WATERBORO — In recognition of Veterans Day, former Tuskegee Airman James Sheppard shared his story with Massabesic High School students at an assembly Wednesday.
The school-wide event was hosted by the MHS NJROTC, which presented the colors, and included patriotic performances by the school’s band and choir. Several local veterans were in attendance as well, and were recognized with entry into the gymnasium under an arch of crossed swords and a reading of their names.
“Veterans Day honors all American veterans,” said Shawna Alexander, ROTC company commander, who served as the master of ceremonies for the event. “Nov. 11 of each year is the day we let veterans know we deeply appreciate the sacrifices they have made to keep our country free.”
Sheppard, who lives in South Portland, shared a slideshow with the students of photographs from his days as a fighter pilot with the 301st Squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group ”“ known world-wide as the Tuskegee Airmen ”“ in the Army Air Force in World War II. He served both stateside, training in Tuskegee, Ala., and overseas in Africa and Italy, as a crew chief mechanic, responsible for signing off on each aircraft’s flight-worthiness before pilots took off.
Not only was his presentation a review of the unit’s role in the war, but also a snapshot of the racial divide of the 1940s.
There were no black airmen in the U.S. military before the 1940s, he told the students, until President Roosevelt ordered the military to start one fighter pilot group of blacks with black commanders. The instructors were white, since no blacks had been allowed in the pilot programs previously, he said, but he didn’t recall any discrimination issues with them during his six months of mechanic training and eight months of flight training. Racism was still rampant at the time, however.
“If you were low on fuel, you couldn’t stay overnight on a white airbase, all because of the discrimination business,” he explained to students, “so we got a lot of navigation experience at night.”
Sheppard recounted to students how his unit would bomb German tanks and artillery from only 100 feet above the ground and later served as escorts for larger bombers, protecting the planes. Drafted at age 18, he was 20 years old when WWII ended, he said.
He showed students a variety of photos, some disturbing ”“ an airman who died when his plane crashed during training; some amusing ”“ a fellow service member with his ukulele in hand and his fly open; and some poignant ”“ the first black man in the unit to shoot down a German Luftwaffe plane, enjoying a congratulatory bottle of Coca-Cola.
The unit flew out of pasture land in the war zone, laying down steel mats so the planes could take off and land out of the mud, and lived in six-man tents, he recalled. Eighty-eight pilots were killed in less than a year and another 35 were taken as POWs when their planes were shot down.
The Veterans Day ceremony, an annual tradition at MHS, was concluded with a flag-folding ceremony and bagpipe performance.
— Kristen Schulze Muszynski can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 322 or kristenm@journaltribune.com. Staff Writer Tammy Wells contributed to this report.
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