by Master Sgt. Merrie Schilter Lowe
Air Force News Service
WASHINGTON -- Retired Air Force Lt. Col. James C. Warren and 100 other black Army Air Force officers stood against an unlawful order at Freeman Field, Ind., in 1945 and each received a letter of reprimand for his actions.
The men had tried to enter the base officers' club, which had been integrated by War Department policy, but again segregated by the local commander.
Fifty years later, on Aug. 12 in Atlanta, the Air Force vindicated Warren and 14 other Tuskegee Airmen members by removing the letters of reprimand from their permanent military records.
Rodney A. Coleman, assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower, reserve affairs, installations and environment, announced the Air Force decision during the Tuskegee Airmen annual banquet.
He also announced that the Air Force set aside a court-martial conviction against another former Army Air Forces officer, Roger C. Terry, who is president of the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. Additionally, the service restored all the rights, privileges and property Terry had lost because of the conviction.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman, who was the banquet's guest speaker, presented the official documents to Warren and Terry.
"With this action, a terrible wrong in the annals of U.S. Air Force and U.S. military history has been righted," said Coleman. He said the Air Force will remove the letters of reprimand from the other 89 former officers' records as soon as it receives their requests.
Earlier in his remarks, Coleman called the Freeman Field incident a "bellwether for change with respect to integrating the U.S. military." He said the men who took part in the actions had taken "a giant step for equality" nine years before Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of the bus in Montgomery, Ala., and paved the way for changes "in the soon to be brand new service -- the U.S. Air Force."
Warren, who had been a flight officer in training at Freeman Field, started the letter removal process by writing to Coleman and asking the Air Force to consider correcting the records of everyone involved in the Freeman Field incident.
Coleman said his office worked with the records correction board to investigate the circumstances of the 50-year-old incident, which Warren describes in his book the "Freeman Field Mutiny."
"The 104 officers involved in the so-called 'mutiny' have lived the last 50 years knowing they were right in what they did -- yet feeling the stigma of an unfair stain on their records because they were American fighting men, too -- and wanted to be treated as such," said Coleman.
The Freeman Field incident began April 1, 1945, when the base commander issued a letter segregating trainees from base and supervisory officers. At the time, all the trainees were black and all base and supervisory personnel were white, said Coleman.
"The actual effect of the letter was to segregate the officers' clubs on the basis of race and, authorized discrimination in violation of War Department policy," said Coleman.
Four days after posting the letter, the commander heard that some newly arriving black officers would try to enter the club so he ordered all doors locked, except the main entrance. He then posted military police at the club to keep out all "non-members."
That night, April 5, 1945, numerous groups of black officers tried to enter the club, Coleman said. Terry, who was a second lieutenant, brushed against a superior officer to gain entrance and was subsequently charged and convicted by general court-martial of assault. Two other officers were also court-martialed, but later acquitted of all charges, said Coleman.
Those given letters of reprimands were charged with "conduct unbecoming an officer, failure to obey a lawful order, and breech of good order and discipline." At the time, the letter of reprimand was one of the strongest administrative actions a commander could impose on a service members, said Air Force legal officials who also worked on the LOR removal process.
Normally, requests to correct military records must be filed within three years of an incident. However, in the Freeman Field incident, the Air Force waived that ruling.
Other officers whose records have already been corrected are: James B. Williams, James W. Whyte Jr., Alvin B. Steele, Frederick H. Samuels, Wardell A. Polk, Charles E. Malone, Edward R. Lunda, Adolphus Lewis Jr., James V. Kennedy, Edward V. Hipps, Mitchell L. Higginbotham, Lloyd W. Godfrey, and Roy M. Chappell.