William A. Colbert Jr., who was one of World War II's famed Tuskegee Airmen, died Monday at Western Maryland Regional Medical Center in Cumberland of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 95.
On May 15, Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin presented Mr. Colbert a Congressional Gold Medal at the Allegany County Nursing Home in Cumberland, where he was surrounded by his family.
"I would like to express my heartfelt condolences to the family of William Colbert Jr., who volunteered to serve his country and became a Tuskegee Airman at a time when he was treated as a second-class citizen simply because of the color of his skin," Mr. Cardin said in a statement released Monday after he learned of Mr. Colbert's death.
"I had the honor of presenting Mr. Colbert a well-deserved Congressional Gold Medal just two weeks ago. After meeting his loving family, it was clear that Mr. Colbert's service did not stop after his time as one of the famed 'Red Tails' in the Army Air Corps," said Mr. Cardin.
"He lived a life dedicated to enriching his community, and our entire nation, by leading through personal example. He showed through his life the profound impact one can make," he said. "Mr. Colbert will be missed dearly by his family, friends and community. I know his legacy will live on."
The son of William Augustus Colbert Sr., a part-time preacher and educator who taught in segregated schools, and Ella Stansbury Colbert, a homemaker, William Augustus Colbert Jr. was born and raised in Annapolis.
His paternal grandmother was a freed slave and his paternal grandfather was reportedly a slave master, family members said.
After graduating from Wiley H. Bates High School, he worked at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore before joining the Civilian Conservation Corps, where he was stationed at the Green Ridge Camp in Allegany County in Western Maryland.
He was working at a Baltimore shipyard when he enlisted in 1943 in the Army Air Forces and was sent to Tuskegee Army Airfield, which is today Sharpe Airfield, six miles northwest of Tuskegee, Ala. There he learned to fly and attained the rank of flight officer.
"All my life, I wanted to fly," Mr. Colbert told family members through the years.
At the time of Mr. Colbert's enlistment, the U.S. military remained racially segregated, with most African-Americans soldiers and sailors being assigned to labor battalions or other support positions.
In 1939, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People began to campaign for an end to segregationist policies in the military and was aided in its work when a Howard University student successfully petitioned the courts in 1941 for acceptance into the Army Air Forces.
This resulted in the establishment of a segregated unit on the grounds of Tuskegee Institute. The airmen trained there as pilots under Charles Alfred Anderson, who is considered the father of black aviation and taught himself to fly in the 1920s. They became known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
Because they painted the tails of their planes a distinct red, the airmen earned the nickname of the "Red Tails." Their primary combat mission was escorting American bombers on raids.
Mr. Colbert earned his wings Feb. 1, 1945, and although he was alerted twice for overseas duty, the war ended before his deployment.
In a 2004 speech during Black History Month at the Fulton Myers American Legion Post 153 in Cumberland, Mr. Colbert said the flight instructors who had been combat seasoned overseas "were tough."
After a black instructor posing as an enemy pilot defeated him during a training mission, Mr. Colbert recalled, he was told by his instructor that "I was flying with my head up my butt."
Discharged in 1945, Mr. Colbert and his wife, the former Vivian "Bibby" Lee, whom he married in 1941, lived briefly in Baltimore before returning to Cumberland.
"He never flew again and settled into the life of a family man," said Anna "Jeanne" Hudson Colbert, his daughter-in-law who lives in Cumberland.
"We used to say, 'Pap Pap, can you still fly a plane?' and he'd say, 'Well, they've changed so much,'" said a granddaughter, Clayonia Colbert-Dorsey of Gaithersburg. "He always thought home was the best place to be, but if he had to, he'd drive himself. He wasn't a train or bus man."
She said her grandfather would only talk about his Tuskegee days if asked.
"The most striking thing about him was that he was very humble and didn't really feel the full measure of what he had done. He just did what he thought needed to be done at the time," said Ms. Colbert-Dorsey.
Mr. Colbert began working in 1946 at the old Kelly-Springfield Tire Co. in Cumberland as a tiremaker. He retired in 1979.
"In the 1970s, Mr. Colbert and his wife were honored by the city of Cumberland for pulling an unconscious man from his burning car and were credited with saving the man's life," said Ms. Colbert-Dorsey.
Mr. Colbert made sure that the American flag was raised and lowered each day on the former Pine Avenue playground that was directly across the street from his home.
"Sometimes my dad would help him with the flag, and Pap Pap would say, 'Don't let it touch the ground.' He always made sure that flag protocol was observed," said Ms. Colbert-Dorsey.
In addition to his membership in the Fulton Myers American Legion Post, Mr. Colbert was a longtime congregant of McKendree United Methodist Church.
He liked hunting and fishing, photography, and listening to jazz. He also was an accomplished woodworker and gardener.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the Adams Family Funeral Home, 404 Decatur St., Cumberland, with interment in the Maryland Veterans Cemetery at Rocky Gap.
In addition to his daughter-in-law and granddaughter, Mr. Colbert is survived by his son, William A. Colbert III of Cumberland; three other grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and a great-great-grandson. His wife died in 1999.