Latest news with #HarryStewartJr.
CNN
09-02-2025
- General
- CNN
One of the last surviving Tuskeegee Airmen dies at 100
Retired Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr., a decorated World War II pilot who broke racial barriers as a Tuskegee Airmen and earned honors for his combat heroism, has died. He was 100.
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Decorated pilot Harry Stewart Jr., one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, dies at 100
(AP) – Retired Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr., a decorated World War II pilot who broke racial barriers as a Tuskegee Airmen and earned honors for his combat heroism, has died. He was 100. Stewart was one of the last surviving combat pilots of the famed 332nd Fighter Group also known as the Tuskegee Airmen. The group were the nation's first Black military pilots. The Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum said he passed peacefully at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, on Sunday. Stewart earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for downing three German aircraft during a dogfight on April 1, 1945. He was also part of a team of four Tuskegee Airmen who won the US Air Force Top Gun flying competition in 1949, although their accomplishment would not be recognized until decades later. 'Harry Stewart was a kind man of profound character and accomplishment with a distinguished career of service he continued long after fighting for our country in World War II,' Brian Smith, museum president and CEO, said. Born on July 4, 1924, in Virginia, Stewart and his family moved to New York when he was young. He had dreamed of flying since he was a child when he would watch planes at LaGuardia airport, according to a book about his life titled 'Soaring to Glory: A Tuskegee Airmen's Firsthand Account of World War II.' In the wake of Pearl Harbor, an 18-year-old Stewart joined what was then considered an experiment to train Black military pilots. The unit was sometimes known as the Tuskegee Airmen for where they trained in Alabama or the Red Tails because of the red tips of their P-51 Mustangs. 'I did not recognize at the time the gravity of what we are facing. I just felt as though it was a duty of mine at the time. I just stood up to my duty,' Stewart said of World War II in a 2024 interview with CNN. Having grown up in a multicultural neighborhood, Stewart was shocked by the segregation and prejudice of the Jim Crow-era South, but was determined to finish and earn his wings according to the book about his life. After finishing training, the pilots were assigned to escort US bombers in Europe. The Tuskegee Airmen are credited with losing significantly fewer escorted bombers than other fighter groups. 'I got to really enjoy the idea of the panorama, I would say, of the scene I would see before me with the hundreds of bombers and the hundreds of fighter planes up there and all of them pulling the condensation trails, and it was just the ballet in the sky and a feeling of belonging to something that was really big,' Stewart said in a 2020 interview with WAMC. Stewart would sometimes say in a self-effacing way that he was too busy enjoying flying to realize he was making history, according to his book. He had hoped to become a commercial airline pilot after he left the military, but was rejected because of his race. He went on to earn a mechanical engineering degree from New York University. He relocated to Detroit and retired as vice president of a natural gas pipeline company. Stewart told Michigan Public Radio in 2019 that he was moved to tears on a recent commercial flight when he saw who was piloting the aircraft. 'When I entered the plane, I looked into the cockpit there and there were two African American pilots. One was the co-pilot, and one was the pilot. But not only that, the thing that started bringing the tears to my eyes is that they were both female,' Stewart said. The Air Force last month briefly removed training courses with videos of its storied Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs in an effort to comply with the Trump administration's crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The materials were quickly restored following a bipartisan backlash.
CNN
09-02-2025
- General
- CNN
Decorated pilot Harry Stewart, Jr., one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, dies at 100
(AP) – Retired Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr., a decorated World War II pilot who broke racial barriers as a Tuskegee Airmen and earned honors for his combat heroism, has died. He was 100. Stewart was one of the last surviving combat pilots of the famed 332nd Fighter Group also known as the Tuskegee Airmen. The group were the nation's first Black military pilots. The Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum said he passed peacefully at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, on Sunday. Stewart earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for downing three German aircraft during a dogfight on April 1, 1945. He was also part of a team of four Tuskegee Airmen who won the US Air Force Top Gun flying competition in 1949, although their accomplishment would not be recognized until decades later. 'Harry Stewart was a kind man of profound character and accomplishment with a distinguished career of service he continued long after fighting for our country in World War II,' Brian Smith, museum president and CEO, said. Born on July 4, 1924, in Virginia, Stewart and his family moved to New York when he was young. He had dreamed of flying since he was a child when he would watch planes at LaGuardia airport, according to a book about his life titled 'Soaring to Glory: A Tuskegee Airmen's Firsthand Account of World War II.' In the wake of Pearl Harbor, an 18-year-old Stewart joined what was then considered an experiment to train Black military pilots. The unit was sometimes known as the Tuskegee Airmen for where they trained in Alabama or the Red Tails because of the red tips of their P-51 Mustangs. 'I did not recognize at the time the gravity of what we are facing. I just felt as though it was a duty of mine at the time. I just stood up to my duty,' Stewart said of World War II in a 2024 interview with CNN. Having grown up in a multicultural neighborhood, Stewart was shocked by the segregation and prejudice of the Jim Crow-era South, but was determined to finish and earn his wings according to the book about his life. After finishing training, the pilots were assigned to escort US bombers in Europe. The Tuskegee Airmen are credited with losing significantly fewer escorted bombers than other fighter groups. 'I got to really enjoy the idea of the panorama, I would say, of the scene I would see before me with the hundreds of bombers and the hundreds of fighter planes up there and all of them pulling the condensation trails, and it was just the ballet in the sky and a feeling of belonging to something that was really big,' Stewart said in a 2020 interview with WAMC. Stewart would sometimes say in a self-effacing way that he was too busy enjoying flying to realize he was making history, according to his book. He had hoped to become a commercial airline pilot after he left the military, but was rejected because of his race. He went on to earn a mechanical engineering degree from New York University. He relocated to Detroit and retired as vice president of a natural gas pipeline company. Stewart told Michigan Public Radio in 2019 that he was moved to tears on a recent commercial flight when he saw who was piloting the aircraft. 'When I entered the plane, I looked into the cockpit there and there were two African American pilots. One was the co-pilot, and one was the pilot. But not only that, the thing that started bringing the tears to my eyes is that they were both female,' Stewart said. The Air Force last month briefly removed training courses with videos of its storied Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs in an effort to comply with the Trump administration's crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The materials were quickly restored following a bipartisan backlash.
USA Today
06-02-2025
- General
- USA Today
Decorated Tuskegee Airman combat pilot Harry Stewart Jr. dies at 100
Decorated Tuskegee Airman combat pilot Harry Stewart Jr. dies at 100 Show Caption Hide Caption Tuskegee Airmen: Learn about America's first Black Military pilots Lucasfilm's new #FlyLikeThem initiative is aimed at educating a younger generation about the World War II contributions of the Tuskegee Airmen. USA TODAY Handout DETROIT — Retired Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr., a decorated combat pilot of World War II's mostly Black 332nd Fighter Group, commonly known as the Tuskegee Airmen, has died. He was 100. Stewart died Sunday at his home in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a northern suburb of Detroit, the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum confirmed. He is survived by a daughter, Lori Collette Stewart, of Bloomfield Hills, and extended family. "We are deeply saddened by his passing and extend our condolences to his family and friends around the world," said Brian Smith, the president and CEO of the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum in Detroit. "Harry Stewart was a kind man of profound character and accomplishment with a distinguished career of service he continued long after fighting for our country in World War II." Stewart was among the first 1,000 Black pilots in the 1940s trained at the Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama before Black and white airmen were allowed to serve together. Only one of them is still alive. Among other honors, Stewart earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery while escorting U.S. bombers during World War II and heroic actions in combat, the museum said. He also was one of four Tuskegee Airmen who shot down three enemy aircraft in a single day. In 2007, the Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. In 2019, Stewart's memoir, "Soaring to Glory: A Tuskegee Airman's Firsthand Account of World War II," which detailed his wartime experiences, was published. For his centennial birthday — on July 4 — the museum threw Stewart a party at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport. He celebrated, surrounded by dignitaries and loved ones, and offered a message about racial progress: Guard it. Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr. was captivated by planes since his youth Stewart said he was fascinated by airplanes as a youngster. When the war came, he was drafted and got his chance to become a pilot — learning to fly even before he could drive and helping to save the world from the evils of fascism. Born in Newport News, Virginia, Stewart was captivated by flight as a baby. He said his parents told him he'd lay in his crib outdoors and watch the aircraft overhead, trying to wave at the pilots. Then, as a teen, Pearl Harbor was attacked, and he said in an interview with radio station WAMC-FM in Albany, New York, that he watched P-39 aircraft flying in a tight formation and knew "it wouldn't be long before the draft would call me up." He said he learned to fly first because in New York City people took public transportation. After the war, Stewart earned a mechanical engineering degree from New York University; in 1976, he moved to metro Detroit, retiring as a vice president from ANR Pipeline Co., a Detroit-based oil and gas consortium. An advocate for the Tuskegee Airmen legacy The National WWII Museum in New Orleans said Stewart became an advocate for the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, in which he "played a vital role in their recognition." The group consisted of more than 15,000 Black pilots, mechanics, and cooks in the segregated Army of World War II. "In 2024, The National WWII Museum was proud to recognize the trailblazing Tuskegee Airmen with the American Spirit Award, the institution's highest honor, for their accomplishments and patriotism in the face of discrimination," according to the museum's obituary for Stewart. Last month, the U.S. Air Force briefly removed course instruction about the Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Airforce Service Pilots from the basic training curriculum. The decision followed President Donald Trump's executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the federal government. The removal immediately received backlash from legislators, retired military personnel, and other advocates, prompting the Air Force to resume its instruction. 'Finally': Tuskegee Airmen honored 73 years after competition win was 'swept under the rug' Contributing: Thao Nguyen and Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Harry Stewart Jr., one of last 2 remaining Tuskegee World War II veterans, dies at 100
Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Retired Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr., one of the last two remaining members of the 355 original Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, has died. He was 100. Stewart died in his home in Bloomfield, Mich., on Sunday, the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum in Detroit confirmed. No service arrangements were announced. Lt. Col. George Hardy remains the only surviving pilot of the segregated all-Black wing of the United States Army Air Force. They were part of the 332nd Fighter Group, which was known as Red Tails" for their plane's distinctive coloring . "We are deeply saddened by his passing and extend our condolences to his family and friends around the world," said Brian Smith, president and CEO of the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum in Detroit. "Harry Stewart was a kind man of profound character and accomplishment with a distinguished career of service he continued long after fighting for our country in World War II." The museum is a repository for oral and written history of the Tuskegee Airmen and said it has the largest collection of Airmen artifacts in the world. Stewart was among the first 1,007 Black Army pilots in the 1940s trained at the segregated Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama. He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery escorting U.S. bombers during World War II and his heroic actions in combat. He flew in 43 missions. He is one of four Tuskegee Airmen shot down by three enemy aircraft in a single day. In addition, he also was part of the team who won the Air Force's first Top Gun Aerial Combat competition in 1949. Despite their feats, the Black pilots still encountered racism after the war. In a 2019 interview with the American Veterans Center, Stewart recalled interviewing for several commercial airline pilot jobs in the 1950s. "I was not hired. And the reason was that they were not hiring any African American pilots or crew members at the time," Stewart said. Stewart started at what he called "the bottom" in aviation -- as a baggage handler at New York City's Pennsylvania Station. He later graduated with a master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1963 from New York University. He was vice president at Detroit's ANR Pipeline Co. until he retired. Stewart, who was born on July 4, 1924, in Newport News, Va. Despite suffering from polio as a child that left his right calf partially paralyzed, Stewart enlisted at 18 and was accepted into the Army Air Corps in 1943. He earned his pilot's license a year later. "When the Army Air Corps said that they would recant and they would build a field, but it would have to be just for the Negro trainees there, I was willing to accept that in order to go ahead and get my wings," Stewart told Friends of the National World War II Memorial in a 2024 interview. "That was the prize as far as I was concerned. I was frankly willing to do anything to go ahead and get my wings. "That's not also to say that I didn't have a strong streak of patriotism. I was a patriot, but I was also willing to turn my face the other way when it came to segregated training." He is survived by his daughter.
