Photo By Alun Thomas | Donning an authentic Tuskegee Airmen cap, ‘Uncle’ Ron Spriggs salutes following...... read more read more
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - The Tuskegee Airmen have long been renowned for being the first black pilots in U.S. military history and are a focal point of Black History Month, held yearly every February.
The legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II has been told through countless books and movies, cementing their place in black history, something ‘Uncle’ Ron Spriggs has dedicated a significant portion of his life to help preserve.
Spriggs was guest speaker at the 63rd Regional Support Command’s Black History Month Celebration, Feb. 10, at the headquarters auditorium, here, where he discussed the history of the airmen and his own role in ensuring their story is passed down to future generations.
Spriggs, an Air Force veteran and founder of the Ron Spriggs Exhibit of Tuskegee Airmen (RSETA), said there have been a lot of stories told about the airmen, but one that is often misunderstood.
“You may have heard stories about the Tuskegee Airmen never losing a bomber under escort missions … it’s not true,” Spriggs said. “It was proven six or seven years ago that there were some losses, albeit very few, of bombers under the escort of the Tuskegee crews.”
Spriggs said this has been proven by the Tuskegee Airmen National Organization and verified by Air Force archives in Montgomery, Ala., but despite this they were still one of the most productive and proficient air-support units during WWII.
“Benjamin Davis Jr. was the commander of the operation and he literally put out orders that said they would not go as pilots and chase a single plane to defeat that plane in aerial combat,” continued Spriggs.
“The Tuskegee Airmen were in the same vicinity as the fighters they were escorting and when they left, it left a hole in the fabric of aerial coverage. If you shoot down one enemy plane that’s just one enemy pilot, but if another pilot sneaks in and shoots down a bomber, that’s ten lives.”
“Their job was to bring those airmen home to their family and friends.”
Spriggs said the airmen were highly decorated and received 744 air medals and should be recognized not primarily as black history, but American history.
“I travel all over the country, doing lectures or workshops, and the majority of my audience are young, white students,” Spriggs explained. “Quite frankly our students need to hear this stuff. The education system failed me way back 50 years ago and it’s still doing the same thing now because the Tuskegee Airmen are not considered a core product.”
“If not me then who will teach it? It will fall on your shoulders,” he said to the audience.
Having met over 200 verified Tuskegee Airmen, Spriggs said he’s heard a lot of stories, but one of his best memories was attending the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony for the airmen in 2007.
“I got a call from (Sen.) Mitch McConnell’s office in Kentucky who asked me if I wanted to attend. I was scheduled for surgery that week, so I called my doctor and said ‘pause,’” Spriggs said with a grin. “I was allowed the opportunity to observe, and I was as close to President George (W.) Bush and all those honored dignitaries as far as the second row.”
“I snuck in - I was supposed to be in the back somewhere. But they needed wheelchair pushers, so I grabbed one of those chairs belonging to one of the airmen and watched as the nation paid tribute to these great men. That single gold medal is now in the Smithsonian.”
It was a proud moment, especially following the treatment the Tuskegee Airmen received following their return home after WWII.
“One of the airmen (Lt. Col. Alexander Jefferson) once told me he was treated better by the German’s when he was taken as a prisoner of war than by his own folks at home,” Spriggs said. “When they realized he was an officer they treated him with all amount of respect.”
“When he was liberated and came home and got off the boat, there was a (white sergeant) holding two signs. One said ‘whites to the right and ‘colored to the left.’”
“That was his homecoming. No bands, or kissing girls in the streets," he said.
| Date Taken: | 02.11.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 02.11.2016 13:08 |
| Story ID: | 188611 |
| Location: | MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 225 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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