Hello and welcome to the
Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument
Veterans Podcast.
I'm your host, Ranger Tom Engberg.
In part three of this episode,
we conclude our visit
with legendary Tuskegee Airmen
General Charles E McGee.
This episode's special introduction
comes from National Capital Parks East
Park Guide, Mr. John McCaskill...
John.
Of all the Tuskegee Airmen
I've come in contact with
and I've come in contact
with quite a few,
I think the one who's had,
who I've spent the most time with
and who's had
the greatest impact on me is
General Charles E McGee.
The first time I met him,
it was an interview at his house.
I was
I was interviewing
I was researching
for my first master's thesis.
And he and I are
in the same fraternity, Alpha
Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated.
And I got one of my fraternity brothers
to get the introduction.
So I was able to go over his house.
I set up the camera,
you know, I interviewed him.
And, you know,
you formulate your questions
before you see someone.
But there was one question
I really wanted to get to,
and it was a question
on his three aerial victories.
And when I got to that question,
you know, my chest
came out a little bit.
And I'm like, so, sir,
I understand that you've got
three aerial victories.
And he just simply said, yes.
And then there's silence
and I'm thinking,
wait a minute,
you know,
I guess I was waiting for him
to start thumping his chest,
talking about how great he is, but that wasn't it.
He's like, Yeah, well,
just yeah, I got them, you know.
And I didn't find out
until years later
that his greatest achievement in World
War Two was not shooting anyone down
or protecting the bombers.
He actually helped to evacuate
some American P.O.W.s.
I think they might have been pilots, but.
But that was his greatest thing.
You know, bringing life to people.
We were together with
him on his 100th birthday.
He went flying that day.
He did not go riding.
He flew from taxiing out to take off
to the cross-country landing
in Delaware and coming back.
He did all of that and we were there
for him.
You know,
every time you hear from the general,
every time I talk to him,
I learn something new.
And,
you know, I'll ask him a question
that's that's technical in nature about,
you know, what they did as pilots.
And he will answer in like kind.
And it's almost like
you have to know the language
of aviators, of combat pilots
to understand what he's talking about.
But it's also a tremendous moment.
And every time he opens his mouth,
I learn something new.
And he is just a tremendous individual.
And he's always gracious.
He's always gracious, and
he's all about impacting
the next generation.
That is incredible to me.
Thank you, John.
Now we present the conclusion
of this three-part
episode of the Veterans podcast
featuring General Charles E McGee.
About safety in combat.
I didn't get a scratch,
in anything in Europe,
in those 136 missions.
One of my missions in Korea, where
I'm firing
the gun guns that were on the hillside,
keeping our troops
from crossing the valley
because a lot of mountain areas there.
And I realized
and they're firing back at me
as well.
My plane was hit, fortunately
not in the cockpit.
Well, I was able to get it
back to back to my home base.
But major repairs.
I flew the 7,000th mission of our group.
Part of my experience, I didn't
know it when I took off,
but when I landed the
photographer was there and I wanted to know why.
So that's
why some of you
may have seen the picture.
I'm still in the cockpit with that,
but that was
what the photographer
would come out for to
put in writing for part, part,
part of the history.
In Vietnam, had the plane
hit, wasn't
able to get back to home base,
but I was able to get to a safe
base, fortunately,
and leave the plane and bummed a ride
to get back to home base and continue
continue flying.
But again, very fortunate because
we've lost some along the way.
Was part of the action.
In fact, umm,
the commander of the
when I first went to Korea and say I
had gone to the Philippines
three weeks later.
So I think
it was war broke out, was going up.
I was the maintenance officer
for the squadron,
but our squadron commander was lost
on his first flight
and I was moved up to from maintenance
to operations.
The operations
also became the commander,
but that's kind of the way things
went along the way.
In the, umm,
reconnaissance work.
We we called in Wizzo.
Weapons System Operator.
I flew the aircraft,
but the actual mission,
you say, is carried out
by our Weapon System Operator.
And we were capable of
day, night....all types of
intelligence gathering in person.
And so my responsibility was
just get us there and back.
But his responsibilities as the weapons
system operator, you know, mine
every now and then,
I still hear from him.
We still trade Christmas cards
In the.
