WEBVTT - Airmen Flew High 0:00:02.480 --> 0:00:05.440 What are we fighting for? The best soldiers in the 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:07.840 world are the ones who know what they're fighting for 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:10.719 and to make our soldiers the best and farmed in 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:13.600 the world, the water Fartment has been presenting talks by 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:16.720 a well known person experts in that various fields of 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:22.000 knowledge before our troops and army into stuck. During an 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:26.639 overnight train layover in Rootwi Gi Hospital, Corporal Rupert Trimmingham 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:29.160 awoke hungary and so went out with a few other 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:33.720 soldiers for a bite at the station cafe. The corporal 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:36.440 was told they would only be served if they ate 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:41.080 in the kitchen. They were in Louisiana and these American 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:47.440 soldiers were black. They had black failers underloading ammunition and 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:50.880 loading ammunition and it blew well and killed over a 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:54.160 hundred of them. The black they were just given almost 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:58.200 many of jobs. I get in sense before we get 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:01.480 to camp, show me we see white person walk and 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:04.280 a black person was walking there. The black person and 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:10.280 jump off the curb were Dumfountain. Welcome to Service, Stories 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:13.360 of Hunger and War, a production from I Heart Radio 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:19.000 and Me your host Jacquelin Reposo. So what are we 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:21.760 fighting for? Call to serve in World War two for 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:26.280 those with specific racial and ethnic identities contained huge levels 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:29.880 of hypocrisy. We should be rightly appalled by the Nazi 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:33.039 concentration camps, but as well here in detail in our 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:37.040 episode with laws in Ichirosakai, Japanese American citizens were being 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:41.640 interred here and Jim Crow's segregation laws didn't evaporate when 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:45.360 African Americans entered the armed forces. For most of the war, 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:49.600 troops were entirely segregated, with most black units led by 0:01:49.640 --> 0:01:54.760 white officers and many barriers delaying their advancement, but victory 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.280 was still the word during this time. We heard Frank 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:03.240 DaVita referred to victory al in his episode in East Jackson, Mississippi. 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.480 The Food for Victory Association set up a fair in 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:10.639 August of to educate civilians about how, as the local 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:14.040 Jackson Advocate newspaper put it, without the proper food, we 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:18.000 cannot win the war. And a few months later, a 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.240 letter from a reader published in another African American newspaper, 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:26.120 the Pittsburgh Courier, inspired citizens to fight a double V campaign, 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:30.240 a promise to actively support war efforts and encourage not 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:35.440 only victory over fascism abroad, but also victory over racism 0:02:35.480 --> 0:02:39.000 at home, those servant were to push and prevail, and 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:42.240 those state side were to keep pressure on politicians and 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:47.160 to keep publishing. George Hardy, a retired lieutenant colonel who 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:50.280 started his career as one of the prestigious Duskegee Airmen 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:54.080 the All African American Fighter Pilot Group, leads us into 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:57.960 this double V world today. Of the one million African 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:01.280 American men who served during World War To, George is 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:05.720 somewhat of an outlier as well. Hear most African American 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:09.040 troops were put into support positions like supply and those 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:13.680 requiring manual labor, but George was a combat pilot. He 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:16.000 doesn't mince words when it comes to some of the 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:19.080 hardships he faced in his pursuit of higher rank. But 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:23.280 like many of his greatest generation, he does brush off 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:27.240 some of this history too, and you'll hear heavy silences 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:31.320 as he reflects. And so. Now, from his quiet home 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:35.520 aside a pond in Sarasota, Florida, let's slow and sit 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:45.760 and spend some time with George Hardy. My name is 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:50.080 George Hardy, and I'm a retired lieutenant colonel, United States 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:53.280 Air Force. However, in World War Two. I was in 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:55.760 the Army because it wasn't a separate air force at 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:59.040 that time, part of the United States Army Air Corps 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:03.480 and then United States Army Air Forces. I was born 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:06.920 in n phil If he was divided in many areas, 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:11.360 you had areas of Africa Americans live, Italians live, Irish 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:15.200 and whatnot. And growing up on Red Street in South Philly, 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:18.720 I went to all the George Smith Elementary School. Now 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:23.120 that school wasn't all Africa American school teachers principles everybody 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:25.159 who goes right on the edge of a black area. 