The Tuskegee Legacy


There’s nothing more inspirational than success that comes from hard work, determination, and perseverance amid adversity. Staying on a path to excellence when it’s fraught with challenge is the essence of good character and integrity. Bob Sheppard is a product of that good character and integrity. The son of a politically active mother, who worked on the Robert F. Kennedy presidential campaign prior to his assassination, and a father who worked with the Federal Aviation Administration for years, Bob preserves history and teaches others about the incredible contributions of African Americans to aviation and our nation. Bob’s father, Master Sgt. James A. Sheppard, was a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen of World War II.

Much of what Bob learned about his father’s military service came a little later in his life when he was able to travel with his dad to speaking presentations and conventions and was able to better appreciate the significance of his service and his contributions to civil rights.

For the most part, when the greatest generation returned from war, they went about building their lives and futures without much talk about their military service protecting the liberty of others. “Initially, he didn’t talk about it,” Bob confirmed. “The first time my dad got a call to speak about the Tuskegee Airmen for Black History month I think he may have hung up on them. He would say, ‘those are old stories. Nobody wants to hear about that, anymore.’”

Bob says his mother Lucile recognized the historical value of his father’s military service and strongly encouraged him to start speaking publicly. “My mom was the more technology savvy one at the time so she would help him with the slide shows, primarily using his photos.” Bob shares one of his dad’s hobbies at the time was photography. “Dad took his camera with him, and it got him in trouble,” Bob explained. “He was having these photos developed commercially and he wound up in the base commander’s office where they said he could keep the camera, but photos had to be developed on the base to avoid people seeing anything sensitive. He was meticulous about documenting what the pictures were of and put stickers on the back of who was in the picture, where they were, the date, so on. I think he did a lot of photos for guys in his unit who were sending them back to their wives and family members, in trade for who knows what. He didn’t drink or smoke, so it was probably for chocolate bars.”

Bob says early on, his dad’s presentations may have included a book or two and some photos but once word got out that James A. Sheppard was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen who had served during World War II in Italy, he was in demand and had to up his game. “He was an engineer with a degree in aeronautical engineering,” Bob chuckled. “He was short on words. I had a background in broadcast journalism, so I knew his stories needed to be saved and shared. Stories like how the African American soldiers loaded on the train in D.C. were put up front near the steam locomotive and the windows were open. They were getting covered in dust and smoke while the other passengers were loaded further back. But, he also spoke of the friendships and relationships made during trainings. He talked about how their convoy was raided a couple of times by German subs on their way to Sicily as well. I got help from a friend who worked in television, and we produced a documentary capturing his stories about his service. This way he was able to use the documentary as part of his presentations and then could do Q & A with the audience.”

James Sheppard may have been short on words but that didn’t stop him from doing presentations for military groups, civilian pilot groups, colleges and universities with aeronautical engineering programs, middle schools, high schools, and in eight different countries. “When he did presentations for middle school kids, he talked about hygiene and how at the height of the war in Italy they were lucky if they got to take a shower once a month and how they washed up in their helmets and did the best they could in the Italian mud. He talked about the things people take for granted, especially today.”

Bob shares his dad was lucky. “It’s important for people to understand there’s a long history of African American pilots and their involvement in aviation. There were negro pilots back in the 20’s and 30’s. There were pilot organizations in places like New York City, D.C., Chicago, and Detroit in the early days as people were trying to figure out where the industry was headed, and they really accomplished some incredible things. Dad was born in New York City; In Harlem. He was one of four children of two immigrants in the 1920’s from the Caribbean Island of Antigua. He knew from a very early age what he wanted to do in life. He grew up at a time aviation was a new endeavor. Charles Lindbergh was setting records. Dad saw some of those early aircraft flying overhead and the zeppelins and blimps. He saw the Hindenburg flyover a few days before it met its end in New Jersey. New York was a world center attracting aviation enthusiasts.”

Bob reminds us that during that time in our history, pilots were the daring young heroes of the day. “Dad told me when he could scratch up a few coins to see the Saturday matinee with his friends he’d see pilots in the movies. He told me when he was a kid, he and his two brothers would build model airplanes out of balsa wood and paper at the kitchen table and take turns going up on the roof of the apartment house while one of them stood down on the street to make sure there was no traffic. If it survived the first flight it would go back up for another chance. Dad was fortunate there were magnet schools at the time, and he was one of only a handful of African American students. He trained with other male students who were the sons from Polish, German, and Dutch families, some of them their first generation to speak English. The school trained people how to become pilots, mechanics, airplane designers and he thought he’d be ready for a job with the airlines after high school. At the time, because of discrimination, most of his classmates got airline jobs but he couldn’t. Despite his training, he says the first job he was able to get after high school was assembling Shirley Temple dolls at a local factory on Long Island.”

