| An Officer and a Gentleman |
| By Justin Elliott '07 |
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In April 1945, as a member of the U.S. Army’s 477th Bombardment Group, George S. Lima was one of sixty black Air Corps officers arrested for trying to enter a white officer’s club at Freeman Field, in Indiana. Lima, now eighty-six, described the incident during an interview at his home in East Providence this summer..... It’s no surprise Lima was involved. A lifelong political and labor activist, Lima, the son of immigrants from Cape Verde, was one of World War II’s legendary Tuskegee (Alabama) Airmen, the U.S. military’s first black aviators. After the war Lima and his new wife and daughter moved to Fall River, Massachusetts, from which Lima commuted to Brown�except during football training, when he lived in Hegeman Hall. He helped found the University’s chapter of Omega Psi Phi, a black fraternity, and he studied sociology partly “to get my head straight about this business about segregation and discrimination,” he says |
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Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2008
15:09:23 EST
Greetings, Mr.Boucher....I'm Ron Brewington, former
National Public Relations Officer, Tuskegee Airmen,
Inc. (TAI)...in regards to the ..... article
about George S. Lima, it should be known that
according to our records, Mr. Lima "washed
out" of U.S. Army Air Corps flight
training in 1942 and
was not an OFFICER OR MILITARY PILOT!!!! And he
certainly was not one of 101(not 60) commissioned or
flight officers who were arrested at Freeman Field
on April 13, 1945...
For years, Mr. Lima has been carrying on a rouge
about his service with the so-called Tuskegee
Airmen.... I have spoken with him several times in
regards to his false statements...
I spoke with him as late as today (Saturday, Dec.
20th) and I asked if he ever tells people that he
flunked out of flight training....his response is
"No!!!"
I feel that I need to bring this information to your
attention to help put an end to this masquerade.
Please contact me at your earliest convenience...
...Ron Brewington
P.S. Last year, I contacted Napolean X, Co-Founder
of Limas' Black Air Foundation....I told him the
truth and he refused to listen to me..
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