Quentin Smith
Tuskegee Member
Freeman Army Air Field

Quentin Smith fought World War II on two fronts

November 11, 2009

By JOHN WOLF

America was involved in three wars during World War II. There was the war in Europe, fought chiefly by the Army. There was the war in the Pacific, fought mainly by Navy and the Marines, although the war in the Philippines was all Army.

And there was the war against racial discrimination, fought chiefly by the brave pilots called the Tuskegee Airmen.

Until recently, little was known about the all-black unit of airmen. Their courage broke the color barrier then in practice by all units of the armed forces.

Ken Burns, in his TV epic "The War," tells of civilian race riots in Detroit and Mobile, Ala., but fails to deal with the absence of any black officers in the Navy or Marine Corps, and few in the Army.

From personal experience in World War II with thousands of Marines and Navy personnel, I never saw a black Marine or any black officers among the fleets we were attached to in six major battles.

Quentin Smith of Gary is one of the few living pilots trained at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

"Nobody wanted us," Smith said, "because the word was out, 'Blacks can't fly, blacks can't fight and blacks can't lead.' "

They had something to prove.

Gen. Colin Powell said of these airmen, "They had the wind under their wings."

Their record in combat was extraordinary and led eventually to President Truman eliminating racial segregation in the military in 1948. But not before a contentious battle.

Historians recognize now that before Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Ala., or Martin Luther King Jr. began the civil rights movement, Smith and 100 fellow courageous black officers set the nation on the course to fulfill the Declaration of Independence's ideal that "all men are created equal."

Source: http://www.post-trib.com/news/opinion/1875556,col-wolf-1111.article

01/15/2013

Tuskegee Airman Quentin Smith talks in January 2012 about being a member of that elite group of WWII fighters. Smith died Tuesday at the age of 94.

Quentin Smith, one of the last of the Tuskegee Airmen, died Tuesday at the age of 94.

Smith was a member of the legendary black World War II air corps that rarely lost a plane while escorting and protecting bombers as they flew missions over war-torn Europe.

Smith returned to the region and served as the first principal of West Side High School in Gary and on the Gary City Council. Smith also created the Gary Emerson High School for Visual and Performing Arts.

The city and the region are better off because of Smith, said Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson.

"He was destined to lead, and it does speak volumes to how the Tuskegee Airmen were trained to lead. We were very fortunate to have him in this community," she said.

Freeman-Wilson recalled talking to Smith last year when she presented him a replacement Congressional Gold Medal.

"He was larger than life. The time I spent with him that day was a highlight, just listening to him. That is something I will always treasure," she said.

Smith was born in Texas, but at an early age he moved with his family to Northwest Indiana. He graduated from Indiana State University in 1940 with a degree in social studies education. After teaching for two years at Roosevelt High School in Gary, and following the outbreak of World War II, Smith joined the war effort.

While most of his colleagues yearned to fly, Smith had to be talked into signing up. In the 1940s, all military planes were assigned to white pilots, so Smith flew "primary" planes, or service aircraft, and served as a flight instructor for "primaries" at Tuskegee Institute. Later, because he was too big for a fighter plane, he became a bomber pilot. It was difficult at first to assemble a full crew, though, as black pilots were not allowed to command white crews.

After spending time at Fort Knox, 1st Lt. Smith was transferred to Freeman Field at Seymour, Ind., where he made military history. Smith and 100 other black officers were arrested for defying orders not to enter the base�s officers club. The Army sent the officers to Fort Leavenworth, but that Kansas base was not prepared to handle so many African-American detainees, so they were sent back to Freeman Field.

Thurgood Marshall, an NAACP attorney who would go on to become the first black Supreme Court justice, won the release of Smith and his fellow officers.

Two years later, President Harry Truman integrated the military but it would take more than 50 years for the Freeman Field officers� service records to be cleared.

After Smith's military flight career, he returned to teaching and served as a guidance counselor and school principal. He earned a master�s degree in English and became director of secondary education for the Gary Community School Corp. Smith was a member of the Tuskegee Airman 477th Composite Group. He received the Congressional Gold Medal. He was a member of the Chicago chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, Organization of Black Pilots and sat on several aviation and education boards.

Source: http://www.nwitimes.com

www.IndianaMilitary.org
Jim West
Page last revised 01/16/2013