EDITORIAL: Stories of Airmen, WASPs need to be told
Jan. 27—There's a grave in Parkway Cemetery in Joplin that needs remembered.
It's the grave of Harold E. Brazil, born Aug. 24, 1921; he died Sept. 11, 2007. It says: "Tuskegee Airman."
Joplin's Freedom of Flight museum at the Joplin Regional Airport has details about the life of Kenneth Wofford, of Carthage. (It's worth a visit if you haven't seen it.)
Born in 1922, he, too, was a Tuskegee Airman, and also is in the Hall of Carthage Heroes. He died in 2010.
Then there's Mildred "Micky" Axton, of Coffeyville, Kansas, who was one of the first three women recruited for the Women Airforce Service Pilots. She became a test pilot, pulled target craft and taught pilots classes. She was the first woman to fly a B-29 Superfortress.
Born in 1919, she died in 2010.
According to the National Park Service, "Because WASP pilots were not military, the federal government refused to pay for their funeral expenses," when one of the WASPs died while flying a plane. "The women's colleagues had to pool money to send their bodies home to their families."
Last week, it seems, the stories of the Tuskegee Airmen and the WASPs got caught up in the country's DEI debate.
That was unfortunate.
As you may have heard, the U.S. Air Force had removed some training courses to comply with President Donald Trump's crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Somehow, that directive was interpreted to include videos of Tuskegee Airmen and WASPs.
In a statement late Saturday, Tuskegee Airmen Inc. the nonprofit foundation created to preserve the legacy of those pilots, said it was "strongly opposed" to the removal of the videos.
Apparently those courses are now being revised, and the stories of the Tuskegee Airmen and WASPs will continue to be included.
We welcome that. It is the right decision. It would be unfortunate if these stories were caught up in the DEI debate. And it would dishonor their sacrifice.
Both the Tuskegee Airmen and the WASPs are heroic examples for each new generation.
Former President George W. Bush awarded the Tuskegee Airmen the Congressional Gold Medal in a ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda in 2007.
In July 2009, former President Barack Obama signed a bill bestowing the Congressional Gold Medal to the members of the WASPs for their service during World War II.
In 2020, in his State of the Union address, Trump announced he had promoted one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, Charles McGee, to brigadier general. McGee died in 2022 at age 102.
We are proud of their stories, proud that they came from the Four-State Area. Their stories need to be told.
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