to perform." So people just stood. They don't even know
who the bride and groom--[chuckles] I had no clue
that I would be married that day. No veil, no flowers. Just the clothes that I had
for the graduation. narrator: The surprising wedding lasted
just ten minutes. - And by the time we said, you know,
"Do you take this--" "Yes."
"I now pronounce you--" and George was gone. And of course people were saying,
"Oh, congratulations--where's the groom?" The graduates
had to go get in their flight suits and take off
and demonstrate their abilities of flying. And also I'm left at the altar,
so to speak. It was very romantic.
[chuckles] narrator: More graduations
and weddings would follow. Soon, enough cadets had earned their wings to bring the 99th to its full strength
of 33 pilots. With the squadron complete, the Army Air Forces tapped one
of the first graduates to command the unit,
Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin O Davis, Jr. [martial music] - When Colonel Davis says, "Stop,"
you stopped. You didn't ask why.
[chuckles] When he said, "Stay," you stayed.
You didn't ask why. - When you reported
to Lieutenant Colonel Davis, you better have your game face on, which meant you were dead serious
and ready to operate. - He was a very stern taskmaster, but he respected intelligence, he respected leadership. narrator:
Davis' father was a career military man who had risen through the ranks
of a segregated Army to become America's first Black general. Following his father into the service, Davis had enrolled at West Point in 1932. As the only African American
at the academy, he suffered relentless harassment. - Nobody spoke to him at the academy. Only on official business. He said the most dreaded days of the week
were Saturdays and Sundays, because those were open seating
in the mess. And he'd come in, get his food, go to the table
where the cadets were sitting and say,
"Cadet Davis requests permission to sit." The senior cadet would look up at him
and say, "Permission denied." And he'd have to move to the next table
and the next table, and finally he'd end up in the back
of the mess hall, eating by himself. He didn't have a roommate
those four years. narrator:
But in 1936, when Davis graduated, he was number 35 in a class of 276. When the training program at Tuskegee
was started, Davis joined the very first class. - He had a quality of character that none of us could compete with, and that was pure tenacity, willpower,
and determination. - Most of us considered Ben Davis Jr.
a minor god. narrator: In September 1942,
with Davis in command, the squadron was declared ready
for combat. The men were put on full alert. And then, the waiting began. - The problem was, no commander from Burma to England wanted
the all-Black pilot squadron. They were convinced
that no white enlisted person would take an order from a Black officer. narrator:
As the men waited to be deployed, tensions with
the surrounding white community festered. [suspenseful music] - I'd been to a party one night,
and a white officer stopped. "Where you niggers going?" And-- and I told him, "We're not niggers, we're officers
in the United States Army Air Corps." Guy ran back to my-- and he cocked his gun,
he put it to my temple, and said, "Nigger, you say one more word,
and I'll blow your goddamn brains out." That was the way they did things then
down South. - You keep finding
that the great majority of officers in the Air Corps hierarchy really would like to scuttle
this whole operation and to have it fail. But there are enlightened individuals,
white officers, at every point, that would like
for this experiment to succeed and are instrumental
in helping it to succeed. [soft dramatic music] narrator: One such individual took command
at Tuskegee in early 1943. The Army replaced Frederick von Kimble
with a young colonel from the South, Noel Parrish. - Truthfully, in some of our minds,
he was dead before he arrived. He did get us all together and tell us that he was the new commander and that he would be fair with us. And that word was very important. And I have to admit
that the man kept his word to the T. - He seemed to stand up
for the Black people and do to what he could
to make the base acceptable and livable. narrator: Parrish took down
the colored and white signs on base, socialized with the men, and lobbied
for the Tuskegee program in Washington. [upbeat music] He also invited Black celebrities
and entertainers to the base. Heavyweight champ Joe Louis was one guest, singer Lena Horne another. - Now, Lena Horne--when she came,
that was a blast. We had a dance, and she insisted
on dancing with every cadet. But she didn't do it more than two turns.
[chuckles] But that's-- and we called her our pinup. [upbeat music] narrator:
As Parrish improved conditions on base, civil rights leaders in Washington demanded that the men get
a real combat assignment. - There were debates going on
at the highest levels of the Air Corps with again, Mrs. Roosevelt and others
from outside the Air Corps pushing to make sure
that they're given meaningful assignments so that they can prove themselves. - The media kept calling
for them to send our boys overseas because we had the right to shed our blood
like everybody else. 'Cause I wasn't interested in shedding
my blood, but I mean--[chuckles] but nevertheless, that's the kind of stuff
we were getting on the media. narrator: America had been at war
for more than a year. The U.S. and its allies,
Britain and the Soviet Union, were attacking German-held positions
from all sides. [explosions and gunfire] On April 1st, 1943,
after a six-month wait, the men of the 99th got the word
and started packing. - When they get their orders to go, the whole town--not the downtown,
the Tuskegee Institute part, went out to the base,
and it was like a celebration. It was a farewell party, and the whole base took part in it. - There were parties all over the place. I was beginning to feel sorry for myself.
