Tuskegee Airmen share legacy

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Stephen Delgado
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Americans enjoy freedom and equal rights, but sometimes there is a tendency to take them for granted. Sometimes people tend to think the way it is today is the way it has always been. 

Luke Air Force Base was privileged to have two surviving Tuskegee Airmen whose feats not only helped preserve freedom, but showed that color should have no place in what a person can accomplish. Their visit was part of Luke Days 2009 Thunder in the Desert Open House and Air Show. 

The visiting Tuskegee Airmen were Dr. Thurston Gaines and retired Lt. Col. Asa Herring. Both individuals faced incredible obstacles that would have broken most people. 

Dr. Gaines, a Freeport, N.Y., native, has a resume full of accomplishments. He was drafted by the Army Air Corps in 1943 and assigned to the all-black cadet corps at Tuskegee Army Airfield, Ala. He graduated in 1944 as a flight officer and was assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group, Italy, and flew 25 missions in a P-51C Mustang. He was shot down on his last mission and survived two German jails and a prisoner-of-war camp until the end of the war. 

Dr. Gaines enrolled at New York University and graduated in 1948 after the war. A year later he entered Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tenn. Upon graduating, he spent 17 years as a general surgeon. Dr. Gaines transitioned into administrative medicine for the next decade and later served as medical director of a veterans hospital in Massachusetts. He retired in 1988, but still stays active. He is currently living in Sun City West and is a substitute elementary school teacher. 

Dr. Gaines has lived a life full of challenges and difficulties, but his most profound task was convincing people of his capabilities. 

"I spent my life trying to convince people of what I was capable of and that skin color had nothing to do with what I could accomplish," he said. "The program at Tuskegee was set up for us to fail despite what we did. We beat them at their own game. My fellow trainees and I had no doubt that we'd succeed. I am grateful for the support that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Pittsburgh Courier, as well as the help a few Congressmen gave us." 

Despite the obstacles he endured, Dr. Gaines said he is not bitter. 

"I felt that there was so much talent being wasted," he said. "All we wanted was an equal chance. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, the country was united, and black Americans wanted to contribute to the war effort, but on so many fronts, we weren't allowed." 

Dr. Gaines said he is pleased at all of the progress made in equal rights. He was particularly pleased with the election of President Barack Obama, but he concluded that although he is proud of his heritage, he would like someday to be called just an American. 

The other Tuskegee Airman at the air show was someone who had past ties to Luke.
Retired Lt. Col. Asa Herring had a distinguish career in the Air Force, including two tours at Luke. 

Colonel Herring, a native of Dunn, N.C., graduated from high school at age 16, but had to wait until he was 18 before he could be inducted. He had already passed the Army Air Corps written examination at age 17. 

World War II ended before he finished his training, so he never had the opportunity to experience combat, he said. Colonel Herring left the Army Air Corps in 1946, but his love of aviation and a major event would bring him back. 

"I did not want to be in a segregated military, so that is why I got out, but in 1948 that all changed when President Truman issued Executive Order 9981, ending the military policy of racial segregation," he said. "With the ending of segregation and with the Air Force becoming a separate branch of the military, I volunteered for military service in 1949 and was there until 1970. Joining the Air Force and being able to fly was a turning point in my life." 

What's more, Colonel Herring's years in the military took him around the world to places such as England, Korea, Germany and Vietnam, where he flew 350 combat missions.
Colonel Herring said his years in the military gave him a special confidence. 

"You know you can do something, but people won't let you do it," he said. "Once you are in a combat situation such as Vietnam, you get a different perspective. You are in it together, and color doesn't matter." 

Colonel Herring has stayed busy after retiring from the military. He was employed by American Telephone and Telegraph until 1989 and has been involved with numerous boards and charitable functions. He is still involved with aviation as chairman of the general merchandise concessions committee at Sky Harbor International Airport and calls Phoenix home. 

The air show was a sort of homecoming for Colonel Herring. He was the first black commander of a fighter squadron at Luke. 

Colonel Herring said he is pleased by how far the fight for equality has progressed, but cautioned that there is still work to be done. 

"The changes have been great," he said. "That's what we fight and die for is to have justice and equality both here and abroad."