Steve Gilliard, 1964-2007
It is with tremendous sadness that we must convey
the news that Steve Gilliard, editor and publisher of The News Blog,
passed away June 2, 2007. He was 42.
To those who have come to trust
The News Blog and its insightful, brash and unapologetic editorial
tone, we have Steve to thank from the bottom of our hearts. Steve helped
lead many discussions that mattered to all of us, and he tackled subjects
and interest categories where others feared to tread.
Please keep Steve's friends and family in your
thoughts and prayers.
Steve meant so much to us.
We will miss him terribly.
photo by lindsay beyerstein
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Seitan Worshipper: "Yahoo-AP - Black airmen honored for fighting Nazis, racism"

What heroes look like
Thanks to Seitan Worshipper for this great find!
In honor of Steve - may he make a complete, speedy recovery.
Black airmen honored for fighting Nazis, racism
TUSKEGEE, Alabama (Reuters) - The first black U.S. Air Force unit will finally receive national recognition this week for fighting a double war -- one against the Nazis abroad, the other against racial segregation at home.
President George W. Bush will honor the surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen with a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award given by Congress, at a ceremony on Thursday at the U.S. Capitol.
The airmen helped lay the groundwork for the civil rights movement and influenced President Harry Truman's decision to desegregate the army in 1948.
But just as their success is being recognized, one aspect of the story is in dispute.
The "Red Tails" of the 99th Fighter Squadron -- so called because some of the planes they piloted had distinctive red tails -- flew some 1,578 missions from their base in North Africa, destroyed over 260 enemy aircraft, sank one enemy destroyer and demolished numerous enemy installations, according to military records.
For decades, they were also credited with never having lost a bomber under their escort. Yet Daniel Haulman of the Air Force Historical Research Agency said some of the many bombers escorted were in fact shot down.
...
'BOY, CARRY MY BAGS'
The 99th Fighter Squadron was set up after the army reluctantly agreed to train a group of black pilots at a remote air school in Tuskegee, Alabama, keeping them separate from the rest of the army in line with its policy of segregation.
In all, about 1,000 pilots were trained, and also ground crew. Fewer than a third of the pilots are still alive to receive the medal.
"We had the feeling that the program was designed to fail," said one of the pilots, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Charles Dryden, who graduated from the school in 1942.
"Our mantra was that we dared not fail because if we did, the doors of future aviation would be closed to black people forever," he said in an interview at his home in Atlanta.
...
"I had a deep feeling of fear," he said of his first combat encounter. "It wasn't about the enemy, it was about myself ... But the first time I saw the enemy I ran (flew) toward him and I knew that I was a tiger and not a pussy cat."
On graduating from the flying school, he rode the train back to New York wearing his uniform.
"As I was proudly preening my way through the terminal a little white lady said: 'Here Boy. Carry my bags."' The remark angered him but taught him a lesson. "It humbled me. It taught me: It's not the uniform that counts, it's what's inside."
RED TAILS
...
Tuskegee University, set up to educate blacks by Booker T. Washington, lobbied the Air Force to train the airmen at its own pioneering school for black civilian pilots at Moton Field, land now being restored as a national park and historic site.
"The Tuskegee airmen grew straight out of this culture of achievement and built on it," he said in an interview. "The segregation was part of the trigger that enabled them to succeed."
- posted by Seitan WorshipperLabels: military families, World War 2
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