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Dan Williamson
(R.I.P.)
One of the original Tuskegee Airmen
and Senior Model Master
(In his own words,
1999)
 Hello!
My name is
Dan Williamson and I am one of the original
Tuskegee Airmen -- there are only a
few of us left so time is well spent.
I was born
November 25, 1912 in Nashville, Tennessee. Back then, it was hard for a
Black man to feel proud about his life and even harder to find a job that
made him feel proud.
As it happened, a government initiative called the
Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) was instituted in 1939. The
program rolled out in Robbins, Illinois and to get in, one had to volunteer.
I did so and that was how I was able to improve my flying skills.
I was in the
service in 1941 as a flight instructor in Tuskegee and became a Tuskegee
Airman -- an accomplishment of which I am very proud. I returned home and
bought a Stearman PT-17D plane and flew it for 17 years. I also worked as a
flight instructor for Johnson Flying School after the war.
 Not
a day passes that I don't think of the men who served with me as Airmen. We
put our lives on the line so you would have the opportunity to live where
and how you like. A choice to be you - not a clone of the next man. We not
only fought the enemy in front of us, we also fought the enemy within us
that would have seen us fall and not reach out his hand.
We survived
and became the Few, the Proud, the Tuskegee Airmen -- and the rest is
history.
Sincerely,
Dan Williamson
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