But it's interesting,
and I don't know how it happened
but one of the pictures that folks keep sending me
to sign and send back is
we were standing on the ramp
at my last mission
Weapons Systems Operator,
but it wasn't not my Wizzo
if you will, and why that happened
I have no idea what it ended up
that was the picture
I'm there getting hosed down
by the fire truck and and
champagne poured on my head.
My last mission,
but not with my Wizzo.
We're still keep in touch
with each other,
now and then, he lives down in Florida.
Jet flying,
compared to the conventional engines,
in fact, the youngsters say,
you know,
what do you think about it?
To me, it was so easy.
The early
first jet that I flew in
the Philippines, you could
hold aircraft on the
ground with the brakes at 100% power.
But to be able to let go
and be up at 20,000 feet
in a couple of minutes later
was just,
outstanding, outstanding flying.
But comparisons are tough.
I ended up flying F-4's
and
after I retired, I was able in the
in the Air Force's
program, a couple of us were able to go
squad 302nd Squadron, got
F-16s, had a chance to go fly an F-16.
Somebody asked me,
how do you compare the F-4?
You don't!
is the answer there?
Because, you know, F-4
bombed the runway. F-16,
what portion of the runway?
In our technology,
taking us to a place that comparisons
don't work.
The flying portion is wonderful, know,
as long as
that fire stays lit,
you can enjoy it.
And
it's also interesting a flying a
the was asked once by a youngster,
I did get a chance to
fly right at the speed of sound
but everything you know,
it emphasizes the term speed is
relative is is true because
in my case of flight flying, the
everything gets
so...
it...
you really need muscles to fly
at that length
because the controls get very stiff
and, it's not easy...
not...
not easy flying at all.
Well so that's an interesting aspect
of flying the
the F-class aircraft
but at the same
technology is taking us beyond that.
And of course
look at what they're doing in space
and the moon isn't far enough away.
Planning to
go to Mars.
So I
just find it interesting
talking and talking to youngsters
that
you've all heard about it and
here we are.
We're
I was going to
guess who's going to make the trip.
Thank goodness it's all worked out.
The planners are going to be too old.
They'll be one of you.
But that's the nature of technology
what it's gotten now.
Well, we're
trying to figure out,
can somebody live on the moon
for a while?
And that type of thing. There's
so many things in the aviation
space careers
that can be challenging and interesting.
It's been a good life.
The president made
that a part of his annual or what
they call it, the State of the Union
address and made it known at that time.
And then
also while there
I think it was February 4th,
although we didn't ask him to be there,
we had another selection
to be part of pinning ceremony.
But, but he did along
with my oldest daughter, the pinning.
But that was part
quite a surprise for me.
But it turns out that
there were some who,
I guess many months of talking and
doing whatever it took to get
get that to come come about.
I was not aware that it was being done,
so it was a surprise for me.
But certainly uh, uh, proudly to accept
continue and
the let our young folks know that
there's opportunities for them
as a part of America's future.
I've ended up
that I use as often as I can,
and it fits
very much
for the young people,
but anybody,
our youngsters need mentoring
and all folks need to be aware.
But I came up with what I call
the four P's.
Perceive, Prepare, Perform, Persevere.
Perceive, dream your dreams on
what your talents are, I always say
and I hope it's
something I like to do.
I love flying and
became a part of my
career because I actively flew
27 of my 30 years of service.
But
besides Perceiving, Prepare.
Get a good education,
learn to read,
write and speak well,
and develop those talents.
Unfortunately,
that's a message
for some of our schools too.
Unfortunately, many of them aren't
giving our youngsters
what they really need.
Perform.
Always, excellence
is the goal in everything
and always do your best
in everything that you do.
And finally, Persevere.
You know, we could have bowed
our heads, gone on said they call me names.
They don't like me and not served
our country. Wouldn't have helped us
or our country had that been the circumstance
and the path that we chose.
Don't let somebody tell you
you can't achieve and accept that.
That's what I pass on now.
And, uh, I think it's
a useful message to the way
that we'll help guide our young folks
because they are our country's future.
I just as I say, all I can say for me,
why me? I don't know.
But thank God and many, many blessings.
Fortunately, to actually flew
27 of my 30 years
of service was, yeah, again,
I can't explain it, let alone
if anybody else.
It has been a wonderful life for me.