Day 24 -- Lumberton, North Carolina to Savannah, Georgia -- 230 Miles

Today we were just a driving machine, knocking off 230 miles when we ordinarily only drive 150-170. The reason is that we (sort of) decided that maybe we could spend the day in Savannah and still arrive in Naples, Florida, on the 29th of October if we drove more miles per day. Miraculously we were able to secure two nights at our Savannah camp and take advantage of the sightseeing trolley that comes right to our door.

While we basically did nothing but drive, we did find time to stop a couple of times to stretch our legs, do some shopping, and visit a point of interest that beckoned to us from the Interstate.

Aside from the shoping stop at Walmart, and the informational stop at the point of entry for South Carolina, we were fortunate to discover the location of a memorial to the Tuskeegee Airmen at the local Anderson airport as we rolled on toward Georgia. The airport was known as the Walterboro during World War II. We found the memorial to be nothing fancy, but we were impressed that such a tribute existed. Both of us would have liked to see a little more upkeep and maintenance done to the memorial site, but we stayed a good half hour and took a couple of dozen photos in the process.

There understandably was no time for research today, so here's Wikipedia on the Tuskegee Airmen: "The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). The name also applies to the navigators, bombardiers, mechanics, instructors, crew chiefs, nurses, cooks, and other support personnel. The Tuskegee airmen received praise for their excellent combat record eaned while protecting American bombers from enemy fighters. The group was awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations."

"All black military pilots who trained in the United States trained at Griel Field, Kennedy Field, Moton Field, Shorter Field, and the Tuskegee Army Air Fields. They were educated at the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University), located near Tuskegee, Alabama. Of the 922 pilots, five were Haitians from the Haitian Air Force and one pilot was from Trinidad. It also included a Hispanic or Latino airman born in the Dominican Republic."

"The 99th Pursuit Squadron (later the 99th Fighter Squadron) was the first black flying squadron, and the first to deploy overseas (to North Africa in April 1943, and later to Sicily and other parts of Italy). The 332nd Fighter Group, which originally included the 100th, 301st and 302nd Fighter Squadrons, was the first black flying group. It deployed to Italy in early 1944. Although the 477th Bombardment Group trained with North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, they never served in combat. In June 1944, the 332nd Fighter Group began flying heavy bomber escort missions and, in July 1944, with the addition of the 99th Fighter Squadron, it had four fighter squadrons."

"The 99th Fighter Squadron was initially equipped with Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter-bomber aircraft. The 332nd Fighter Group and its 100th, 301st and 302nd Fighter Squadrons were equipped for initial combat missions with Bell P-39 Airacobras (March 1944), later with Republic P-47 Thunderbolts

(June–July 1944) and finally with the aircraft with which they became most commonly associated, the North American P-51 Mustang (July 1944). When the pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group painted the tails of their P-47s red, the nickname "Red Tails" was coined. The red markings that distinguished the Tuskegee Airmen included red bands on the noses of P-51s as well as a red empennage; the P-51B, C and D Mustangs flew with similar color schemes, with red propeller spinners, yellow wing bands and all-red tail surfaces."

"The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American military aviators in the United States Armed Forces. During World War II, black Americans in many U.S. states were still subject to the Jim Crow laws and the American military was racially segregated, as was much of the federal government. The Tuskegee Airmen were subjected to discrimination, both within and outside of the army."

I could not find a specific reference in the above Wiki article about the Tuskegee Airmen and the time they spent training at Anerderson (Walterboro) Field where the memorial rests today. It looks like for now I'll have to take the memorial as primafacia evidence. The sign that I photographed (top left) seems to be suggesting that lots of pilots trained at Anderson (Walterboro), so it's not hard to believe that the Tuskegee Airmen were around in the later part of the war.