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N5MDT  > TODAY    18.12.15 16:15l 49 Lines 2176 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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      N5MDT
Sent: 151218/1459Z 843@N5MDT.TX.USA.NOAM BPQ1.4.65

Remembering Lowell C. Steward, one of the Tuskegee Airmen, 
who died one year ago today: ancstry.me/1ZetwzM

He was laid to rest in Inglewood Park Cemetery in Los Angeles County. 

After Steward graduated college and when Army Air Corps began 
allowing blacks to enlist and become pilots, he enlisted in 1942.
According to Steward, the US Air Force brought together black 
men—specifically black athletes—from throughout the US to be 
trained at Tuskegee Institute. When they were initially deployed 
in Europe, they were initially ignored and often called the 
"Spookwaffe". Their mission was to fly fighter aircraft to escort 
bombers. Once their reputation for providing effective air support 
for bombers became widely known, they started receiving special 
request for bomber support.

Steward describe how he became a Tuskegee Airman:

    When I left school to sign up for the air force, I found out 
I could not go into the service with my friends. I was the only 
black on the basketball team. We had decided among ourselves that 
we would all go into the air force. The others did. When I went 
down to sign up, they didn't know what to do with me. Just told 
me they couldn't send me to the air force. Ten months later I was 
finally called. That's when they decided what they could do with 
me. I was sent to Tuskegee, an all-segregated base, deep in the 
heart of Alabama.

After receiving segregated training at the Tuskegee Army Air Field, 
he was sent to Italy in 1944 with the 100th Fighter Squadron. From 
Capodichino Air Base in Naples, Italy he flew a number of missions 
in Bell P-39 Airacobras and Curtiss P-40 Warhawks. He was 
subsequently based in Ramitelli Airfield where he flew many more 
missions in North American P-51 Mustangs. In total, he flew 143 
missions.

After the war and after his return to Los Angeles, he helped to 
organize the Los Angeles chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. and to 
found a scholarship foundation in the name of the Tuskegee Airmen. 
In 2007, Steward attended President George W. Bush's presentation 
of the Tuskegee Airmen with the Congressional Gold Medal.

(Wikipedia)


Mark Taylor, N5MDT
n5mdt@n5mdt.tx.us.noam



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