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:29.440 Then I went to Junior High school predominantly white, mainly Italians. 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:32.480 Then I went to Celphodofia High School to ins and 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:35.440 eighty one of my graduating class, only four were Africa American. 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:39.120 So you see how the race was divided into the city. 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:41.960 There was racial tension, but I didn't feel it too much. 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.200 I made several friends down there. One of my best 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:47.560 friends was a Jewish kid, and then a couple of 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.480 Italian kids, but the only contact A with them was 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.880 at school. Two separate lives, two separate friends. Those friends 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:56.400 at school and then those friends at home. And that's 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.599 the way life was, but you get used to that 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:04.320 after a while. There were seven of us in my family. 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:06.960 I was next to the oldest. My older brother was 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:11.800 born three. My mother always always at home. She did 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:14.520 the cooking, she did the ironing, she did everything. My 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:16.479 father he had worked and he had come home, and 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.960 my father was a disablinaria. But my mother wasn't. What 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.839 she would do most is wait until your father comes home. 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.000 We got along very well, and I love my father. 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:28.960 I used to tink it with everything around the house, 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:31.600 and I would take things apart. And I remember I 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.279 got to the nice clock off the mantelpiece and got 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:37.719 it behind a chair, and my mother caught me. Oh, George, 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.080 come here, well, I'll put it back together. No, no, no, 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.200 leave it alone, and wait till your father gets home. 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:44.880 And I sweated the rest of the day because he 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:49.000 got home. Eddie, come on and show you what George did. 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:51.640 He looked at me and he shook his head and 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:53.880 he said, you know, Alma, I think he's going to 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:56.880 be an engineer. And he picked up the pieces and 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.200 took him to the table, sat down, and while they 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:01.560 put them together that he was talking to me, who 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.400 was such wonderful sitting with him. We were just good friends, 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:06.640 and at that moment I decided I wanted to be 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:09.040 an engineer. But when you talk to kids, you've got 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:10.960 to be careful what you say and how you say, 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:13.840 because it may affect them. One little moment can make 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.240 the difference in the child's life. They'll tell him which 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:18.839 will be the important point, And that changed my life. 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:25.080 Rather I did anctually get to graduate engineering degrees. Who 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:28.000 my father was from Philadelphia. My father now and then 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:31.039 would fix a special dish that I love, kidney Stu 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:34.279 beef kidneys. When he fixed that, I love to eat 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:38.520 a delicious My mother's from the Bahamas. She's English, from 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:42.240 Spanish and some Indian. But she drank tea, so in 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.080 our house we didn't have coffee with at tea. When 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:47.239 I went in the service. For years, I never drank 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:49.760 coffee before I went on a mission. I just drink 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.159 a glass of water or glass of milk and fly 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:58.679 my mission. My brother and two of his friends joined 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:02.520 the Navy. My father was upset because of Afro American background. 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.800 The Navy own accept them as mess attendants and they 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:10.080 made my brother cook on a small destroyer. I remember 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:13.640 December seventh, Sunday, I was upstairs doing my homework and 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:16.680 I had the radio one to the Eagles football game. 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:19.280 Didn't want my mother to hear it. They interrupted to 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:27.840 mention that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. I didn't tell 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:29.560 any boy about it because I won't ful be listening 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:31.960 to radio in the first place. So my brother been 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:33.520 three in the air few years out over the North 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:36.680 Atlantic in that tin can. A lot of my classmates, 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:39.240 some of them over eight team, so they joined the service. 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:43.200 Remember Pearl Harbor, Remember Pearl Harbor. I couldn't join because 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:45.679 still too young to go into service, but I wanted 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:48.240 to beggest my brother. I got that slip the parents 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:50.480 signed for you, the Navy would take you at seventeen. 