The other guys had wives or sweethearts. And one of my squadron members introduced
me to this young lady. She was a nurse. So I said, "Would you like spending
the rest of the evening until we leave? I'd appreciate it." [sedate big band music] And after we'd known each other
for about an hour and a half, she said, to me, "I think I could spend
the rest of my life with you." Oof.
Oh, boy. I said, "Where have you been all my life?" And about 30 minutes after that,
we got a PA notice. I said, "Well, that's it.
I gotta go now. Will you write to me?"
She says, "Yeah, I will." - We were glad that they were finally going to get an opportunity
to prove themselves, but there were as many tears
as there were smiles of joy. narrator: The men left Tuskegee
the next day, bound for North Africa. "Perhaps in combat overseas,"
Benjamin Davis wrote, "We would have more freedom and respect
than we had experienced at home." [militaristic music] - Ten months from our activation, we arrived at Casablanca, North Africa. I was assigned to the Desert Air Force. We started our combat orientation
and indoctrination. narrator: The first enemy the men
encountered wasn't the Germans. It was their new commanding officer,
Colonel William "Spike" Momyer. - Spike was a perfect name
for Momyer because had a reputation for being one of the most obnoxious
Air Force commanders ever met. narrator: Momyer did not want Blacks
in his Air Force. - We were never made a part
of the group at all. He simply treated us
as redhead stepchildren. [soft dramatic music] narrator:
The airmen's assignment under Momyer: Drive the Germans out of Pantelleria, a strategic stepping stone
to the Italian peninsula. [soft dramatic music] Sorties against
the heavily-fortified island began with ground strafing missions. - That's the worst mission
a fighter jock could have. Was strafing. - You've got--the Germans call it flak,
but anti-aircraft weapons bearing in on you as you're coming down
to make these strafing attacks, and you're going to get shot at. - You're going in on a stationary target,
but their stationary gun is out there. They're not moving. And they can just sit there
and track you across the horizon. narrator: The planes the men had to fly made the job all the more difficult. - That P-40--it had so many faults. Speed, it didn't have much of.
About 200, 250 miles an hour. And it just didn't have the power. - The P-40 was obsolete by World War II, in particular in the European theater,
the Mediterranean theater, but that's what you had,
and so someone had to fly 'em, and they invariably got hand-me-downs,
which made it even worse. narrator: But the 99th held its own. One morning, from a dusty airfield, the men climbed into the cockpits
of their P-40s and headed out over the Mediterranean. [soft suspenseful music] - All of a sudden,
I saw tracers going by my wing. And I turned and went, "Oh, my God." There was a guy right on my tail.
He was firing at me. [automatic gunfire] I knew I was in trouble.
[chuckles] After firing a few machine gun bullets
at me, then he started firing his cannon. And I could see puff, puff, puff, bang! Hit my left wing. The airplane shuddered. It didn't go down,
but I knew I'd been hit. And so--[chuckles]
I prayed. I said, "Lord help me.
I'm in trouble." And sure enough, I saw one
of the P-40s peel out of the formation. Came around behind the German behind me
and starting firing his guns. The German broke off his attack. It was a sort of a mild victory. I had survived my first baptism of fire. narrator: In just two weeks, air power alone brought Pantelleria
to its knees. Back home,
friends and family eagerly awaited news. [fanfare] - At a supporting airfield... - I was out there at the movies,
and the newsreel came on. And guess who I saw? I saw him. - The men of the 99th
have a brilliant record. - I was just--I couldn't believe it. It was the members of the 99th, and they were all walking around
like real people on the screen. And I jumped up and went out,
and I had hysterics. I just couldn't stand it.
