Tuskegee Airman proud of 30-year military career

MAITLAND — The walls of Tuskegee Airman Richard Hall’s suburban home are covered with medals, ribbons and certificates depicting an illustrious 30-year career.

They tell the story of a man who served in the military’s first group of black airmen, traveled the world and retired near the community where he was raised.

A photo that hangs in the hallway leading to the 93-year-old’s bedroom shows what he considers to be his crowning achievement: receiving — along with 300 other airmen — a Congressional Gold Medal from President George W. Bush in 2007.

“We were just trying to stay alive,” Hall said in a recent interview. “We just felt so proud that we did something great.”

Hall’s family moved to Winter Park when he was 5 months old, and he grew up attending Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church where his mother was a clerk and his father a deacon. At the time, Winter Park had one paved road and much of Central Florida was “rattlesnakes and cow pastures,” he said.

Hall attended Robert Hungerford Boarding School in Eatonville and received a scholarship to Xavier University in New Orleans, he said. He never finished his collegiate studies, as he was drafted into the Army in the buildup to World War II.

As a Tuskegee Airman, he maintained engines for the “Red Tails,” a nickname the all-black group earned for their P-51 aircraft’s scarlet markings. They mainly served in the European theater of World War II in Italy and France.

The group of about 1,000 fighter pilots and thousands more support staffers such as Hall is recognized for its superb record in escorting bombers behind enemy lines.

While it’s a myth the Tuskegee Airmen never lost a bomber, Daniel Haulman, a researcher with the Air Force Historical Research Agency, said it had fewer bombers shot down than most other units. His research shows the airmen lost 27 bombers throughout the course of World War II, far below the average of 46 bombers lost by other units.

The group was dissolved in 1949 because of the creation of the U.S. Air Force, the first integrated branch of the military.

Haulman credits the airmen’s success in building momentum toward the civil rights movement.

“I think that provided an example for the larger society. They opened the door,” said Haulman, who has written numerous research papers and books about the airmen. “I think it helped encourage integration beyond the military.”

After the airmen were disbanded, Hall was assigned to what was once an all-white squadron stationed on a base north of Seoul during the Korean War.

Hall said he was mostly treated well by the officers and soldiers and assumes they were instructed to respect the newly integrated soldiers.

“In the military, you have to follow the rules,” he said. “No matter what color you are.”

In Korea, Hall manned guns on B-25 missions flying every other day on regular bombing runs.

“We had some close calls in Korea,” he said. “You get used to it, especially if you keep surviving.”

After Korea, Hall remained in the Air Force and traveled to many South American nations teaching other militaries how to maintain the planes they purchased from the United States. He retired in 1973 as a chief master sergeant.

He retired to Maitland in the 1980s after a stint working for the state of Ohio.

He can still be found at Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church on Sundays, he said, where he donates money for children to attend college.

JOE BURBANK/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER “We were just trying to stay alive,” said U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. (retired) Richard Hall. “We just felt so proud that we did something great.”