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:52.480 Talked to my father. He shook his head and said, no, 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:54.440 I'm not going to sign it, but let's talk about it. 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:56.840 And we talked about it. That is he did to talking. 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:59.480 All I wanted was being engineer. Took science courses, I 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:02.480 made it in math, and now to go around preparing food. 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:05.440 They said, that's real come down, And by time he finished, 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:07.720 I had no desire to go into the Navy as 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:11.280 Miss Attendant. I realized he made sense. I love listening 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:16.440 to him. This country, it all came down from slavery. 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.600 After the Civil War, the South, when they got their 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:23.040 rights back, put in play segregation laws and a lot 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:25.040 of those people in the South were in the military, 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.120 and so the military was segregated. And that's the way 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:30.840 the country was at that time. You travel through the 0:08:30.880 --> 0:08:34.000 South Afri American, you couldn't stay at hotels with whites 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:37.760 or eating any restaurants that separate entrances for Afro Americans 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.200 and movie theaters. But it all boiled by the fact 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:43.000 that the slavery was the basis of it, slaves, and 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:45.040 then now people in the South didn't want to mix 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:47.280 with them. That's the way the country was at that time. 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:50.679 No matter what it is, it still our country. We 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:53.280 were not Hitler over here or Jesus. Thing would be 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:56.560 even worse. The Japanese, the way they treated the Chinese, 0:08:56.600 --> 0:08:59.080 it was awful. You know that they came here. They 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:01.400 would be after you too because you're different. And so 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:03.200 the thing is you wanted to fight for what you 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:05.320 know rather than what you don't know. You're ready to 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:08.240 fight for your country through all wars we had Afro 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:11.000 Americans fighting for this country just the way life is. 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:20.800 I guess President Roosevelt talking to the military about Afro 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.520 American pilots, nay share what we can't have are for 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:27.760 American pilots because the services segregated and all the flying 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:30.200 squadrons of white President of why can't we have a 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:33.280 black flying squadron. So they prepared for a black flying 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:37.640 squadron ninety nine and they've selected Tuskegee because TuS Key 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:41.120 had been involved in the civilian pilot training program to 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.800 prepare pilots because of what was happening in Europe and 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.679 someone decided to do this. They felt that Tuskey had 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:49.720 the best program and good flying weather. And Tuskey you 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:53.440 had to hire civilian instructors, black instructors to train them 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:56.000 to fly. And now I wanted to fly an airplane. 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.800 The Battle of Britain, the fighter planes save Britain, and 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:00.880 Germany is going to invade Britain, but they're going to 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.680 soften it up with the Luffwaffe. The English were first 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:05.760 people who use radar. They were able to keep their 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:08.600 fighter planes on the ground until the German planes got 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:10.800 close enough than the fighter planes took off and they 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:14.160 had full fuel tanks. Germans flying from France. They have 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:16.920 to go back before too long. The fighter pilots beat 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:19.400 them back, and so the Battle of Britain was wanted 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:22.360 the fighters. In June forty two, the Japanese is going 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:24.520 to take the island of Midway and came with these 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:27.520 four carriers. We ended up sinking all four of those carriers. 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:32.080 So the air, hey, that's that's great center. As Churchill said, 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:35.640 never in the field of human country for so much 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.880 owed by so many to show too. And so I 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:50.360 decided in forty three I wanted to fly watching forty 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.280 three the Army and the Navy said, if you are 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:57.280 seventeen and a high school graduate, you can take the example. 0:10:57.360 --> 0:10:59.760 He averred that, and what did I do? I'm still 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:03.560 think Navy past exam and they realized who I was 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:06.559 from my birth certificate, and they failed me on my 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:09.880 physical because some problem with my wisdom teeth. I went 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.200 to the dynasty. He said, there's nothing wrong to your teeth. 