Carver Junior High Honoring Original Tuskegee Airman

By: staff | WSPA-TV
Published: October 14, 2008

On Friday, October 17, Carver Junior High School is hosting and honoring Original Tuskegee Airman, Dr. Leroy Bowman.

The luncheon will begin at 11:30 and an assembly at 1:30. During the luncheon there will be no program, just many dignitaries and story telling.

During the assembly however, Dr. Bowman will speak to the junior high kids. Events include a presentation by Mayor Barnet

The following bio of Bowman was provided by District 7:
Dr. Leroy Bowman is a native of Sumter, South Carolina. He attended the public schools of Sumter and attended high school at Morris College, graduating in 1940. Dr. Bowman entered the United States Army in September of 1941, just prior to the outbreak of World War II. From September 1941 to July 1942, he was stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Fort Bragg, North Carolina and Fort Eustis, Virginia where he completed basic training.

In December 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was assigned to the 76th Coast Artillery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With this unit, he traveled to Los Angeles, California. He was assigned to Battery “C” at Burbank, California and remained there until the unit embarked to the South Pacific. After being on the ship for about four days, he was ordered to be taken off the ship and removed from the convoy. He was temporarily assigned to Wilmington, California before being sent to Tuskegee Army Air Field, Alabama. There he was assigned to Class 43-D. After about five weeks, he was moved up to Class 43-C, where he began his PT-17, BT-13 and AT-6 training. He graduated on March 25, 1943 as a single engine fighter pilot.

Dr. Bowman was later assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group at Selfridge Air Field, Michigan. He received addition training at Oscoda, Michigan before embarking to the United Sates Army 15th Air Force in Southern Italy until the end of WWII.

Dr. Bowman is one of the 1000 Black Military Aviators who trained at an isolated and segregated training complex near the town of Tuskegee and at Tuskegee University.

He is one of the 450 Black Fighter Pilots who served under the command of Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. Dr. Bowman fought in aerial warfare over Italy and Germany flying in succession P-40, P-47 and P-51 type aircraft. He had flown thirty-six combat missions against the German Luftwaffe escorting American bombers to and from their targets. The 332nd Fighter Group established a record that will never be surpassed. They are credited with never losing a bomber to enemy aircraft and went on to be known as the “Red Tail Angles.”