By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - History will come alive in Buchanan on Veterans' Day as three members of the famous Tuskegee Airmen share their World War II experiences with the community.
The members of the Tuskegee Airmen overcame segregation and prejudice to become one of the most highly respected fighter groups of WWII, boasting of never having lost a bomber it escorted to enemy airspace.
The name, Tuskegee Airmen, refers to all who were involved in the so-called “Tuskegee Experiment,” the Army Air Corps program to train African-American to fly and man combat aircraft. The Tuskegee Airmen included pilots, navigators, bombardiers, maintenance and support staff, instructors and personnel who kept needed to keep the planes flying.
The three former Tuskegee Airman - Maj. Gen. Lucius Theus, United States Air Force; Lt. Col. Washington Ross, United States Air Force and Lt. Col. Alexander Jefferson, United States Air Force, will be in Buchanan on Friday, Nov. 11 at the American Legion, Post 51 at 11:30 a.m. There will be another program at 7:30 p.m., at the Buchanan High School auditorium.
Theus was on active military duty for over 36 years. He moved through the ranks from a private in the Army Air Corps during WWII, to become the commanding general of the Air Force Accounting and Finance Center.
He became the first African-American to be promoted to Brigadier General and was one of only three members of the Tuskegee Airmen 332nd Fighter Group to receive this honor.
Many of the Tuskegee Airmen received their final testing and basic military training in his squadron at Kessler Field, in Mississippi, before they were sent to Tuskegee Army Air Field for flight training.
Theus is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and the University of Maryland. He received his master's degree from George Washington University.
He is currently the principal, director and chief operating officer of The Wellness Group in Detroit.
Previously, he worked for Allied-Signal Corportation as director of civic affairs and in that capacity and as assistant corporate controller, for the Bendix Corporation.
Ross was in the United States Air Force Reserves for 25 years. In his civilian life he was a teacher and department head with the Detroit Board of Education for 25 years.
His bachelor's degree was from Hampton Institute in Hampton, Va.; his master's from the University of Detroit and BBA and MBA gegrees from D'Etre University, also in Detroit.
During the war he flew 63 stories and missions.
Jefferson was also a member of the United States Air Force Reserves for 25 years.
Following the war, he became an elementary teacher in Detroit and retired from education as an assistant principal.
During the war he flew in both France and Italy, completing 18 long range escort missions for B-17 and B-24 bombers, before being shot down three days prior to the invasion of France. He spend nine months in German POW camps before being liberated by American forces.
He serves as a voluntary admissions counselor for the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Air Force ROTC.
Both Jefferson and Theus are enshrined into the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame.