rts. Praise for the Red Tails came in from many bomber squadrons. On September 10, 1944, the top brass came to pay its respects. In a full dress ceremony with the 15th Air Force band and troops passing in the review, four pilots were presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross. General Davis pinned the medal on his son, honored for his leadership of one of the first bomber escort missions to Munich, during which five enemy planes were shot down. Captain Elsberry and Lieutenant Clarence Lester were honored for shooting down three planes each during single missions and Lieutenant Jack Holsclaw was cited for achieving two aerial victories during one mission.During most of January 1945, the 332nd was kept in by the rain and the snow. The Squadrons only flew 11 missions. The weather improved in February which led them to 39 missions. As the pilots flew around Germany, all they saw was smoke coming from the piles of debris. Also during the February, the squadron lost five pilots and planes to the aerial battles.In early March, Colonel Davis received word that the 302nd squadron was being inactivated and disbanded. He did not know why but believed it was because the Air Force was having trouble supplying black pilots to four black fighter groups.But it was not until 1948 that President Harry S. Truman issued an executive order. This order eventually ended segregation in the US military. In this paper I have represented my thesis statement with good facts and hard evidence that the Tuskegee Airman were and always will be the most influential fighter unit during WWII....
