A New Order of Living by Faith
by Melanie Hemry
Phones rang, copy machines hummed and the IBM office in downtown Chicago buzzed with activity as the workday neared its end. Thirty-year-old Bill Winston cradled the phone with a sigh. Nothing. Zero. Nada. That’s what he had to show for six months of hard work.
Grabbing his coat, he said goodbye to co-workers and stepped outside. Wind whistling between high-rise buildings blew his collar up and pushed against his back like an unseen hand. The sound of a jet engine roared overhead and he paused on the crowded sidewalk to look up.
A white contrail streamed across an azure sky. Like a message from his past, the sight of it filled Bill with memories of his childhood in Tuskegee, Ala., and the heroes who had surrounded him there. Their high-flying example had often inspired him to fight through hard times like this.
The Tuskegee Airmen—they were America’s first African American pilots.
During World War II, when many people thought African Americans lacked the intelligence, skill, wisdom or courage to fly in combat, they had flocked to the Tuskegee Army Airfield from across the nation and proved their critics wrong. Hundreds had served overseas in World War II with such distinction that their names would go down in history.
Bill had been in the second grade when one of those renowned airmen, the father of his friend Danice James, had returned from Africa. Meeting Daniel “Chappie” James Jr. had changed Bill’s life. Even now, some 20 years later, he could remember the spark of excitement and the vow he’d made after that encounter with the combat pilot who would become the first African American four-star general.
“I will fly!” Bill had said.
He’d done it too. He’d attended college at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) and enrolled in ROTC, taking his pilot qualification exam his senior year. Pilot training in the military had been challenging. There were still few African American pilots, and racism had reared its ugly head. But Bill had refused to be distracted from his goal. He’d learned to fly propeller planes, light jets and finally supersonic jets.
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JUNE '14 : 11
