Green got his chance after he was drafted into the Army and sent to [redacted - Borepatch], for pilot training. Green flew 25 combat missions with the 99th Fighter Squadron in Italy, escorting bombers.
I've posted frequently on the Greatest Generation who left home and hearth to fight the Nazi and Imperial Japanese menace. But this one is different. This one left a society that despised Black Americans, to fight that same fight. The story starts out with this:HIGHLAND, Calif. – Col. Paul L. Green, one of the Tuskegee Airmen — the legendary black pilots who escorted U.S. aircraft during World War II — has died in a Southern California senior care home. He was 91.Col. Green flew 25 sorties against the Nazi ubermensch. Then he came home to 1945 America, as a Black War Veteran. And he continued his career in the Air Force, for 30 more years, serving in Vietnam. He saw the change in Europe, and elsewhere in the world. But most especially here.
God speed, Colonel. You saw this Republic with its warts and you stepped up anyway. That's something worth of respect in itself
A true hero and patriot.
ReplyDeleteI heard him speak a number of years ago. VERY humble and quite the gentleman. May he Rest In Peace!
ReplyDeleteWhy are you redacting that he trained at Tuskegee?
ReplyDeleteR. K. Brumbelow, it's in the second quote.
ReplyDeleteWhich makes the redaction make even less sense, though I do not remember the 2nd part being there last night. Regardless, "redacted" does have cultural overtones which I suspect are not intended.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, Leonard Nimoy served in the U.S. Army in the 1950s, and was a Staff Sgt. at discharge. Perhaps not a combat hero, but neither "just" a celebrity.
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