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Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Jacqueline Weathers is presented with the U.S. flag that was draped over the casket of her husband, Air Force Lt. Col. Luke Weathers, Jr., one of the original Tuskegee airmen, during his burial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery Jan. 20. A Congressional Gold Medal recipient, Weathers earned a Distinguished Flying Cross piloting P-51 and P-39 fighters while serving with the 332nd Fighter Group, a squadron known as the Red Tails, from 1942 to 1945.
Air Force
In 2004 a portrait of Luke Weathers Jr. was nade to honor his actions in World War II.
A Tuskegee airman who shot down two German fighter planes while escorting a damaged bomber to its base now lies in Arlington National Cemetery after a burial with special honors.
Luke Weathers Jr.'s burial comes as Hollywood is flooding U.S. theaters Friday with the action film "Red Tails," based on the Tuskegee Airmen and their struggles for equal treatment. They were the first black aviators in U.S. military history and are among World War II's most respected fighter squadrons.
Weathers died Oct. 15, 2011 in Tucson, Ariz. at 90, but he lived much of his life in Memphis, Tenn.
More than 900 Tuskegee Airmen were U.S. pilots and an estimated 250 to 300 are still alive today.
In March 1945, Toni Frissell, world renowned American photographer, took more than 280 photographs of the Tuskegee Airmen. During World War II, Frissell worked and volunteered her services to the American Red Cross, Eighth Army Air Force, and the Women's Air Corp. Her images of military women, African American fighter pilots and orphaned children were used to muster support for the military. Below is a collection of her photographs of the Tuskegee Airmen, and many more can be found on the library of Congress website.
Related links:
Toni Frissell via Library of Congress
Tuskegee airmen photographed by Toni Frissell in Ramitelli, Italy in March 1945. Front row: an unidentified airman, Jimmie D. Wheeler, Emile G. Clifton. Standing: Ronald W. Reeves, Hiram Mann, Joseph L.
Toni Frissell via Library of Congress
Marcellus G. Smith and Roscoe C. Brown in Ramitelli, Italy,March 1945.
Toni Frissell via Library of Congress
Walter M. "Mo" Downs and William S. "Bill Bubblehead" Price playing cards in Ramitelli, Italy, March 1945.
Toni Frissell via Library of Congress
A portrait of Tuskegee airman Edward M. Thomas in Ramitelli, Italy, March 1945.
Sixty-seven years later, members of the Tuskegee Airmen pose before the camera's lens again. This time, Associated Press photographer Carlo Allegri captures their portraits during a press junket for George Lucas's film.
Carlo Allegri / AP
Tuskegee airmen Floyd Carter Sr., Shade Lee and Dr. Roscoe Brown pose for portraits.
This kind of attention to the Tuskegee Airmen is what Weathers wanted throughout his life, said his daughter, Trina Weathers Boyce. He wasn't vain, but he wanted to share the lessons of the airmen's courage in war, their struggles for equality and their victory over a wartime enemy and over racism, she said.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Based on the true story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American pilots to fly in a combat air squadron during WWII. Opens Jan. 20.
Leave a Comment:
My heart and prayers are with this brave man's family. Thank you so much for what you did not only for your country but to help break down the walls of racial barriers. You will always be remembered in our hearts. Godspeed.
Amen, ladybegood, amen.
I am really proud of the Tuskeegee Airmen, they served their country under incredible circumstances with valor, courage and dignity...Heroes know no colors, except triumph...hoorah
Cant wait to watch the movie.
There are times in history hollywood does not need to change..!!! This is one of them..!!! Roll Tide y'all.
This movie should have been made long ago.
Saw the movie tonight. It's good. The airfights really look like the actors are in those planes!!
Haven't seen the movie yet...can't wait...hats off to the original airmen....
My condolences and respect to the Weathers family with admiration and appreciation for the sacrifice made by your beloved and our heroic Luke Weathers, Jr.
Across the years I have had the extreme pleasure of interviewing many of the Tuskegee Airmen in my various capacities in TV news and as a producer since 1969. The death of any of them represents a painstaking loss to America's rich but under-told African-American history. One of them was then-84 year-old Col. Leo Gray, a jovial, witty man. He granted me an interview while having breakfast at a Washington, DC, restaurant the day before the Inauguration of Barack Obama as 44th President. Yes, I will see "Red Tails" and watch with considerable self-interest looking for those Airmen whose paths I may have crossed over the years. And to my personal friend and colleague Steve Crump (WBTV News/CharlotteNC), I will also be watching to see if "Red Tails" meets the very high standard that you established in your award-winning documentary about the Tuskegee Airmen.
I am white bread Iowa drafted in 1963; had no interaction with any ethnic people - other than native Americans when I was a child in Minnesota-and to this day if Herb Walker who was in the same company in the far east with me -BLACK AMERICAN-to this day could have the run of my house!!!!!!! NUFF SAID SKINHEADS!!!! These people are no different than you or me !!!
BRAVO ZULU, Luke Weathers Jr.
Hand... Salute. From a 'Nam Vet (USN 1965-1969)
I'm a white female and my husband and I saw Red Tails on opening night! Wonderful movie, everyone in theater clapped at the end! So proud of the Tuskegee airman! Thank you for serving!
He was a hero, he has as much right being in Arlington as anyone else. Why has it taken so long?God be with his family.
As a Korean War Veteran, I want thank all of these men for their service. Their acheivements indicate that regardless of one's race, color, religion, creed, other ethnicity, age, or sex, you can accomplish anything you can imagine with persistence and determination. Their's is iconic in the history of the United States military.
keep on flying;may the stars guide you through the Skye's all the time.
ORAH! SEMPER FI
DANNY P
RETIRED
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! You served proud, bravely and with humilty. The legacy of the Tuskeegee Airmen can not and will not go away. Some history can be rewritten, this one...NEVER! Thank you!
Thank you for my father he was a bomber pilot ..........
May Angels lead you in