I was so devastated. It was so real. - Veterans of 236 missions-- - Up until then,
it was just reading letters. But to see the men actually in action was just almost more than I could take. - The 99th United States Fighter Squadron
is composed entirely of Negro pilots. [jazz music] narrator: Bowing to determined,
steady pressure from civil rights leaders, the Army activated
three more fighter squadrons and in a major breakthrough,
an all-Black bomber group. - Initially, the Air Force had shied away from having African American airmen
fly bombers because it would mean
a much greater investment. As opposed to having one fighter pilot,
you would need a bomber crew. That might be eight, ten men. You'd need ground crews to work
on twin-engine planes. narrator: After training at Tuskegee, the new bomber and fighter squadrons
transferred to Selfridge Field, Michigan, just outside Detroit. These airmen faced a home front battle
they hadn't trained for. By then, several war-hardened veterans
such as Charles Dryden had returned to serve
as combat instructors. - There was as much segregation
in Selfridge as there was in Tuskegee. Difference was, in Tuskegee,
you knew what to expect. You didn't expect that
in places like Detroit, California, New York, and Chicago. But it was there. - At that particular base,
you had a magnificent officers' club, great theater, great sports area. Well, when we got to Selfridge, we were told that we're not
to use those facilities and that we were-- no matter whether we were pilots
in the Air Corps, we were still second-class citizens. - [singing] Lord, have mercy narrator: But these pilots knew that discrimination violated
official Army regulations that said all officers could use
base clubs. The regulation made no mention of race. Backed by the letter of the law,
the airmen made a bold, calculated move. - So we went to the club, tried to integrate the officers' club,
which was lily white, fully segregated. And I said that there's an Army regulation that says officers assigned to a base are obligated to support that club with their presence, their dues,
and their participation. That's the club, we're officers,
that's the regulation. Here I am. - They were really very angry. And you do see this with the men,
you know, men like Charles Dryden, who came back. Because they felt,
"I've flown 50 missions over Germany. I've fought the enemy, and I'm not gonna
take this kind of treatment." narrator: The Air Force's response? Transfer the squadrons
to bases across the South. Once there, the men found a situation
they never could have imagined. [soft dramatic music] Enemy prisoners of war had been captured
in huge numbers, some 300,000
in the North African campaign alone. Many of them were transported to
military stockades in the United States. The Black airmen ended up at some
of these same bases. - Actually, the prisoners of war were used to work around the bases, and they were also allowed to go to town,
which was unheard-of. And they can move freely around the post. They did wear a P on their back.
Prisoner. But they could go anywhere they want. - We saw German prisoners of war
who could do things that we couldn't do. They could sit anywhere
in this base there. We had to sit
in a segregated colored section. They could go in the PX cafeteria
and have a meal. We couldn't even go in the building. I became furious. [sighs] I just couldn't understand. [dramatic music] - The invasion of Sicily by Allied forces under the supreme command
of General Eisenhower was preceded
by very heavy aerial bombardment. narrator: A month
after the Allied invasion of Sicily, Spike Momyer, still indignant
about Black men serving in the air forces, send a memo up the chain of command that threatened the existence
of the Black fighter squadron. - He never wanted to have
African Americans under his command. He didn't think they could succeed, and this was the easiest way
to get rid of them. - Colonel Momyer writes this memorandum calling them cowards, calling them incapable of leadership, saying that they are not up
to the performance that his men were demonstrating in the other squadrons,
his white officers, and saying basically that he thought
the experiment was failing. This is a damning report. narrator: As the report rose
through the officer corps, ranking generals stamped their approval
and added comments of their own. "The negro type has not
the proper reflexes to make a first-class fighter pilot." "They lack aggressiveness"
and "the will to win." "Time" Magazine got wind of the report
and publicized the criticism in an article titled, "Experiment Proved?" - And so Davis suddenly finds himself
called to Washington to defend the performance
of the 99th Squadron against Momyer's accusations. narrator: In a masterful press conference,
Davis challenged the allegations head-on. - "The pilots of my squadron were eager
to meet the German "and really fight it out. One of my pilots was shot down by flak
in the Mediterranean and forced to sit"-- - He does point out that his men
are actually flying more missions than their white counterparts
because there are fewer of them, that they have performed
the missions adequately, they have shot down German fighters even in these inadequate P-40s. - We provided air support
for ground troops by dive-bombing. We strafed strongpoints,
holding up their advance. - And then he says,
"My P-40 squadron "is performing equal to or better than any other P-40 squadron
in the Mediterranean," and that becomes the key. narrator: The War Department took the bait and called for an investigation into the combat performance
of the Black squadron. Hard statistics, not prejudice,
would determine the fate of the unit. Far from the mounting drama in Washington,
the 99th was focused on fighting Nazis. The Germans had retreated to the mountains