WW II had begun the first week James Sheppard was enrolled in high school. “A lot of young men at the time wanted to do their part for their country. It was a patriotic thing, and millions were signing up to get in. Dad had heard they had established a program for African-America pilots, and he thought that was the thing to do. His father who had served with the British military in World War I in Mesopotamia told him he didn’t want to be on the front line like he was, and he should try for something a little safer. He signed up and after basic training, was sent to Tuskegee, Alabama where they were starting the program for blacks to serve in the war effort.”

The U.S. Army Air Corps Tuskegee Airmen were not just the fighter jocks. The name encompassed thousands of people who served with them from cooks to mechanics, medical staff to chaplains. Bob’s dad was a crew chief for the 332nd Fighter Group Red Tail Squadron. “Between the fighters and bombers, there were a little less than a thousand pilots total who flew four of the five frontline high-performance fighters of the time. Some of the planes they got were new and straight from the factory, some were hand-me-downs and the aircraft they flew depended on the mission. Initially, they were doing strafing runs protecting the beaches, and the first D-day with the invasion of Sicily.”

The Wreaths Across America annual Escort to Arlington stopped at the Maine Veterans Home in Scarborough, Maine and had the distinct honor of meeting James Sheppard before his passing four years ago.

Bob continues to share his father’s legacy and that of his fellow Tuskegee Airmen. He’s had the privilege of spending time with many of these amazing individuals who served and sacrificed for the country they loved despite the segregation and discrimination of the time. “In the 1980’s I met Brigadier General Charles McGee, who recently passed away at the age of 102. In 2019, I was fortunate to have spent several days in his company during the Oshkosh Airadventure show. He was such a gracious man. Such a low-key guy,” Bob reminisced. “He was one of those rare pilots who flew in three wars. He flew combat in WW II, he flew then F-51’s and then the first generation of jets in Korea in combat, and he also flew and RF 4 a modified reconnaissance version of the F4 Phantom in Vietnam as well.”

Bob volunteers when he can with the Commemorative Air Force Squadron in Minnesota where he’s had additional opportunities to meet and learn more about the Tuskegee stories of service. “You get to sit down with them and learn some interesting things,” Bob shared. “Alexander Jefferson is still alive and lives in Detroit. I learned he was a pilot who was shot down on one of his first missions. He was strafing a radar station in France. The German’s caught up to him quickly and of course they didn’t speak English and he didn’t speak German, but they were asking him where the pilot was because they didn’t believe him, that he was black and the pilot of this high-performance aircraft firing on the German installation. He spent time in POW camps. He’s got a book, Red Tailed Capture, Red Tail Free; Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airmen and POW, in which he tells a fascinating story, and his books has drawing and cartoons that he drew of his overseas experience.” The Commemorative Air Force was started originally by former WW II pilots. Today, it’s made up of pilots and aviation enthusiasts committed to preserving some of the aircraft of the time and keeping them airworthy.

One of Bob’s greatest takeaways from traveling with his father and attending air shows was the reaction people had upon meeting the Tuskegee Airmen, particularly the pilots. “It always amazed me to see how the people react when they see the pilots, when they realize who they are. Whether they’re ten-year-old kids who have some understanding, to their parents, but also other pilots, civilian and military alike. Whenever I’ve traveled with them people have dropped what they were doing to run over to take pictures and get autographs. Men, women, people of color or not, who understand that these guys made a difference at a time that created a lot of opportunities for a wide variety of folks to do some really exciting things today.”

Before the pandemic hit, Bob was making about six to ten presentations annually on his dad’s service and that of the other members of the Tuskegee Airmen. Today, he continues to find a way to serve. He’s adapted the presentation for virtual offerings for several libraries.

Bob’s parents are both laid to rest at the Southern Maine Veteran’s Cemetery. Incidentally, Bob’s mother Lucile was the first African America woman to serve on the Maine Board of Education.

If you’d like to connect with Bob to learn more about the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, he can be reached at 1bobsheppard@gmail.com

You can hear more of Bob's interview on Wreaths Across America Radio on Feb. 21, 2022 at Noon (eastern), Feb, 23 at 4:00 PM and Feb. 25 at 11:00 AM Listen live here: https://ihr.fm/3aI0hTF

 

Additional reading:

The Tuskegee Aviation Experiment and Tuskegee Airmen 1939-1949 Le Roy F. Gillead 1994

Black Tails – Black Wings John Holway Yucca Tree Press, 1997

332nd Fighter Group – Tuskegee Airmen, Chris Bucholz, Osprey Publishing, 2007

Benjamin O. Davis JR American, An Autobiography, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991

Tuskegee Airman, biography of Charles E. Mcgee, Charlene McGee Smith, Branden Publishing 1999

Red Tail Captured, Red Tail Free, Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman and POW, Alexander Jefferson, Fordham University Press 2005