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:14.360 He said, they just don't want you. Then said, well, 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:16.320 I'll go to the Army. They sent me home until 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:20.800 I turned eighteen to report of July active duty orders 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:24.080 to go to Keyston Army Airfield and Bloxy, Mississippi, for 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.320 basic training. They put us on the train, three of 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:35.000 us from Philadelphia. We're all going to Tuskegee after the break. 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:37.760 And then the captain turned to the driver and said, 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:59.880 where can he eat, pointing to me. Stay with us. MHM. 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:05.560 Welcome back to service stories of hunger and war from 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:09.400 my Heart Radio. I'm Jacqueline Roposo and we're here with 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:12.600 retired Lieutenant Colonel George Hardy. He's on a train leaving 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.600 Philadelphia and route to becoming a fighter pilot in the U. S. 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:20.120 Army Air Corps. There's actually more to Corporal Trimmingham's train 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:24.520 station story. Back at that cafe, two dozen guarded German 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:29.720 POWs then sat in the dining room, eating, talking, smoking, 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.640 having what appeared to be a swell time. What is 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:37.000 the Negro soldier fighting for? He then questioned, in a 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:41.559 letter to Yank Military Magazine. Are we not American soldiers 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:45.079 sworn to fight and die if need be for this 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:49.080 our country? Then why are they treated better than we are? 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:52.400 Rather than the specifics of what was in his k 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:55.680 rations or base camp food, George is more apt to 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:59.240 similarly recall the circumstances around which he was able to 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:03.240 eat were not to eat, And as Trimmingham noted, whether 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:06.280 or not you're included really matters when you're putting your 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:09.079 life on the line for all of your fellow citizens 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.319 and being asked to trust those around you with it. 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:17.600 Let's continue with George's journey. Now, this isn't the first 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:20.640 time we've boarded a train with a serviceman. Check out 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:23.600 our first episode with Pat d Ambrosio and you might 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:33.320 hear a difference in how they recount their experiences. They 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:37.440 gave us Pullman tickets, which surprised us. Three privates from 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:42.040 Philophia Vienno Railroad to Cincinnati, and that was really great. 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.560 We're in a Pullman car at the two berths on 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.400 each side, so we had that section and the other 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:48.920 people were in the rest of the car, most of 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:51.280 them are white. But then when we got to Cincinnati, 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:53.599 they switched to the L and N Railroad and we 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:56.200 still had Pullman tickets and we were the only Afro 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:59.520 Americans in this car. So everything was fine, except when 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.640 we went to eat to the dining car. Leaving Cincinnati 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:05.080 go to the South and the laudess I'll say white 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.920 and colored must be separated as far as eating. So 0:14:08.040 --> 0:14:10.679 they had a heavy curtain across with a few tables 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:13.560 behind it. For Afro American we had to go through 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:15.960 to the dining car and then sit behind the curtain. 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:18.560 And the curtain was waited so that someone went through 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.280 it with blows on the bottom. And that's where we 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:23.240 had to eat. When we went through the South do 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:29.040 we got to be LuxI, Mississippi. But that's okay. Well 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:31.240 we got the Keyston and then things got worse because 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.160 once they got the keys the ups face we were 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:37.880 absolutely segregator. We're on em barracks. We trained separately. We 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:40.520 had a separate mess hall. We'd go to the firing range. 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:42.600 Whenever we were there, we were the only ones there. 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:45.640 Other time whites would use it. And then went to 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:49.840 Tuskegee in September called his Training Attachment. We had some 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:53.040 good instructors of for American guys. They taught us in 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:55.920 the pt nineteen and that's what I flew in. It 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.200 was just a lot of fun. I was still eighteen 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:00.960 when I learned to fly a received my wings as 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:05.760 a pilot and my commission as a second lieutenant, and 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:09.320 you know, the racial problems keep coming in here. I 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:11.800 was selected to go to a gunnery mate out in Texas. 