The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American military aviators in the United States Armed Forces and are revered today as heroes and pioneers for civil rights in America.
Las Vegas hosted 350 attendees for the Tuskegee Airmen Conference last month.
Three of the original Tuskegee Airmen -- Colonel Charles McGee, Cadet William T. Fauntroy, Jr. and Cadet Walter Robinson – talked with KNPR's State of Nevada about their experiences, careers and hopes for future generations.
In the 1920s, the Army established a policy that excluded African-Americans from everything but service roles in the military. That notion was challenged in World War II and the Tuskegee Airmen program was established with the expectation that it would fail.
The gentlemen said they faced all kinds of racism from extreme examples to small slights. They said they even had to be prepared to be attacked by white service members.
"By the same token, it created a brotherhood, a unity, an association that we felt that we were in this together and so let's pull each other up," Colonel McGee said.
The men said despite what they went through they still wanted to fight for their country and they just held out hope that attitudes would change.
"We didn't look at it as a civil rights step," McGee said. "What we accomplished in overcoming those biases the Army had made it a step in that direction."
The strides the men made eventually led to the executive order by President Harry Truman ending segregation in the U.S. military.
Colonel Charles McGee; Cadet William T. Fauntroy, Jr.; Cadet Walter Robinson