08-02-2025
One of the last members of the Tuskegee Airmen died this week
RANTOUL, Ill. (WCIA) — As WCIA continues honoring Black History Month, one of the last members of a historic World War II team has died this week.
Lieutenant Colonel Harry T. Stewart Jr. of the Tuskegee Airmen has passed away. The President of the Rantoul Historical Society said he's sad to hear the news of Stewart's death, but that the legacy of these men will live on forever. Stewart died this past Sunday at 100-years-old at his home in Michigan.
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Stewart was one of many African Americans who were part of the Tuskegee Airman, which was a group of nearly 1,000 African American men who trained at the Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul in the 1940s. It was the first all-Black fighter pilot squadron when the U.S. Military segregated units by race.
'They were required to far exceed the normal standards. They were tested and pushed more to try and keep them out than to bring them in,' said Jim Cheek, Rantoul Historical Society President. 'And the fact that they persevered that and they showed that through persistence and hard work, they proved to the public that they were worthy to fly aircraft as well as anyone else.'
He said training would last anywhere from six weeks to six months, or sometimes even a whole year. Cheek also said when they finished training, they'd continue to further their education and eventually learned to fly P-47 and P-51 planes.
Stewart enlisted at the age of 18 in the Army Air Corps. He completed 43 combat missions and earned three aerial victories in a single day.
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