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:15.360 They have a competition with the top gunners. Somehow they 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:19.080 picked me to go, and that was the experience I 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:22.160 I didn't like to go to the gun remat. We 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.960 went out in two T six is. A captain flew 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:27.040 one and I rode in a back seat with him 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:29.960 and a lieutenant, both of them a white instructors. I'm 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.600 the one in the contest. So the first thing we 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:35.360 do is went to a naval basset La puncher train 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:38.120 just outside of New Orleans. Well, I knew the navy 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:41.000 was segregated, but captain went ahead and I got out 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:42.840 to him and said, well, he can sleep around there. 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:45.400 I went and washed up and got dressed, put my 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:48.600 uniform on, and went to the captain's door to find 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.320 out what we're gonna do about eating, because he's in charge. 0:15:52.080 --> 0:15:53.600 He wasn't there. I went down, I said, you know 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:55.880 where the captains? Oh, he and the lieutenant they went 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:58.760 into New Orleans. They left me. Didn't you tell me 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:01.440 where they're going? So I caught the bus win in 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:03.520 New Orleans and got something to eat and came back 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:05.520 the next day. Of the meat went off and I 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:09.320 didn't win anything. It was just not the nicest affair. 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:13.640 They wanted to go to Houston before they went back 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:16.840 to Tuskegee, so we went to Ellington Field and landed there. 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:19.840 I guess they realized what happened, and the captain said, 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:22.280 I have a vehicle that's gonna pick us up and 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:24.840 take us into town. You can ride with us, and 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:26.920 after we dropped off, you can go to where you 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:29.000 want to go. And we got in this vehicle and 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:32.240 the driver, the captain and lieutenant and meet and they 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.240 asked where's the best stakes in town? And he said, well, 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:37.560 you go to ship ahoydu. Most people go there, So 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.320 he took him there and then he pulled up in 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:42.520 front of the ship Ahoy and a lot of officers 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:45.960 standing around. And then the captain turned to the driver 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:49.680 and said, where can he eat? Winning to me and 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:51.600 the drivers looked at me and said right in there, 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:55.480 And the captain looked at the lieutenant and they said, 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:57.200 come on, let's go, So the three of us would 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.480 in there. So I eat in that restaurant with them, 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:01.440 and that night a lot of dancing in an egg 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:04.960 and as glad lights were dark, but they had a 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:17.400 good steak. I went over in February a fighter Squadron 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:20.720 three second Fighter Group station in a base called Rama Telly. 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:23.960 I just ate in the miss hole. Everything they had 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:25.760 where they had, I ate it. You had to have 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:28.240 a good meal first thing, breakfast and breakfast. I would 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:30.720 fill up on breakfast and I just ate anything I 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:34.480 could get, except that the military had powdered eggs, and 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:38.000 I hated those powdered eggs. I got a cigarette ration. 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:41.560 I didn't smoke cigarettes, so I would take my cigarettes 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:43.960 and trade them to the Italians for eggs. I forget 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:45.800 how my eggs you can get for a pack of cigarettes, 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:48.399 and I would take my eggs to the cook and 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:51.320 ask them to fix my eggs sunnyside up. And that's 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:54.240 what I did for breakfast over there. I hate everything 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.480 else they had, but I didn't like booth powdered eggs. 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:04.480 If you look at the map of it Le, there's 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:07.800 a spur out on the eastern side. We're just right 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:10.960 at that point. That's where Ramatelli was. We talked to 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:13.640 the east. By time gear came up, you out over 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:17.320 the Adriatic. I flew a fight airplane fight. Airplane is 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:19.959 a plane that has guns on it. The D models 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:22.520 we have six machine guns on it. Only one person 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:25.240 in the airplane, and so it's a fast airplane. When 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:27.400 you're flying airplane, if you look straight ahead, you're looking 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:29.879 through your gun sight and you aim your airplane and 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:31.600 you have your gun sight up there. You just put 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:33.920 the thing on the target and the triggers on your 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.439 stick that you use a control airplane. Every time you 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:40.920 pull the trigger, the six guns would fly through anose plane. Now, 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:44.320 the bomber airplanes they carry bombs to bomb over Germany. 