Retired Brigadier General Charles McGee, part of the pioneering all-Black Tuskegee Airmen during World War Two and one of its most decorated pilots, died at the age of 102
McGee, who flew 409 combat missions spanning World War Two, Korea and Vietnam, died in his sleep Sunday morning, a family spokesperson said. "He had his right hand over his heart and was smiling serenely," his youngest daughter Yvonne McGee said in a statement released by the spokesperson.
McGee battled racism and segregation during his military career. He was called to service in 1942 at age 23 and became one of the first Black military aviators known as the"Being brought up, they say African-American or Black, but we're American and our country was at war," McGee told Reuters in 2016.Tuskegee airman and U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Colonel Charles McGee talks about his career as a military pilot at his home in Bethesda, Maryland February 17, 2016.
Then-President George Bush honored the Tuskegee Airmen in 2007 with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award given by Congress.
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