By Angela E. Pometto
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 2/24/05)

"Why do you people fight so hard for a country that treats you so poorly?" a German soldier once asked an African American prisoner of war.

"We were fighting for the only country we knew," said Lt. Col. Howard Baugh, a Tuskegee Airman. "We wanted to fly."

Paul VI Catholic High School in Fairfax hosted Baugh in honor of Black History Month. According to Principal Phil Robey, this is the first Paul VI assembly specifically for Black History Month.

The talk was organized by the multicultural club headed by history teacher Roy Hippert, who said the club hopes to do more events to promote consciousness of different races and cultures.

"It’s important that people learn about the Tuskegee airmen and what we did for the country," said Baugh, a resident of Petersburg, Va.

In 1925, the Army investigated how best to utilize black service men. They first assumed that black men’s brains were one-third the size of white men’s, said Baugh, and the report went downhill from there.

"They thought we didn’t have what it took to control an airplane," he said. Opposition to this report was led by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and in fall of 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt allowed African Americans to train as pilots. In July 1941, the Tuskegee Institute was founded to train black men for the Army Air Corps.

"They couldn’t grasp the idea of a white under a black," said Baugh, adding that to solve this problem, the African Americans created their own squadron. The pilots and all their support people were segregated from the white squadrons.

"Learning to fly is difficult," said Baugh, and especially in the military. In the first Tuskegee class, only five out of 14 completed the training. When Baugh graduated in 1942, he was one of four to receive his wings.

By September 1942, there were enough trained pilots and ground support to go overseas, "but they didn’t want us over there," Baugh said. They stayed in the country an additional eight months before they were finally called into action.

Their first assignment was on an airbase in Tunisia, off the coast of Sicily. Their white commander was openly racist and made it obvious that he didn’t want the black squadron on his base, Baugh said. He wrote critical reports that were sent to Washington.

"He said we were cowards and couldn’t fly an airplane," Baugh said. "We had already shot down several German fighters," but they never heard that in Washington.

After they helped push the Germans out of Sicily, they continued into the mainland of Italy and changed commands. Their new commander accepted them for what they could do, Baugh said.

The Tuskegee squadrons were given the P-40 airplanes, inferior to most German and American planes. The British refused these planes as gifts and the Germans used them as decoys.

Their missions were limited to escorting long-range bombers, but Tuskegee pilots shot down 150 enemy aircraft in the air and 250 from the ground.

"Sixty-six of our pilots were killed in combat," said Baugh. "Thirty-two were forced down and became prisoners of war."

After the war, the Tuskegee men, awarded with nearly 750 air medals, came home to find that nothing had changed. Schools, hotels and restrooms were still segregated. Even German POWs were treated better than black veterans, said Baugh.

"It’s hard for young people to understand how difficult it was," he said, adding that things are so different today. "We even have elected black officials.

"Society still has a lot wrong with it," Baugh said, adding that there are currently thousands of cases brought before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission concerning racist behavior.

"Racism is perpetuated by people who tolerate it," he said.

He told the students that if they don’t associate with people from other religions or ethnicities, it will be easier to believe bad things about them.

"In spite of all the problems in our country, it’s the best government in the world," Baugh said. "We all are lucky to be living in the best country in the world."