Sunday, August 03, 2008


Just finished this postcard for the AA Veteran's Swap - I finished all the parts a couple of weeks ago, well within the deadline, but then I started all my travels. I put it all together today. The photo is then Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, a West Point graduate, with some of the Tuskegee Airmen in front of a P-51 named By Request. The name comes from the fact that once the Tuskeegee Airmen earned their wings, they were derided by the white Air Corps. But white bomber crews went from making fun of the Tuskegee fighters to requesting them for escort on hazardous runs. The tenacious cover provided by the 332nd "Red Tail" fighters often discouraged enemy fighter pilots from attacking bombers escorted by the fighters. The Tuskegee Airmen won more than 850 medals, including 150 Distinguised Flying Crosses, eight Purple Hearts, and 14 Bronze Stars, among many others. The bravery of the Tuskegee Airmen paved the way to the future, so that others like my husband, Major Alwyn Walton (U.S. Air Force, Ret) could have the opportunity to live their dreams of flying.

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