Natalie Lehman Attends Congressional Honors Ceremony for Tuskegee Airmen

In 1941, 1000 young African-Americans signed up for an Army Air Corps program based in Tuskegee, Alabama. Members of the segregated unit learned to fly combat aircraft. But they could not even practice alongside white pilots. Their mission: To escort bombers into enemy territory. More than 60 Airmen died, others were taken prisoner. And yet, they had nearly an excellent record of having no bombers being shot down. Identified in the air only by the red tails on their planes, they were requested as escorts by bomber pilots who were unaware of their race. More than 60 years later these men, known as the Tuskegee Airmen, were honored at the White House this past March for their excellence and their persistence to inspire revolutionary reform in the armed forces which led to its integration in 1948.

Natalie Lehman, a staff member in the Firm's Client Development department, attended the ceremony where President George W. Bush and congressional leaders awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American fighter pilots in the US military. It is the highest honor Congress can bestow. Natalie attended this historic event with her family on behalf of her deceased father, Lieutenant Colonel Paul D. Lehman, a former Tuskegee air navigator. The veterans and their widows received the gold medal and a long-overdue honor when the US President saluted them for their service to the United States of America.

The Tuskegee Airmen were accepted as aviation cadets and were trained initially as single-engine pilots, twin-engine pilots, navigators or bombardiers. Their flights lifted the boundaries of segregation when they fought the enemy in the skies in World War II over Europe, Africa, and the Mediterranean. But they had another fight to face after the Allies' victory: A fight against racism and prejudice back home in the US. Although most of the Airmen were college graduates or undergraduates and others demonstrated their academic qualifications through comprehensive entrance examinations, during the war, non-black military men would refuse to return the Airmen's salutes. "It is the ultimate act of patriotism to love your country even when that love is not reciprocated," said Senator Carl Levin, (D-MI) who was in attendance at the ceremony.

To learn more about the Tuskegee Airmen, please visit www.tuskegeeairmen.org