Local Veteran and Tuskegee Airmen’s 94th Birthday
ZANESVILLE, OH – Wednesday July 1st marked the 94th birthday of a local veteran and Tuskegee Airmen John Nelson.
A party was held at Clay Gardens to celebrate his accomplishments and his long life of bravery and courage in the face of adversity.
“John was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was born July 1st 1926 and he went off into the Tuskegee Institute when he got out of high school and he went there to get his diploma and to learn how to be a pilot,” Pastor Rosalind Beswick said.
The “Tuskegee Experience” was the Army Air Corps. Program to train African-Americans to fly and maintain combat aircraft. The Tuskegee Airmen overcame segregation and prejudice to become one of the most highly respected fighter groups of World War II.
“As a Tuskegee Airmen he trained to be a bomber, that’s what he was. He was a bomber for them and then the war ended and he went to do a retrieval, he started doing a retrieval, retrieving the instruments of the planes from different places and bringing them back to Fort Briggs in New Jersey.”
We here at WHIZ wish
John a very happy belated 94th birthday and thank him for
his service for our country.
