Canby Herald Online

Flight path to history

Tuskegee airmen offer their thoughts on war, racism and plenty in-between

• By: John Baker  
• Published: 1/18/2010 3:55:59 PM

Photo By: John BakerOFFERING PERSPECTIVE --
Tuskegee airmen Bill Holloman (left) and Alex Jefferson talk about their experiences as World War II pilots in a segregated military.

Through humor, passion and sadness, history presented itself definitively Wednesday night. Standing before a standing room only crowd in the Cutsforth’s Town Hall, Bill Holloman and Alex Jefferson described the world as they knew it before, during and after World War II as African-Americans.

The pair are part of a small fraternity — Tuskegee airmen — who served a country at war in Europe and the Pacific while still waging an ugly battle with segregation and racism.

Holloman talked about the testing procedure for becoming a pilot, saying the men who scored highest were often put to work as mechanics and other duties.

“They wanted the dummies for pilots,” he told the crowd.

Jefferson, who was shot down just before D-Day, described climbing down from the tree he’d parachuted into only to be met by German soldiers.

“The barrel of that gun looked this big,” he said raising his hands about a foot apart.

The event, sponsored by the Canby Herald, Cutsforth’s Thriftway and Canby Telcom, was a fundraising event for the group Reme

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