R.T. Lee
aka Richard T Lee

 Greetings, Eliav....I thoroughly enjoyed talking with you regarding the below story...As I indicated, we have NO RECORD OF R.T. LEE participating in the "Tuskegee Experience" [1941-1949] ...also, being stationed at Keesler does not make you a Tuskegee Airman!!! ....and Tuskegee Airmen NEVER flew in the China, Burma, India theatres of WWII!!!!

Please see attached Tuskegee Airmen press kit..and as I indicated, please see the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. (TAI) national website at: www.tuskegeeairmen.org (click on "History")

RB
Neighbors February 27, 2009
 
Airmen TALES OF THE Tuskegee
By Eliav Appelbaum eliav@theacorn.com
 
R.T. Lee had thought he was cruising at an altitude of 27,000 feet, with the gnarled Himalaya Mountains below him.
When he broke through the clouds in his C-46 cargo plane, Lee's jaw dropped, he said.
"Looming in front of me was a mountain," Lee said, adding that he had actually been flying at 24,000 feet.
The Tuskegee Airman risked his life flying missions for his country in World War II—like that one over "the hump." It was just one of severral stories the longtime Camarillo resident shared with a crowd of about 200 people at the Naval Base Ventura County at Point Mugu last Thursday.
Lee, who has lived in Camarillo since 1965, was honored, with fellow Tuskegee Airmen Leo Gray of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Lowell Steward of Oxnard, during a celebration of Black History Month. The event was cosponsored by the Naval Warfare Center at Port Hueneme.
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first black military pilots. They flew with the U.S. Army Air Corps, and many of them fought in World War II.
 

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers AMERICAN HEROES—Tuskegee Airman, R.T. Leee, left, and his wife, Madeline, center, both from Camarillo, greet Al Duff Jr., an engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center on Feb. 19 after a luncheon at the Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu. The event was held to honor members of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American pilots to fly in the military.
"I always enjoy speaking about my experiences," said Lee, who shook hands with guests for more than half an hour while his lunch got cold.
Lee, 83, didn't attend a segregated school growing up in Ohio. But after he joined the air corps, when he tried to order a sandwich at a shop in Mississippi, just outside of Keesler Army Airfield where he was stationed, he saw the ugly face of racism.
"That's an experience I'd like to forget," Lee said. "To make a long story short, I was arrested."
During World War II, Lee flew 35 missions over the Himalayas in what he called the highlight of his flying career. He also flew missions in China, Burma, India and North Africa. Lee retired from the Air Force in 1969, but he remains active in American Legion post No. 741 in Camarillo.
Lee has been married to his wife, Madeline, for more than 50 years, and they have four children.
Gray, who attended President Barack Obama's inauguration on an invitation from Obama, enlisted in Boston in 1942. He was stationed in Italy as a fighter pilot during World War II.
The Florida resident flew 15 combat missions over Europe, including one memorable but frightening day over Berlin where "all hell broke loose," he said.
Gray, 84, had a chance to visit family when he was in town, including his grandson, Bruce Stewart, who lives in Oxnard, and his two great-granddaughters.
Stewart said the event was the first time he'd heard his grandfather speak in public about his service to his country.
"I've heard a lot of the stories but not all at once," Stewart said. "I'm really proud to know someone who's a part of history. . . . When I was young, I didn't appreciate it as much. I would say, 'What do you mean there was a black Air Force?' He would say, 'Growing up it wasn't always this way.'"
Gray, who worked for 30 years as an economist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said that there were about 16,000 people who were part of the Tuskegee program.
Of the 932 men who were trained as highperformance pilots, 404 went overseas, 398 flew combat missions, 78 were killed and 34 became prisoners of war, Gray said. Of the 78 pilots who died in the cockpit, only 12 were lost in combat, according to Gray.
Black pilots damaged or destroyed 409 enemy aircraft, a kill ratio of 10-to-1.
"I was just doing my job," Gray said after the ceremony. "We were in the right place at the right time of history."
Thomas J. Smith, a combat system engineering branch manager at Naval Base Ventura County Port Hueneme, was impressed by Lee's and Gray's anecdotes.
"I'm just glad I had the opportunity to hear them firsthand," Smith said. "We weren't born when they were, but maybe we can pass on some of their history to our kids and keep their memories alive that way."
Please see below story about alleged Tuskegee Airman R. T. Lee....As you know, this man continues to show up at bases telling folks that he is a Tuskegee Airman.. we have checked our records and show NO entry for him in the Ted Johnson database...I also understand that he showed up at the Grand Opening of the Oxnard Clinic  on April 7, 2009 telling everyone he was a Tuskegee Airman...Thank God that you have him listed as a wannabe.. It's time to put a stop to this man... Thanks...RB
 

Ventura County Star

 Pioneer Tuskegee Airmen talk racism, patriotism at Naval Base

By Scott Hadly
Friday, February 20, 2009

He was 18, a fresh recruit waiting for a ride to the training camp where he would become one of the 1,000 black pilots who would eventually be known as the Tuskegee Airmen. But before R.T. Lee got his first lesson in the cockpit, he was schooled in our country’s wartime racism.

He made the mistake of ordering a sandwich in a whites-only café in rural Mississippi and wound up getting arrested.

Lee, now 83 and living in Camarillo, told the anecdote on Thursday during a celebration of Black History Month at Naval Base Ventura County.

The story encapsulated the struggle of black men like Lee, who had to fight segregation and racism just for the chance to fight for their country.

“Black Americans have fought in every American conflict from the Revolutionary War to the war we are fighting today,” said Lee, who left the military after flying in north Africa and Burma, now Myanmar, during World War II. He then joined the Air Force as an enlisted man, serving until 1969, when he retired as a chief master sergeant.

The event on Thursday, held at the Fleet Readiness Center at Point Mugu, was hosted by the Naval Surface Warfare Center as part of the annual celebration. It featured Lee and fellow Tuskegee Airmen Lt. Col. Leo Gray of Florida, and Lowell Steward of Oxnard, who flew 47 bomber escorts during the war.

“This is a Black History Month unlike any other,” said Navy Capt. John Ailes, noting the election of President Barack Obama. Ailes then challenged the nearly 200 men and women assembled to be “heroes of their own history” like the Tuskegee Airmen.

During Obama’s inauguration a group of Tuskegee Airmen, including Gray, 85, attended. It was the second time they’d been invited, having attended President George H.W. Bush’s inauguration in 1989.

When World War II broke out, the U.S. military was segregated. Blacks were thought to be incapable of handling sophisticated equipment such as airplanes. And the decision to train black pilots at the Army Air Corps’ Tuskegee Air Field in Alabama was thought to be an experiment, one that some wanted to fail, Gray said.

President Harry Truman eventually integrated the military by executive order in 1948.

Gray enlisted in Boston in 1942 and flew 15 missions as part of the 100th Fighter Squadron. He said that of the 400 black pilots who went overseas, 398 flew combat missions, 78 were killed and 35 were captured after being shot down or crashing. The crews destroyed 409 enemy aircraft.

“A 10-to-1 kill ratio isn’t bad for guys who were never supposed to be able to fly,” Gray said.

"TUSKEGEE AIRMAN" RICHARD T. LEE , SIGNED C-46 IMAGE

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June 2, 2009

Lee is a FAKE!!! He is NOT a Tuskegee Airman...How dare this bastard use the good name of the "Tuskegee Airmen????"...I'll get in touch with eBAY ASAP!!! Thanks for bringing this to my attention!!!! Blessings!!! RB