COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Historic Aviation Foundation spent Saturday afternoon saluting the past and detailing an amazing group of pilots at its monthly open house.
The foundation opened its doors to the next generation to teach them about some trailblazers called the Tuskegee Airmen for this month's event, which was dedicated to Black History Month.
"And even today, they celebrated that 75 years later," said Kenneth Berry, founding member of the S.C. Historic Aviation Foundation.
Tuskegee Airmen and the Red Tails are known for their work protecting white airmen while heading into battle. The South Carolina Historic Aviation Foundation said their heroism runs even deeper than that.
"If you really look into the history of Tuskegee Airmen for that period of time, the way racial relations were in this country at that time is pretty incredible," Berry said. "These guys had to go through so much stuff just to get in this position. And even when they got in that position, they were constantly harassed and messed with."
Marvin Williams is with the Spann Wilson chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen Association.
"Spann was a pilot who flew 36 combat missions. He also came back here to South Carolina to train pilots in Walterboro to be combat pilots," Williams said.
Williams said he heard first-hand accounts of harassment from the chapter's namesake, Lt. Col. Spann Wilson.
"On arrival to Walterboro, he was there, and he was bent over at his car, and someone came over and tapped him on the back saying, 'Boy, what you doing here?' He turned around and knocked him out and found out that that man was the sheriff's brother. Spann left South Carolina in the middle of the night," Williams said.
Despite that incident and others like it, Wilson and hundreds of Black pilots and military personnel became heroes.
"They come up through hard knocks, but when they got over there, they were ready to go. And they were fearless," Berry said.
Those fearless men and women were pivotal in winning World War II.
To take a peek at some of the artifacts of the Historic Aviation Foundation, drop by any of the differently-themed open houses held every second Saturday.