(upbeat electronic music) - Let's talk about that experience that you had in Korea and Vietnam as a member of the Air Force.

- Well, thank you.

The Korean War was a little different as far as the wars are today.

When I was in Korea, I was stationed at Kimpo, Korea, for those who have been to Korea, it's K-14.

Now, in Korea, the war was close to the time that the United States Air Force was formed, it was formed in 1947, and a lot of the NCOs and officers that were in the Air Force at that time were leftovers from the old Army Air Corps, and some of them were from the Deep South and they brought their prejudices with them, however, the Air Force changed as time progressed, I spent 23 years in the Air Force, later on in my career, I cross-trained and became an airborne load-master on C-141-type aircraft, C-141, in case you don't know, is a large... - [Stephen] It's a big cargo plane, right?

- Cargo aircraft, right, and some of the things that I remember is flying back from Vietnam with a quarter of that plane filled with containers which contained the human remains of servicemen that had been killed in Vietnam, and they are the heroes, they're the ones that we should be thinking about today on Veterans Day.

I also had the opportunity to go on the Honor Flight.

The Honor Flight is a volunteer organization, they don't use taxpayers' money or government money, it's all contributions, and the purpose of the flight is to take veterans to Washington, D.C.

to let them see the museums and the monuments that are dedicated to the veterans in remembrance of those who fought in the wars, and it was a very moving experience, especially to go to the Vietnam wall.

- Yeah, I'm sure.

- I have several friends that are on the wall right now.

I think every veteran has memories, some that they wanna forget and some that they don't wanna forget, and they have good and bad.

- Yeah.

You were part of the Nurse Corps, and that brings in a whole other set of experiences because women have not always been equally-treated members of the military either, talk about what kinds of experiences you had as a pioneer, really, in that space.

- Yes, you're so right, Steve, I am a person who was born in 1928, lots of people look at me now and they say, "Well, you were born before Christ," and I often tell them, "At least say Moses, not before Christ," however, I've had struggles along with obligations and I have weathered... So-called weathered the storm, and I started off in Virginia where I received my nursing... Registered nurse license, and this was in the 40s, however, it was a school called... Hampton, Virginia, Dixie Hospital, it was segregated and when I say, "Segregated," it was... We had a few... A couple of black nurses as instructors, but most of our instructors were white.

Moving on, I did graduate from Hampton, Virginia, my first job that I had after graduating in Virginia, I was working at a hospital and I was informed by some of the black nurses who was already at this hospital, "Bring your bag..." "Bring your food in a bag," and I had questioned it, but I did go and bring my food in a bag.

After I got there, we were at a table that consisted of non-black nurses, but we could see, at a distance, a glass panel room that had steam coming out of the tables, and those were for the white nurses and white doctors, however, the nine black nurses, we had a small room, there was no tablecloth and we were eating out of a bag, so I had a discussion with my father and I asked him, "What's going on?

What's happening?"

And he just said that... You know, that's the way Virginia is, I didn't understand it even though I had been a Virginia resident all of my life, I didn't know anything about the prejudice of separation of races, so I left and went to New Jersey, and soon after that, I found out that there was similar problems, but I was so happy that I left with an open mind that race would not keep me in a baffle of hate.

My mission always... And it came from my dad, he was a nurturing father, I didn't have a mother, and his following for us to follow was always be kind, know that man is a product of the spiritual world, he has a heart just like you, just think about being kind to people, so I worked there for six or seven years and discovered... Some few things that happened to me there was I had trained exchange students from Russia and Ireland, Scotland and the like, but as they went to school, I was working 3:00-to-11:00 because I was advised if you work 3:00-to-11:00 you can make more money, and therefore you could send it to your parents, and so, I fell for the act, however, those students that I was training, they became my supervisors, and I knew that that was a problem, so moving on from that arena, I was recruited, I was not drafted in the military, I was recruited and I was commissioned in Fort Jay, New York, as first lieutenant, and I was flown to San Antonio, Texas to follow through with my officer's training, and that was quite an ordeal for a person coming from Virginia and didn't even know the background of her own state, however, it was quite a learning experience, I had my nursing background and this is why I was chosen as... For the commission.

- Tony, it's amazing to hear these stories which I think a lot of people watching might think, "Well, this is all so long ago, it's all ancient history," but it is not that far from any of us.

- It really isn't, and I've had the honor and privilege of being the president of the Detroit chapter for a while now, and I'm always stunned and amazed at the stories, I still enjoy listening to them, this is my girl right here, so it's... And it's things that people need to understand, that's part of the purpose of the Detroit chapter of Tuskegee Airmen.

- Right.

I mean, this is preserving their stories for people now, and especially for our children.

- To communicate and educate young and old because you'd be surprised, a lot of seniors don't understand and know what Tuskegee is all about, and what they had to go through, so we travel, we give speech and engagements, we go to schools, and one of the things I will even quiz you about, Stephen, you've heard of the movie "Top Gun."

- [Stephen] Mm-hmm.

- Okay, what you may not have known, back in 1948, that was known as the aerial gunnery competition, at that time, the first winners of that competition were the Tuskegee Airmen.

- Oh, wow.

- We won it first.

A lot of people don't know that, and so, there is a trophy that is at Wright Patterson Air Force Base that... The first names on that trophy are Tuskegee Airmen.

We just lost one of the last combat pilots, James Harvey, just a few weeks ago, he was 100, so they're becoming few and far between, which is terrible, that breaks my heart, so we're hoping that in this political climate, things will get straightened away so that the veterans do not suffer in all this as well as the regular armed forces of men and women who serve right now actively in uniform home and overseas because they're the ones... These people here were the pathfinders.

They paved the way.

There is not a pilot of color in the United States right now, civilian or military, who do not owe their wings to the Tuskegee Airmen.