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The Tuskegee Airmen Sequence

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Contributed by: Sandra Doe on 4/21/2007

Hello, I am Dr. Sandra Maresh Doe, and my poetry is included in the volumne: "Poetry: a collection in honor of THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN." Please consider it for the print story that is going to run on them. Thank you.

The Tuskee Airmen Sequence:

A Series of Found Poems and Meditations
From Segregated Skies: Black Combat Squadrons of WWII
by Stanley Sandler, 1992
by
Sandra Maresh Doe

Red Tails on the flank
Makes a bomber pilot feel safe.
Faithful shepherds to the big boys.
Never lost a bomber to the aircraft enemy.

99th Fighter Squadron (Colored) (Separate)
477th Bombardment Group (Medium)

"Nothing will stop the Army Air Corps"
But discrimination. Refuse
To admit Blacks.

Civilian Pilot Training, Step 1
Army Air Corps Next.

Tuskegee picked:
Accomodationist
From Booker T.
Isolate. Separate.
Segregate.

"Separate but Equal"
Breaks down:
No flow of cadets of color
To the front.

The Goldfish Bowl

The press, the politicos,
All watching.
Success lauded
Failures documented.

The Two War Front

Early Aviators:
Robinson, Ballar, Peck
Anderson
Excluded: Airline Pilots'
Association.

"Close Ranks"
(W.E.B. Du Bois)

You shed blood in the Civil War
37,000 lives gone. You sank
With the Tecumseh. You rode
The Western frontier. You fought
The Spaniard. You galloped
With Teddy R. But no
Army Air Corps. Close
Ranks, close ranks.

The 99th Pursuit Squadron I
(Separate) (Colored)

We "can be forced
To accept it, but we
Can never agree to it."
(The Crisis, a publication of the NAACP )

Oh

This is a war
Against a common foe
But if you're black
Fly low.
Segregated you go
Apart you go.

The 99th Pursuit Squadron II

Pursuit alone allowed.
The glamour branch.
Anything else, second best
but
Black officers giving orders
Supported by black personnel.

"Chief" Anderson Takes Eleanor Roosevelt Aloft

Afterwards
The Rosenwald Fund donates $175,000
To construct the primary field.
($200,000 needed).
She remains a steady friend
Of black aviation.

Entertain the Troops

Lena Horne visits TAAF
December, 1944.
Bring in Joe Lewis,
Louis Armstrong,
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson.
Sing, box and play
With the Post Orchestra
The Imperial Kings of Rhythm.

Dancing to the Six Inch Rule
(Couples apart 6")

"Tuskee Air Field operated for five
Years with many hundreds of Negro women
And several white women. During
This time almost every conceivable
Interracial complication arose
Except one-
Sex."
--Noah Parrish
Base Commander (White)

Colonel Van Kimble (White)
TAAF Base Commander

Brings "colored" water
And "white" water
"Colored" toilets
And "white" toilets
To TAAF base.
Segregation within
Segregation.

G. L. Washington Said:

Not an experiment
A demonstration.

Mac Ross

In transition training
Suffers engine malfunction
Bails out to a cottom patch
Joins the "caterpillar club"
By such action shows
Blacks can't fly.

Training

Training, practice, more
Training. 99th in excellent
Condition. Ready
For immediate shipment overseas.
Delay will suffer
Morale to be
Lowered.
Delay.

Asphaltsoldaten

What the Germans
Called them.
Spit and polish units
Never leaving
For the front.

March 1943

Eleanor Roosevelt writes
To the Airstaff
About the lack
Of Black flyers
To the front:
"Does this mean that none
Of those trained are being used in
Active service?"

Deployed

On the troop train
To New Jersey.
Eight day crossing.
Arrive April 24, 1943:
Africa and Casablanca.
More troop train
To Fez, French Morocco.
Josephine Baker
Makes them welcome.
Get fresh P-40 Warhawks,
Model Ls, the best
But inferior
To German pursuit
Aircraft.
The 99th would like
Something better.
On to Tunisia.
The 99th attached
To the 33rd Fighter Group.

June 2, 1943

Operational sorties
Ground staffing
Against Italian Pontelleria,
Fortified. A sight
Of beauty-two squadrons
Roar into African skies.

June 9, 1943

Four German Bf 109s take off
To intercept
Twelve American A-20 bombers
Attaching an airfield
On Pantelleria.
Eight escorting P-40s
(not the 99th)
Turned to the attack.

Combat Efficiency: A Report

July 1943 to Jan 1944-
No significant differences
Between the 99th
And the balance of P-40
Squadrons. Inferior
Only in
Objective bombing (12%)
But flew
More armed patrol
And reconnaissance (10%).
The 99th flew 79% of the sorties
But destroyed twelve enemy
Aircraft while comparable squadrons
Destroyed 0.3 enemy aircraft.

Hostile Forces Gather Around Them
January 27, 1944:
The American Red Cross
For the first time
Accepts black blood.
"Is this a white man's war?"

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Showing 1 of 1 comments

Submitted By: Tabitha Dial

posted on 4/23/2007 @ 2:31:02 PM

Rated Story

Great stuff, Dr. Doe.

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Sandra Doe

Denver , CO

Sandra Doe has posted 2 stories and 0 comments since joining on 4/20/2007. Sandra Doe 's average story rating is 5.

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