Hiram Little - Tuskegee Airman, Boy Scout

[RememberSchiff]

Hiram Little was born March 31, 1919, in Eatonton and spent his childhood in Atlanta. He attended the David T. Howard school in Old Fourth Ward, the African-American school famously attended by Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1930s. At Howard, Little was a charter member of Boy Scout Troop 94, the first troop in an African-American school in Atlanta.

He enlisted in the Army Air Forces as part of the Tuskegee Aviation program in 1941, joining the 477th Bombardment Group in 1944. Though World War II ended before he could be deployed to combat, Little made a name for himself as part of the Freeman Field Mutiny (sometimes called Freeman Field Incident - RS).

While his unit was stationed at Freeman Army Airfield near Seymour, Ind., members of Little's 477th Bombardment Group, black pilots, attempted to integrate an all-white officers club. When Little’s commander instructed the 477th to sign an order that they would cease all attempts to enter the club, 101 soldiers, including Little, refused.  (The Freeman  Field Incident - RS) Many were shipped out to other bases and 162 were arrested, some twice. They would not be vindicated until 1995, when the Air Force officially set aside a soldier's court-martialed conviction and removed letters of reprimand from the permanent files of 15 others.

Later in life, Little would remain committed to Civil Rights and participated in voter registration drives in Alabama and Mississippi during the 1960s.

Little was honorably discharged from the Army in 1945 and went on to graduate from Morehouse College and accept a job at the U.S. Postal Service. He later became one of Atlanta's first African-American supervisors and was a middle-level manager with the postal service until his retirement in 1978.

But Little, who was described by those who knew him as an intelligent man always up for a challenge, wasn't slowing down. He received a certificate of carpentry from Atlanta Technical College in 2005 at the age of 86 and remained active in Boy Scouts and the Atlanta veterans community until his death (at age 98, this past Feb - RS)

...

Mr. Little was honored with a Congressional Gold Medal in 2007, presented by President George W. Bush.

Scout Salute and Farewell,

http://www.news-daily.com/features/riverdale-honors-the-life-memory-of-tuskegee-airman-hiram-e/article_0448b853-604e-5417-a91a-dc1815ac8765.html

http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/hiram-little-41

http://www.gpb.org/wwii/hiram-little

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_Field_mutiny

Edited July 1, 2019 by RememberSchiff
Rick_in_CA correction, whitespace removal

[Rick_in_CA]

The story of the Tuskegee Airmen is truly an amazing one. I had the honor of meeting two of these gentlemen at different times (one gave me a personal tour of the Smithsonian's Silver Hill restoration facility in my youth. It was an amazing tour, I got to touch the Enola Gay and see a lot that the normal tours don't. And best of all I got to hear lots of stories by this man. He flew P-39s, P-40s and P-51s in Europe. It really saddens me that after over twenty years I cannot remember this man's name).

We are loosing the WW2 veterans at an alarming rate. It saddens me that most of the scouts I see today will never get the chance to hear actual ww2 veterans speak. It brings a reality to the events that books and films don't.
 

One correction:

Little was honored with a Congressional Medal of Honor in 2007, presented by President George W. Bush.

My understanding is that it was the Congressional Gold Medal. It was awarded to all of the Tuskegee Airmen as a whole.

 

http://thetandd.com/news/tuskegee-airmen-awarded-congressional-gold-medal/article_44fb187a-7858-5e15-8698-ffe78617203e.html

[RememberSchiff]

Thanks for correction.

Edited April 27, 2017 by RememberSchiff