The Tuskegee Airmen have waited a long time to get the recognition they deserve for their courage during World War II. In fact, they have waited over 60 years.
Fort Monmouth Garrison Commander Col. Stephen Christian presents the Congressional Gold Medal to Elmer Godwin for his service to the nation as a Tuskegee Airman during WWII. Godwin, a Shrewsbury resident, received the honor Sept. 17 during a ceremony at Shrewsbury Borough Hall. Left, Godwin as a young U.S. Army enlistee. Below, the Gold Medal honoring the Tuskegee Airmen. Last March a formal medal ceremony was held by President George Bush for all Tuskegee Airmen at which they were presented with the Congressional Gold Medal, one of the nation’s highest honors.
Shrewsbury resident Elmer “Ace” Godwin was not at the ceremony that took place at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., so on Monday night, Shrewsbury Mayor Emilia Siciliano presented him with the medal at the Borough Council meeting.
Godwin, who has lived in Shrewsbury for 40 years with his wife of 61 years, Corrynn, said on Saturday that he was sorry that he missed the formal ceremony in Washington, but he didn’t find out about it in time to attend.
As a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, Godwin was part of the ground crew working in communications. Stationed in Italy from 1943 to 1945, he was a tower operator responsible for instructing pilots during takeoffs and landings. While serving oversees, Godwin received the Good Conduct Medal and the Distinguished Unit Badge.
Born in Virginia, he was living in Sea Bright when he volunteered.
“I enlisted in Times Square in New York City. I told the recruiter that I wanted to go into the Air Force. He told me that he couldn’t assign me to the Air Force because at 6-feet-1-inch, I was too tall. You couldn’t be any taller than 6 feet. He assigned me to the Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth. I thought that was quite neat because I knew the kind of work they did there,” he said.
That was April 1941.
“The recruiter said, ‘Go home and we’ll call you.’ But I didn’t hear from them for quite a while. I finally called the recruiter up and asked what happened to my reporting documents and found out they had lost them.”
In September, Godwin was finally told to report to Fort Dix the following February (1942). From Fort Dix, he was sent to Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama. When he arrived, he found that there were trained pilots and other enlisted men who had not been trained for anything, just hanging around waiting for orders.
“At the time, there was a big question in Congress about what to do with these black pilots they had trained,” Godwin said. “They all stayed at Tuskegee for a while with nothing to do.
Every week there would be more recruits not doing anything, not even training, until Congress decided what to do with the black pilots they had.
“I was aware of what was happening at the time. There were a number of prominent black newspapers that were prodding Congress to take action on what to do with these pilots. Every week they reported on the issue. In fact, even Mrs. [Eleanor] Roosevelt got involved,” Godwin said.
He explained that the military had started training black pilots back in 1940, so by the time he arrived at Tuskegee, there were pilots ready to enter combat.
“The white pilots in Europe didn’t want to be integrated with the black pilots. But it came down to where the army needed them. They decided the best thing to do was to form a completely black unit,” he said, adding
that fighter pilots
always escorted the bomber pilots in order to protect them, but the white bomber pilots didn’t want the black pilots to protect them.
Eventually, Congress passed a law creating the 332nd fighter group. “They shipped us all to Selfridge Field in Michigan for training.”
From September 1942 to January 1943, Godwin was in training for combat operations. He was 21 years old when he, along with the rest of his unit, was put on one of the liberty ships that were used to transport personnel to combat locations.
“We were wondering what was going to happen to us. It took almost 40 days at sea to get to Italy,” Godwin said.
“It’s amazing how dedicated we all were. You have to understand what the thinking was at that time. After Pearl Harbor was attacked, they thought California would be the next place.”
He noted that a lot of the enlisted men in the military were black, but they were not officers.
“They always had black ground forces, but the 332nd had black officers.”
Godwin said that when he first joined the Air Corps, they were flying P47s and P39s, but “then we got the P51, which I believe was the best plane flying. When we left, they were flying P38s. There was quite a change in aircraft from the time we arrived to when we left.”
Godwin left the military in 1945 and went to work at Fort Monmouth. He worked there until he retired in 1979.
He said that eventually he lost interest in becoming a pilot, so he never regretted losing out because he was too tall. He also said that his nickname, “Ace,” has no relation to his having served with ace pilots. Someone simply gave him that name because he mentioned that he didn’t like his first name, Elmer.
The Tuskegee Airmen were dedicated and determined young men who volunteered to become America’s first black military airmen, even though segregation was widely practiced in the military and elsewhere.
According to a history of the Tuskegee Airmen, they came from every section of the country, with large numbers coming from New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit.
While fighting for their country in Europe, Africa and the Mediterranean, they had to combat racism. The Tuskegee Airmen were not allowed to train or fight with their white counterparts, but that didn’t stop them and their outstanding achievements that were integral to eventually integrating the United States military. The Tuskegee Airmen flew 1,578 missions and 15,533 sorties. They never lost a single bomber to enemy fire in more than 200 combat missions.
No standards were lowered for the pilots or any of the others who trained in many fields besides flying. Like Godwin, some trained to be control tower operators, others trained in meteorology, intelligence, engineering, medicine, aircraft and engine mechanics, armament specialist, radio repairman, parachute rigger, police, administrative clerk and all of the other skills necessary to fully function as an Army Air Corps flying squadron or ground support unit.
The black airmen became single-engine or multi-engine pilots. The first aviation cadet class began in July 1941 and completed training nine months later in March 1942. From 1942 through 1946, 994 pilots graduated and received commissions and pilot wings. Black navigators, bombardiers and gunnery crews were trained at select military bases elsewhere in the United States.
Godwin was part of an elite fighting group. These men fought two wars, one oversees and one against racism at home.
“When you are in a completely black outfit, you don’t feel the racism all of the time,” he said. “You knew about it, and there where times when you ran into it, even in Italy. At the time, the group did not get the notice that they are getting today. Back then, I was just happy to be home alive.”