of central Italy, gaining a significant defensive advantage. [dramatic drum music] The Allies came up with a new plan: re-invade just below Rome
at the coastal city of Anzio and cut across the peninsula,
strangling enemy troops to the south. - The 99th, luckily, was given the mission of protecting this invasion fleet there
at Anzio, and the 99th came eyeball-to-eyeball in air-to-air combat
with the German Luftwaffe. narrator: The 99th pushed themselves
and their outdated P-40s to the limit. [gunfire and engines roaring] After two days of ferocious dogfights, newspapers back home cheered
their astounding victories. [emotional string music] - It proved that if you take any group
and you give them training and an opportunity to exercise
that training, they will do extraordinary things. [dramatic music] narrator: The Anzio invasion began
to restore the 99th's reputation. "Time" magazine changed its tune
and trumpeted the squadron's success, saying, "Its victory stamped
the final seal of combat excellence on one of the most controversial outfits
in the Army." Final vindication came
from the War Department itself. At the end of March,
the Pentagon released its report on the performance
of the all-Black squadron. It concluded there was
"no significant difference" in combat efficiency between the 99th and other, all-white aerial units. - By the grace of God, this congressional
committee that had been appointed said leave the 99th be. - We were overjoyed when they said that they would remain in combat, even though there were those of us
who wanted them to come home. narrator: The 99th had won the chance
to prove its worth. By spring of 1944, the three additional Black
fighter squadrons had arrived in Italy. They joined forces with the 99th
to become the 332nd Fighter Group and relocated to Ramitelli
on the Adriatic coast of Italy. [jazz music] Ramitelli, like Tuskegee,
became a world of its own. - At Ramitelli, we lived in tents. Just one after another
in what we called tent row. We had a mess hall, and we had a place
where we'd just hang out. It was a community. - We were segregated. We had segregated bases,
we didn't visit the white officers' bases, and so I never saw too many, you know, had any contact
with many white officers or anything. - Now in terms of the Italian population, we were on an old farm, and there
were people around who were farmers. And then there was some children around, and we would usually adopt one or two kids to come in and bring us some eggs
and do our laundry. And I have to say that there
was no prejudice in that sense. The only prejudice may have occurred where white soldiers said that Blacks
had tails or something like that, but the Italian people, we're Americans. [crowd cheering] narrator: By early summer,
the Allies had liberated Rome. [dramatic music] In the north, they landed on the beaches
of Normandy in the D-Day invasion. The tides of war had turned. [dramatic music] Allied long-range bombers were flying
into enemy territory in full force. - The bombers are trying
to just bomb the Germans into submission to make it impossible to continue
to wage the war by destroying their industrial might. narrator: B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers
lumbered through the skies, raining destruction
on strategic sites below. But their size and slow speed made them
easy targets for enemy guns. - And every time an enemy fighter
shoots down a bomber, it shoots down 10, 11, 12 men. [somber music] narrator: In February 1944 alone, the Allies had lost 114 bombers
and more than 1,000 crewmen. Allied fighters were supposed
to accompany the giant warplanes to protect them from German attack, but some fighter pilots
were more interested in racking up kills than babysitting bombers. - Now a lot of guys,
they would jump Germans and chase 'em and then shot 'em down. Well, if you're moving between 330
and 430 miles an hour, five minutes of flying puts you, what,
20 to 30 miles away, right? You're away from the bombers.
You're not providing the protection. narrator: General Ira Eaker, Allied air force commander
in the Mediterranean, had a plan. He asked Benjamin Davis if his men
were ready to escort long-range bombers into the German heartland, an assignment vitally important
to the war. Davis jumped at the chance. [fanfare] - Increasingly heavy blows
in the Allied cause are now being struck by the various American air forces
in all theaters of war. narrator:
As the pilots took off from Ramitelli, they knew the stakes were high. - Once we were there,
we knew what we had to do. Given the circumstances
in which we came into the war, if we had lost bombers, we would probably
be pulled out of the sky. narrator: Davis instructed his men
in no uncertain terms. - His role was that he didn't care
if anyone ever became an ace, but that if you left the bombers so that they could be hacked up
by enemy fighters, that you'd to answer to him. - Basically we would--
the bombers would be here. We'd be above the bombers. And we would be weaving in groups
of four planes across the bombers to provide sort of a net against
the German planes coming down. [soft suspenseful music] - I guess I was like all the rest
of these characters. I wanted to be an ace. I wanted to shoot down some Germans so when I got home,
I could tell my girlfriend that yeah, I was an ace. We'd sit there over those bombers
at 25,000 or 30,000 feet, and somebody would say, "Bogeys at nine o'clock." You look out at nine o'clock. 15, 20, 30 miles away,
you see little black specks. You knew they were German fighters. Normally, some fighter groups would say,
"Tally-ho!" but not with Colonel Davis. narrator:
Along with the new high-profile assignment came a spectacular new airplane... [dramatic music] The most advanced tactical fighter
in the war: the P-51 Mustang. - Oh, I think it felt like going
from a Model A Ford to a jet. It was a real transition, a real fine one. - My checkout in a P-51?
