PERU, Ind. — On Memorial Day, an exhibit opened in Miami County that recognizes a group of World War II veterans who not only fought the enemy overseas, but the racism that existed in a still-segregated United States military.
The exhibit, "Tuskegee Airmen: America's Freedom Flyers," opened Monday afternoon at Grissom Air Museum in Peru.
The Tuskegee Airmen were the United States' first African American military pilots, flying combat missions in World War II.
The exhibit tells the stories of these brave pilots, some who were from Indiana.
"These guys really set the tone for the Civil Rights Movement by being excellent, fighting racism with excellence to become American heroes," said Robin Williams, the exhibit's curator and designer.
The exhibit features photos, artifacts and models of the planes the airmen flew — airmen like Charles T. Hall's dad, Charles B. Hall, who was from Brazil, Indiana, and the first African American pilot to shoot down an enemy plane in World War II.
"That was part of fate and circumstance for him to do. Somebody was going to be the first," Hall said of his father's service.
Hall and other African Americans served in every theater during World War II, in what was still a segregated United States military, but before World War II, none had ever been allowed to train as military pilots.
That changed with the Tuskegee Airmen.
"Under the circumstances that the African American was going through since even emancipation, always having to prove to the dominant culture that you belong," Hall said of what his father faced to become a U.S. military pilot.
"They're flying for a country, first of all, that didn't recognize them and honor them as Americans, but they wanted to prove their love for this country, so their patriotism, also to prove that they could, if given a chance, could also succeed," said Zellie Rainey Orr, the exhibit's historian and researcher.
The battle wasn't over, though, once these airmen got home from the war.
"Victory over fascism, but a continuing fight to have victory over racism in your own society, that society that birthed you," Hall said. "We must realize and I realize that the smaller communities in America have produced such heroes — many, many heroes."
The exhibit will be at Grissom Air Museum for the next six months. After that, it will move around the country.