For Black History Month, Honor Flight Chicago is proud to share the following stories of African-American veterans, featuring World War II and including all of the eras we serve. We are proud to have been able to honor their service. We hope that in sharing these stories we inspire you to learn more about their history.
Black soldiers have served in every war that America has ever been involved in, including fighting alongside George Washington at Valley Forge. In this video, Air Force veteran Ted Manuel discusses the challenges black troops have faced and the important role they have played in American history. In his final words he asks us to “study the history, honor the history…..there is so much to the overall story that needs to be told.”
FEATURED VETERANS:
Click on the image of each PDF to download the document and access embedded links to content!
TERRY BLUE and ROBERT GURLEY: Childhood Friends and Vietnam Vets
Marine Sergeant Terry Blue served as an infantryman, rifleman, and with military intelligence during the Vietnam War. Army E3 Robert Gurley served in the infantry during the Vietnam War. They are childhood friends who remain close to this day. Click on the image below to download the PDF with its embedded resources!
MEL COPELAND: Tuskegee Airmen Ground Crew
U.S. Army Air Corps Sergeant Mel Copeland served as a munitions specialist in southern Europe during World War II. He wanted to serve as a pilot with the famed Tuskegee Airmen but was too tall to fly. He instead joined their ground crew. Click on the image below to download the PDF with its embedded resources!
WEYMAN EDWARDS: Segregated Service
Army Tech 5 Weyman Edwards served in Africa and Europe during World War II. Much of his service was segregated and it impacted how African
Americans were treated. Click on the image below to download the PDF with its embedded resources!
WILLIE FERBA: Lifetime of Service
Willie Ferba served as a truck driver in Japan during World War II. This was part of a lifetime of service to his community that
continues today. Click on the image below to download the PDF with its embedded resources!
CHARLES GRIFFEA: Integrating the 3rd Division
U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant Miguel Gomez served as a plane mechanic throughout the South Pacific during and after the Korean War. He served a total of 24 years. In looking back at his transports he is amazed at the advancements in air transportation. Click on the image below to download the PDF with its embedded resources!
TED MANUEL: Military Prejudice During Korean War
Air Force A1C Ted Manuel served as part of a special testing detachment in the US and Japan during the Korean War. He experienced and discusses the segregation and military prejudice of the armed forces at that time. Click on the image below to download the PDF with its embedded resources!
CHARLES NICHOLS: Two Tours in Vietnam
Marine E6 Charles Nichols served as an infantryman and a rifleman during the Vietnam War. Charles talks a lot about the feelings of why he went to Vietnam and how it has impacted his life. Click on the image below to download the PDF with its embedded resources!
HANK ROBERSON: Red Ball Express
Hank Roberson served in the Army as part of the “Red Ball Express” supply chain during World War II. He discusses his experiences with discrimination during and after the war. Click on the image below to download the PDF with its embedded resources!
CLYDE WILSON: Silver Star in Vietnam
Army Captain Clyde Wilson served during the Vietnam War and in the reserves afterwards. He was awarded the Silver Star for his leadership and bravery after taking leadership of his old platoon while attempting to deliver paychecks. Click on the image below to download the PDF with its embedded resources!
FEATURED PODCASTS:
HANK ROBERSON: Red Ball Express
WWII veteran Hank Roberson was drafted into the Army from his home in the segregated south. He arrived in Normandy one week after D-Day assigned to the 957th Quartermaster supply company — part of what would become known as the vital “Red Ball Express” supply chain. In this timely episode, Roberson discusses being confined to a non-combat role because of racial barriers, his reaction to black soldiers like himself finally being allowed to fight during the Battle of the Bulge, and his experiences with discrimination during and after the war.
MEL COPELAND: Tuskegee Airman
Mel Copeland loves his country so much, he kissed the ground he walked on when he returned home from war during WWII. He wanted to serve his nation as a paratrooper or a pilot, but was quite literally too tall to fly — so he became a ground crew member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen. In this first season finale of our Honor. Thank. Inspire. podcast, Mel’s wisdom and deeply respectful approach to life shine through with a message that’s as timeless as it is timely. Mel went on to a 40-year teaching career and, later, 10 years as a licensed clinical therapist, retiring at age 90.
FEATURED INTERACTIVE CONTENT:
WILLIE FERBA: Lifetime of Service
Willie Ferba’s is a story of a lifetime of service from his childhood on the streets of Chicago in the 1930s, to his service in the segregated military of World War II, to this very day in the Austin community he continues to serve. Willie’s grandmother told him “to always turn the other cheek” but Willie has spent all 95 years of his life quietly and respectfully standing up for what is right and bringing change in the process. We hope you will be inspired by his story and his spirit of service and community. “Have a blessed day.”
WEYMAN EDWARDS: A Journey
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shortly after the Tulsa Race Riots, Weyman Edwards served his country through a number of challenges and limitations that segregation laid in his path. After being denied Officer’s training, Edwards became part of an all-Black Special Engineers Company that traveled alongside (and oftentimes in front of) white troops to repair roads and bridges along their intended route. Edwards served throughout Europe from 1943-45, and is still haunted by flashbacks well into his 90s. Click this interactive presentation to follow each step of his journey:
CHARLES NICHOLS: Two Tours
A lifelong Chicagoan, Charles Nichols did two tours of duty as an infantryman and rifleman during the Vietnam War, reaching the rank of E-6 with the United States Marines Corps. When he returned from “in-country” following his first tour of duty, the resistance and animosity he experienced against the war in his own community led to trouble. He determined the safest thing for him to do was to head back to his role as platoon sergeant in Vietnam.
TERRY BLUE & ROBERT GURLEY
United States Marines Corp Staff Sergeant James “Terry” Blue served as an infantryman, rifleman, and with military intelligence during the Vietnam War. Army E3 Robert Gurley served in the infantry during the Vietnam War. Blue and Gurley are childhood friends from Chicago who remain close to this day. Honor Flight Chicago is indebted to the DuSable Museum of African-American History for providing the location and backdrop for this conversation.
FEATURED WRITTEN INTERVIEWS:
CLYDE WILSON: Silver Star Hero
Clyde Wilson was born while his WWII-veteran father was overseas in New Guinea. His dad didn’t want Clyde to follow his military path, but shortly after graduating from Jackson State University, Wilson was drafted. He worked as an officer with “McNamara’s Hundred Thousand:” largely low IQ recruits, or those who had the choice between prison and the military, before he ended up in Vietnam himself. Wilson’s bravery and leadership earned him a Silver and Bronze Star. He has continued to display those qualities throughout his life working in labor relations at the Ford Motor Company and teaching special education in Chicago’s south suburbs.
CHARLES GRIFFEA: Integration
During the Korean War, President Truman ordered full integration of US Troops. In November 1950, Charles Griffea was drafted into the Army from his assembly line job at the Pontiac Automotive plant in Michigan and became one of those troops. Charles and other black personnel from his training group at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, were assigned to the all-white 3rd Infantry Division from Georgia. Despite there being “a few problems” with the arrangements, the men “were all too busy trying to stay alive” and all worked as a team to defeat their common enemies: the Chinese, the North Koreans and the bitter weather.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Our Operation Education volunteers have compiled a lengthy list of resources relating to African-American service during WWII, broken down based on the stories of the veterans involved and including several more general resources on African-American history in military service. Click the button below to visit our most current Google Document with links to more information!