They came from as far away as Hawaii, silver-haired heroes converging on their nation’s capital to celebrate their place in history.
But the fact that there were so many fewer of them this year was painfully obvious to the heroes.
They once numbered 15,000 — 992 pilots, 200 navigators, bombardiers and administrators, as well as legions of crew members and support and medical personnel who came to be known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
Seventy years later, their ranks have fallen precipitously. Only a few more than 100 of the “originals” from the Tuskegee days were among those who came to Washington this week for the 40th annual convention of Tuskegee Airmen Inc. at National Harbor’s Gaylord hotel.
“We are losing so many that it is hard to keep track,” said Col. Charles E. McGee, 91, of Bethesda, whowas inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in July for flying 409 combat missions in three wars: World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
McGee and the rest of the Tuskegee Airmen were pioneering aviators who broke the color barrier for black pilots in the U.S. military during World War II.
This week, they moved a little slower and stood a little less tall, but the response of the men, women and children who crossed their paths demonstrated their continuing rock-star status.
On Thursday, in a poignant annual tradition called the Lonely Eagles Ceremony, the airmen paid tribute to those who have died since last year’s convention. As they sat in rapt silence, the names of 33 of their comrades were called out as a bell tolled.
They stood as they heard the name of a friend or loved one. Included was Charles H. Flowers, 92, of Glenarden, who died in January. Charles Flowers High School is named in his honor. Most of the room was standing when the last name was called.
Then McGee spoke up. “George Fulton Walker III,” he called out. Three others added names of people who also had been left off the list.
“For me, the ceremony isn’t sad, but a reverent moment,” McGee said. “You have to realize that one day it will be your name on that list.”
William Broadwater, 85, of Upper Marlboro, a former lieutenant who trained at Tuskegee as a bomber pilot and later served as president of the local and national chapters, expressed concern about the dwindling numbers.
“We were able to locate 380-some remaining members who were mobile enough to come to Washington for the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony” in 2007, he said. “There were a couple hundred more who couldn’t make it. We had to go to their homes to give them their medals. It’s hard to know how many are remaining because we are losing 20 to 30 to our Lonely Eagle chapter every year.”
When they first converged on an airfield in Tuskegee, Ala., in 1941 as part of a U.S. Army Air Corps program set up after civil rights groups pressured Congress to create better opportunities for blacks in the military, they didn’t consider themselves trailblazers, the Tuskegee Airmen said. They were young men, and a few women, who wanted to help their country defeat the enemy overseas.
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