That was half scary and half joyous. Once I got the bird in the air, hey,
I was in hog heaven, you know? 'Cause it was a nice-flying bird. - Flight speeds of 440 miles an hour, excellent high-altitude performance. It's the ideal plane. Even a hand-me-down P-51 is a better plane than anything you have ever had. You've got the plane to match up now
and go the distance. narrator: All fighter groups
had distinct markings on their planes. Candy stripes for one unit,
a checkerboard tail for another. The Black airmen would be no different. - We started our escort missions, and I'd say after about 50 or so, we said, "Well, we'd better get
a real name and identification" so that we would be sure the bombers and the Germans would know
when we were on a mission. And it was decided jointly that we
would paint the tails of all those 51s, 72 of 'em, red. And we changed our call sign to Red Tail, and we became known as the Red Tails. [soft dramatic music] narrator: Through the fall of 1944, the Red Tails escorted bombers day in
and day out as they hammered away at the enemy. The bomber groups were stationed
at their own bases across Italy and would take off in advance
of their fighter escorts. - We usually took off exactly at 7:00
in the morning. And the colonel would pull out
on the runway, and we'd pull out behind the plane
that we were to fly next to. And about 30 seconds before 7:00,
you could see his engines revving up, and down the runway he'd go. And then we had to follow
in 30-second intervals. [dramatic music] - We could hear the bombers going over. They'd be going over while we were
still down there on the ground, getting together. We could see the formations. [dramatic music] - We would take off, one group going one way,
one group going the other way at different times, of course, making a big circle,
and eventually we find 16 planes here, 16 planes here, 16 planes here,
headed out to meet the bombers. A beautiful, beautiful thing. Really a logistical miracle, in a sense, that we could make this big circle and come around with all of our groups
ready to go out in combat. [dramatic music] - As soon as we'd cross the Alps, the anti-aircraft stuff was popping
in the air. I said, "What am I doing here?"
[chuckles] "I want to go home."
[chuckles] narrator: As the bombers pushed deeper
into enemy territory, the escort missions
became increasingly dangerous. - We were nervous. If any fighter jockey says
he wasn't nervous, he's lying to you. I thought I was bulletproof.
Changed in a hurry. Fear beats the hell out of you
from time to time. - I remember many a mission
that we've come up and on it, all of those targets were heavily guarded. They had all kinds of flak guns
down there, and we could see all this flak coming up,
you know? - They'd fire from the ground,
and when the shell explodes, it throws all these pieces out. It's what tore our planes apart. A B-17 formation was never turned back
in the history of World War II. Once they're on a bomb run,
no matter how many fighters, no matter how much flak, we were trained and trained well
for one reason, and that was to fly that airplane
straight and level on a bomb run and drop our bombs. [engines droning] [solemn music] - And there were quite a few missions
that we escorted crippled planes back. We'd stay with them till they got out
of enemy territory where enemy aircraft had attacked them. And so if they--
at least they wouldn't get shot down. We'd stay with them as long as we could. - One time, I came home with two engines
gone and two of 'em leaking oil, and it was a dangerous business. There's no question about it. - We were always short of pilots. A tour of duty for a white fighter pilot
was 50 missions. A tour of duty for the Black pilot wound up being as many as 70 missions, 40% more
than our white counterparts had to fly. And the Black pilots were flying
four, five, six days straight before we could get a day off. - So Davis or one of the other ones, said,
"You know, if you leave, we're in trouble. We're short.
Will you stay?" And we'd always say yes. And so the missions went on,
and on, and on. - All of these guys were
playing Russian roulette. The life expectancy of a fighter pilot was probably 15 to 20 missions.
[chuckles] - Keep in mind that we're talking
about guys who are 19, like myself. The old dudes were 23, you know? They're just past teenage
and just gotten there. And to accept and live with these losses was something we had to grow into. - I used to call it the lonely night. You come back home.
You've flown with a guy all day. And I saw two of them get killed. And there's an empty bed over there. And you don't rest well that night, but then you get up the next day,
and they say, "Okay, you're on a mission." You do it. [somber music] - I don't really recall us having
any special ceremonies or anything, but you had to keep going. You'd call, you'd come in the next morning
at 5:00 maybe. They call your name saying
you're on that mission, so you get up, and you go out and you fly, and you don't
have time to think about it too much. narrator: But those back home
could think of little else as they awaited word
from their loved ones. - As I tell young people,
no cell phones, no computers, in some areas, no phones. For guys who came out of rural areas,
not even a telephone, you know? So you waited for the snail mail.
[chuckles] And that was slow as all get out,
because it was wartime, you know? So you just waited. - And when I'd get a letter from him, many times I'd be at work
and my mother would be at home. I lived at home while he was gone. And my mother would call and say,
"You've got a letter." That was--we were all excited.
Couldn't wait to open it. I couldn't wait till I got home.
