The Tuskegee Airmen

by

Minnesota

Honoring Joe Gomer

At recent events where he was celebrated as one of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, Duluth resident Joe Gomer used words like “embarrassing” and “awkward” to describe how he feels in the spotlight.

“I never created a lot of attention, you know. And all of a sudden you’re the center of attention, and you’re representing not just yourself but really the black Army Air Corps. I’m just a survivor,” says the nonagenarian, who flew 68 combat missions with the unit known as the Tuskegee Airmen, a reference to the location of their training in Alabama.

There is an effort under way to get a life-size statute of Joe as a young pilot on display later this year at the Duluth International Airport.

During World War II, the military was racially segregated, a reflection of American society as a whole.

Tuskegee Airmen Inc., on its website, relates that, “Before 1940, African Americans were barred from flying for the U.S. military. Civil rights organizations and the black press exerted pressure that resulted in the formation of an all African-American pursuit squadron based in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1941. They became known as the Tuskegee Airmen.”

The Tuskegee Airmen “served with distinction in combat and directly contributed to the eventual integration of the U.S. armed services, with the U.S. Air Force leading the way,” according to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

Major Joseph P. Gomer was born in 1920 in Iowa Falls, Iowa. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and went through flight training at Tuskegee Army Air Field. After the war, he stayed in the Air Force and worked in aircraft maintenance and missile work, becoming a nuclear weapons technician, reports the Northland Veterans Services Committee.

That committee is raising money for the statue to be sculpted by artist Tim Cleary of Hermantown, Minnesota, and a teacher at nearby University of Wisconsin-Superior.

The artist says that “Joe is really a metaphor” for something larger, but the sculpture will be an individual portrait based on emotional content, sources of history and the person himself. Tim hopes to finish the work in about six months.

Although Tim can use archival images for the project, he adds, “It is important that I get to know Joe a little bit and make sure that he’s satisfied with what I’m doing.”

“Red Tails,” a new movie by Lucas Film Ltd. about the African-American fliers, is in theaters, including Zinema 2 in Duluth. The title refers to the crimson paint on the tails of their aircraft.

After seeing “Red Tails” at a special showing at Zinema 2 Friday night (January 20), Joe took part in a Q&A session with an audience of fans who gave him a standing ovation.

His rating of the movie? “Our aircraft weren’t as shiny, and living conditions weren’t that good,” Joe told the Duluth News Tribune. “It was an excellent movie. I really enjoyed it.”

Joe, who turns 92 this year, says that his experience represents the Red Tail pilots, but when you talk about the Tuskegee Airmen, it really means everyone who backed up the fliers as well. Thousands of military personnel and civilians at Tuskegee made it possible for them to fly.

“The whole thing was African Americans. They (military leaders) wanted us off in the corner,” he says. “No airbase on the East Coast or the West Coast wanted us, so they had to prepare a place for us.”

He hopes that as the story of the Tuskegee Airmen becomes better known, it will influence young people “to be all they can. Because there’s no glass ceiling any more, thanks to what we were able to accomplish.”

The Northland Veterans Service Committee is accepting donations at Zinema 2 for the Joe Gomer Memorial statue. There also will be a fundraiser from 6:30-10 p.m., February 16, at the Aad Shrine Building on Highway 53 in Hermantown, Minnesota, where a $25 donation includes dinner, silent auction and dancing to Duluth’s Blue Water Big Band, and a chance to meet Joe Gomer. Or contact Gene Rands at 218-349-9000 or Durbin Keeney at 218-590-3156.

Learn more about the Tuskegee Airmen at www.tuskegeeairmen.org.