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Tuskegee Airman Honored in France
Col. Charles E. McGee, U.S. Air Force
(Ret.), one of the celebrated Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, was named a
knight of France's Legion of Honor during a week of events in Paris and
Normandy marking the 60th anniversary of D-Day, the landing of Allied forces
on the European mainland. Acceptance in to the Legion of Honor is one of the
highest awards France gives to non-citizens of the country.
Col. McGee, 84, a decorated combat record-holder, was one of 450 pilots who
served overseas in the all-Black 99th Fighter Squadron or 332nd Fighter
Group. In all, approximately 922 Black cadets entered Army Air Corps Flight
Training at the historic Tuskegee Institute /Mo- ton Field during WWII.
Col. McGee remained on active duty in the Air Force for 30 years, flying
more than 6,100 hours, and became a command pilot. Col. McGee's daughter,
Charlene M. Smith, Ph.D., associate dean of the New York College of
Osteopathic Medicine at the New York Institute of Technology, has written a
book about her father's military career:
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