And I'd say, "Read it to me, Mama." So she would open the letter, and I could feel her blushing
over the phone. Some of it was quite graphic, I think. And he was so upset when he found out I was letting her read his letters for me. But I couldn't wait till I got home
to read 'em. narrator: The Red Tails began
to develop a first-rate reputation among the bomber groups. Some fighter pilots named their planes
after wives and girlfriends. Colonel Davis named his "By Request" because white bomber crews requested
the Red Tails so often. - The fact is, they wanted the Red Tails. They felt comfortable because
they could see the Red Tails above 'em, whereas in some of the other
fighter groups, they would leave them. And that is because of the discipline
that Ben Davis instilled in us that your job is to escort the bombers. Stay with them. - We couldn't do anything about the flak, we couldn't do anything
about impossible weather, but when they got their 51s and were told
to stay with the bombers regardless. Good chance I wouldn't be here today if it hadn't been
for that fighter protection. narrator: On September 10th, 1944, a year after the War Department had almost
pulled the Black airmen from combat, top brass from the Army Air Forces
visited Ramitelli to personally decorate four
of the group's pilots. [soft dramatic music] In spite of the honors
and the escort requests, many white bombers had no idea
the Red Tail pilots were Black. - They didn't know Ramitelli existed.
It wasn't on their maps. In a couple of cases,
they had to make emergency landings there, saw the Red Tails, said,
"Oh, great, we're at the Red Tails base. We've got it made now." And only after they saw the African Americans running around,
maintaining the planes, getting the planes ready
for their missions, those sorts of things, that they even realized there were
Black people doing this in the Air Force. narrator: In December, one American
bomber group force-landed at Ramitelli. [solemn music] - There were a couple who were
from the South who were really prejudiced, and they said, "We're not going
to sleep with any niggers." So they went to go sleep in their plane. And it was cold, and it was aluminum,
and it gets even colder. So finally about 2:00 in the morning,
these guys knocked on the door. Said, "Can we come in?" And they stayed with us
for about three or four days, and we had some good conversations,
but after they left, one of our officers
who was censoring the mail came across this letter written
to one of the officer's wives. Said, "I've spent the last three days "eating nigger food,
sleeping with niggers, and I am sorry,
and I hope you will take me back." That gave us some indication of how deep the racism was among some, but I have to say, in fairness, the majority of those who were there did interact with us as individuals,
as human beings. narrator: By the start of 1945, the Allies had beaten back
a daring Nazi offensive at the Battle of the Bulge. Now they prepared to deliver
the final, crushing blows. Army command assigned the Red Tails
to their longest mission yet. They would cover the first leg
of a bomber raid on the Daimler-Benz tank factory
just outside Berlin. - Normally, our missions
would be 1,000 miles round trip. This was gonna be 1,500 miles round trip. So when the P-51s would take off
on these combat missions, they would have wing tanks. They have supplemental tanks
so that you have more gasoline in order to accomplish
those longer missions. And when you got into combat,
you would drop those wing tanks so that you can have
more maneuverability with planes. narrator: The Red Tails' ground crew
worked 'round the clock to attach the needed tanks to the P-51s. [dramatic music] Mission day arrived March 24, 1945. As always,
Davis issued stern orders to his men. - General Davis told them.
Said, "Look, "we're going on this mission, and don't
you ever leave one of these bombers. "If I catch you leaving a bomber,"
he said, "Don't land on this base. You land somewhere else." - It was an especially dangerous mission because of all the flak,
the anti-aircraft defenses around Berlin, but also the Luftwaffe,
the German air force, would be there protecting Berlin. [uneasy music] narrator: At the halfway point,
the unexpected happened. - The group that was supposed
to relieve us as they went over the target got lost
and failed to show up. narrator: With strict orders
to stay with the bombers, the airmen set their sights for Berlin, knowing their fuel supplies
could run dangerously low. As the Red Tails and the bombers
neared the target, they suddenly encountered the enemy. - Out of the side of my eye,
what we call nine o'clock, I saw these streaks coming. Now, these streaks were the German jets. [jet engine roars] [dramatic music] The planes were Messerschmitt 262s,
the world's first jet fighters. - Me 262 has a speed
that is actually 100 miles in excess of what a Mustang can achieve. The jet is working against you
with four 30-millimeter cannon, and those are big shells. If one of them hits you in the wrong spot,
your plane is going to disintegrate. [dramatic music] - I knew what they were.
They were coming in to attack the bombers. I said, "Drop your tanks.
Follow me." narrator: The Red Tail pilots had
just one advantage over the Nazi jets: maneuverability. - Instead of going this way, I went down. Turned the plane upside-down,
went down under the bombers and then made a hard right turn,
and I caught one of the jets just as he was coming in
to shoot down the B-17. I hit him broad stream.
