October 2022: Neighbors, friends, and family came to the Freeman Municipal Airport in Seymour, Indiana to honor the Tuskegee Airmen who helped to integrate the armed forces in WWII.
"I don't think a lot of people know what led to the integration of the armed forces, and I think a lot of people in Indiana don't know that movement started right here," said Bryan Patrick Avery, whose grandfather flew with the Tuskegee Airmen and was stationed in Seymour during the war.
While America was fighting Axis forces abroad in the 1940s, Black Americans and other Americans of color were fighting their own battle with racism at home. It was a constant threat to even those minorities who served, but 77 years ago, more than 100 Tuskegee Airmen took a stand at Freeman Army Airfield.
"I think a lot of us don't realize the sacrifice that Americans have made for them to be free. At some point, there was a disconnect. We have to make that connection back again," said James C. Warren Jr., whose father was an airman. "Making that connection is what brought this large group here to the airport," Warren said.The plan for the statues unveiled in Seymour started as an Eagle Scout project for Tim Molinari, who said it's so much more than that.
"It's an honor to be a part of preserving our nation's history and to honor the airman how they should be honored," he said. "What took place here in Seymour changed American history."https://www.wthr.com/article/news/national/military-news/new-display-honors-tuskegee-airmen-seymour-freeman-airfield-museum/531-eda1cb9d-c7f2-47e2-bafb-a1be9c23e786