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.520 We had those scoops in Italy. They would take off, 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.760 get in formation and fly at high altitude to drop 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:54.520 bombs on factories and things not in Germany, and the 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:57.600 Germans would send up fighters to shoot them down. We 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:01.000 would escort the bombers to fight the German airplanes in 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:04.400 the air. That was our job to protect the bombers. 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:06.520 So that was what I did. By the time I 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:09.600 got over there, there weren't many German airplanes left. The 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:12.520 only time I fired my guns was on strafeing missions. 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:15.399 Sometimes on a short mission. After the bombers are safe, 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:20.200 you'd go back over Germany and look at targets of opportunity, trains, 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:23.520 barges or trucks on the highway. You want to make 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:27.119 sure the Germans can't move equipment and stuff around. Or 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:29.199 I love to shoot an engine because they tend to 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:32.119 blow up. But sometimes the targets fired back at you. 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:34.520 So there you could see the shells coming back. You 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:36.520 can't see the MAXI. But yeah, I tell you that 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:40.040 something is happening. It pumps up the Germans and that's 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:42.200 the reason they want to get younger people to do that. 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:44.520 A guy forty some years old, so are you crazy. 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:46.560 I'm not gonna go down there. There's guns down there. 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:49.760 But a guy eighteen, nineteen years old, he's going down. 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:52.439 The captain says, do this. You're going to turn in 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:55.080 and go down and space people because the guy head 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:57.360 you said, listen, and you follow him down. And that's 0:19:57.400 --> 0:19:59.639 the way you learn. You don't have the fear of 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:02.000 I can't do that. When you go to pilot training, 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:08.280 I can do anything. I went over in February nine 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:11.800 and I flew twenty one missions in March and April, 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:15.040 and then the war ended in maya forty five. I 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:17.480 got up to Milan and places like that, but the 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:20.360 Italians didn't have the restaurants and things like that that 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:24.160 they had today, so you didn't enjoy that much. Most 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:26.400 of the people they had very little, and a lot 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:28.200 of them would come around to try to work to 0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:30.240 do things for you. That's how I got my eggs, 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:33.960 people coming to bar the things they wanted to get cigarettes. Remember, 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:36.440 they fought a lot in Italy up the East coast 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:39.080 and was tough fighting. The Germans have destroyed a lot 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:41.720 of stuff before they would give it up. The Italians 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:45.240 had a real rebuilding job to recover from that. In 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:47.800 World War One, the other Germans didn't think they were 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:50.600 really beaten. They felt they were betrayed by their leaders 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:53.080 because they still had a full army and they surrendered. 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:56.320 But in World War Two they were completely devastated and 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:59.040 so no more of that. And the Japanese we weren't 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:01.400 sure about invading a pan We estimate and we would 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:03.760 lose at least half a million man because the Japanese 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:07.480 wouldn't surrender on these islands. But once they were completely beaten, 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:11.240 now it's a different world. They've got to survive. I survive, 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:16.240 and good Lord boldly through so I survive. I can 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:27.280 survive anything. We're leaving George mid story. He returned home 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:29.760 from Italy and moved to New York to continue his 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:33.359 education and be closer to his future wife, Beatrice, and 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:36.240 they started what would be their family of four children. 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:39.920 But then there was many moving parts of the Double 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:45.000 V campaign started coming together. Trimmingham and Yank Magazine received 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:49.400 hundreds of letters in response supporting Trimmingham's questioning of democracy, 0:21:49.880 --> 0:21:52.480 and it was later considered a milestone for moving the 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:56.760 cause forward. Then there were the accomplishments of African American 0:21:56.800 --> 0:22:01.240 troops abroad. As a group, the Tuskege Airmen flew fifteen 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:05.480 thousand sorties over two years. Sorties are short attack missions. 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:09.520 They captured or destroyed two hundred and seventy five German planes, 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:14.520 one thousand trains or trucks, and a German destroyer, and 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:17.920 the Germans only downed twenty five of the group's bombers. 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:21.479 The next successful squadron had an equivalent average of forty 0:22:21.520 --> 0:22:25.800 six downed planes. Then the Army conducted a classified survey 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:28.359 of two hundred and fifty white officers who had served 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:32.960