Boom, he blew up. Bailed out. narrator: The Red Tails down two more
of Hitler's ferocious jets. [dramatic music] The bombers hammer the target. - I looked at my fuel gauge,
and it was below half 'cause I'd used a lot of fuel
in the combat, so I really didn't have enough fuel
to get back to Ramitelli. So the alternate site was near Venice,
called Remini. I said, "I'm coming in." I called it, I came in, I landed, and when I pulled it in, the engine
clunked out because I had run out of gas. narrator:
The Berlin mission earned the Red Tails a Distinguished Unit Citation
for outstanding performance of duty. - The citation recognized not only
our work in combat, but our work in the ground crew in getting those tanks
and getting the planes ready to go. [somber music] narrator: Back in the U.S.,
the home front battles were heating up. The all-Black bomber group,
the 477th, would lead the fight. The Army,
reacting to escalating racial tension, had shuttled them
from base to base for months. In March 1945,
they landed at Freeman Field, Indiana, where General Frank Hunter and Colonel
Robert Selway were in command. - Hunter and Selway--
there's no--way to put it. They were racists,
they were white supremacists, they resented having
to have African Americans around them and did their best to get them out
of the Air Force. narrator: Selway did everything he could
to enforce segregation and circumvent Army regulations that stated that all officers
could use base clubs. - He designated the officers' club
on the base as for instructors only, and he created a second officers' club
for trainees only. And he also classified every white person
on the base as an instructor and every Black person on the base
as a trainee. It's a very transparent effort
to segregate the officers' club. narrator: The men of the 477th refused
to use the trainee club. - We wouldn't go there,
we wouldn't eat there, we wouldn't do anything. You couldn't go the PXs,
you couldn't go to the show. - We just knew that it was something
that we couldn't stomach any longer. It was the final act. - So we decided that we would look for a time, and that we would go,
and we'd make a test of it. [suspenseful music] narrator: In a carefully-orchestrated act
of civil disobedience, the Black airmen set out
to integrate the white officers' club. - So we had 'em all dress
in first-class uniforms, and we sent them, three at a time,
to the officers' club. - I was maybe the second or third group
of threes, and we sat at the bar, tried to order a drink, but the bartender
says, "I can't serve you." And we said, "Why not?" "We're ordered not to serve you."
That's enough in the Army. When somebody orders you, you have
to comply unless it's very unreasonable. And so we left. Other groups of three came along,
and the very same thing happened to them. - So we went down there,
and they had this officer outside. He said, "You can't go in." Said, "You gotta be a member
of the field." I said, "Well, I'm a member of the field." Said, uh, well, said, "In truth,
there's no niggers can come here." And oh, that made me mad. narrator: Barred from entering
and fed up by the treatment, Roger Terry and two other officers
pushed their way into the club. Desperate to regain control,
Selway, with Hunter's backing, drafted a new base order designed to reinforce segregation
at Freeman Field. Selway then ordered the airmen
to sign the document saying they fully understood
and tacitly approved the policies. - And that was the last straw. Because in other words,
you resent the hell out of this. You're being treated as an inferior, and they want you to okay it? It's like ramming it down your throat. [martial music] - We were determined
that we would not cooperate in any such arrangement. - 101 men said, "We're not signing that.
That's all there is to it. You can do anything you want." - When we disobeyed those orders,
of course, it was a disobedience of a direct order, which was punishable up to and including
death under the Articles of War. [martial music] It didn't enter our minds about, you know,
what the consequences might be. narrator: The 101 men were arrested. Three were also accused of using force
when they entered the club. - It dawned on me, you know, hell, I took on the Army. And I took it on at my own risk. And I'd do it again. - It's a tremendous public relations
nightmare for the War Department. It's obvious that Selway has been trying
to get around War Department regulations that prohibit racial segregation in recreational facilities on Army bases, and the Black press is pushing this, Mrs. Roosevelt
is all over the War Department, the NAACP is asking for updates
almost every day on what's happened to these officers. - So what do we got?
We had a standoff. narrator: But events on the national stage suddenly overshadowed the mounting crisis
at Freeman Field. [solemn music] As the nation mourned
President Roosevelt's death, the Army quietly moved
the Freeman Field protesters from the base. - On a very bad day, they had some transport planes come in, and they put 101 of us--
I was not one of those 101-- on these planes that took them
to Godman Field, Kentucky, which was on Fort Knox,
and put them in a stockade. In other words,
there were a group of barracks that were surrounded by barbed wire fences
that were at least 14 feet high, and they were imprisoned. [soft dramatic music] - An area was cordoned off, and floodlights were put up
all around there with armed guards. And of course,
we could, even from our quarters, see the German soldiers, prisoners of war, had much more freedom than we did. - They wanted to court-martial
all 101 of them for disobeying orders, but the problem is, the orders violated
the basic Army's code of conduct where, yeah, if you were an officer,
you went to the officers' club. It didn't say anything
about Black and white. They hadn't put that in the code. narrator: Days later,
aware of the explosive situation, Army Chief of Staff
General George Marshall intervened. He ordered that all except
the three accused of jostling be released, but it was not without penalty. - We were given reprimands,
which is made a part of our records in lieu of court-martial. And that's just about the second
punishment to court-martialing. narrator:
For the three still under arrest, a court martial trial was held. - If there was any fairness about it,
there wouldn't have been a trial. narrator: Two of the three were acquitted. Roger Terry was convicted. - Terry was put out of the service, and it turns out that his charges
in the service were synonymous to felony charges
in civilian life, which meant that he couldn't vote, he couldn't do things that felony people were prohibited
from doing, also. - You'd be surprised what it does
to your mind. You, uh, you become morose. You're quick to take offense. It took a long time before I got around
to, uh, being congenial. narrator: The all-Black bomber group would
never get to fight the enemy overseas. On May 8th, 1945, three weeks
after the Freeman Field mutiny, Germany surrendered,
bringing the war in Europe to an end. [upbeat music] All told,
America's first Black fighter pilots had flown more than 1,500 missions, shooting down a total
of 112 enemy aircraft. [solemn music] Of the 450 Black pilots that served, 66 had been killed in the line of duty. [solemn music] Over the summer,
their fellow airmen began returning home. [ship's horn blasting] - Coming into New York Harbor with the flags waving
and everybody exhilarating, Statue of Liberty. ["When Johnny Comes Marching Home"] - Down the gangplank we go. There's a soldier that has a sign, "White troops this way,
colored troops this way." [trumpet playing solemnly] - Back home, back to reality. Segregation, discrimination, and everything else
that went along with it. - And over with the white troops there was a whole bunch of press
and bands and so on. Over with the colored troops,
the Black troops, there was one reporter and a small band. And I said to myself,
"Welcome back to the good old USA." narrator:
The double victory had yet to be won. But the war and the men who served
and sacrificed had laid the groundwork for change. - The civil rights groups, the Black press
and the NAACP and the others, come out of the war pushing
for full inclusion, full desegregation of the armed forces. [jazz music] - And there are
enough white servicemen-- and I think this is something
people will often underestimate-- there are a number of white servicemen
who come out of that war having fought alongside of Black soldiers who thought, "These guys have fought.
They fought well. This doesn't make any sense." - There is no justifiable reason for discrimination because of ancestry or religion or race or color. narrator: In July 1948,
three years after the war's end, President Truman issued
Executive Order 9981, officially banning segregation
in the United States military. Within a year,
the Red Tails were inactivated, the men reassigned
to other, racially integrated, units. - It was a joyful day in one sense, and on the other sense, it was a sad day because we had been together as a unit
since 1942. Suddenly you realize we're going
to be divided and go to the four corners
of the Air Force. And it's going to be different,
it's going to be harsh. [melancholy music] - I moved forward with the attitude that this is going to be progress, and over the years, it proved just that. narrator: The U.S. Air Force, which had become a separate branch
of the military in 1947, was one of the first national institutions
to integrate. Benjamin Davis rose through the ranks
to become its first Black general. - The military set the pace, I would say, because civilian segregation was rampant. And the idea that the military integrated and I think that the civilian population began after that to integrate more so
than it had in the past. - In many respects, the civil rights movement grows really
right out of World War II and the World War II experience. [soft dramatic music] narrator: In 1995,
50 years after the close of World War II, the Air Force cleared the service records
of Roger Terry and others who took a stand
at Freeman Field. [cheers and applause] - Government pardon and all my rights and privileges
were reinstated. And I got excited. It was one of the great moments
of my life. It was a good feeling to be vindicated, because that showed
that we're a country of laws and that sooner or later,
you can be vindicated if you're right. - It was a time in history
that we should be very proud of. It's a time in history where we helped
to change the world. And I think we set the star very,
very, high for anybody who's following us. - I have observed,
looking at the history of nations going all the way back to Egypt,
to Greece and Rome, Italy, France, Germany, Britain, Japan, China, I have never seen or read about a country whose people have shown an ability to change like we do. [solemn music] - I, Barack Hussein Obama,
do solemnly swear... - We helped Black people raise their heads and say, "I can do it. I can go anywhere I want to go." And I remember a fallen friend of mine
saying, "America's not perfect, but I'll hold her hand
until she gets well."
