JROTC shares time with a member of the historic fighter group.

By Mary O’KEEFE

“How did you fall in love

with flying?”

“Just like with a pretty

lady – easy.”

That exchange was between a Crescenta Valley High School JROTC cadet and Lt. Col. Robert Friend, a Tuskegee Airman who served in the 332nd Fighter Group in World War II.

Friend will be 97 years old this February but his memory of those days in WWII when the Tuskegee men were making history as America’s first black military airmen is still sharp, as sharp as his humor.

Lt. Col. Friend earned his pilot’s certificate in 1939 and in 1942 received his U.S. Air Force wings as a pilot from Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

Friend spoke to the JROTC cadets about his life in the military and shared a film of the history of the Tuskegee Airmen, who were known as Red Tails because they painted the tail of their planes red.

“Anyone who was non-white went to Tuskegee for training,” he said.

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first black servicemen to serve in the military as aviators in the U.S. Air Force. They are credited with 15,500 combat sorties and their members have earned over 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses. They began serving during WWII. This group is also credited with paving the way for military integration ordered by President Harry Truman in 1948.

Friend is one of the last surviving members of the WWII Tuskegee group.

In a film shared with the cadets, the narrator reiterated a story of when a member of the Tuskegee Airmen was asked by a white man he met on the street why he wanted to “fly” in the military. The serviceman was at first shocked by the question, thinking it was an obvious answer. He then responded, “To serve my country.”

Friend said that was the foundation of his service and tried to paint a picture of how seriously people took the WWII threat.

When he was assigned to the 332nd fighter group he was stationed in Europe. Over the years, he served during WWII, the Korean conflict and Vietnam.

Friend said he always wanted to be a pilot.

“When I was growing up I used to make model airplanes. Strangely enough my favorites were German airplanes,” he said. “What thrilled me the most was to see some of the things that were happening. For instance the Zeppelins. You have all seen the blimps but these [Zeppelins] were big things that flew over New York and down the coast.”

He was also fascinated by new amphibian planes. But as technology continued to change he just wanted to fly. So he went to college and took classes that would help him achieve his goal.

As he shared his life experiences there was one thing that shone through; beyond being a member of a specific group he was an American pilot who loved what he was doing.

Friend was asked how many planes he had shot down during WWII.

“Two planes,” he replied. “The two I shot down, I knew I hit them and saw the pilots bail out. As the war progressed more and more it was over [German] territory. [Germans] were fighting a defensive war and we were taking ground. We were doing all the things to bring the war to a winning end.  I talked to a lot of German pilots after the war and they [told me] they were instructed to not get killed. They were told, ‘You are too valuable,’ so consequently they were told to just bail out. When our guys bailed out they would go to prison because they were over [German] territory.”

Friend is one of the last members of the Tuskegee group who served during WWII. When asked if he stayed in touch with any of the other men he said, “The oldest guy unfortunately died late last year. He was 107. I used to go see him a lot. He said, ‘Robert you come and see me so often. Why do you do that?’ I told him its because I like to feel young.”

He had sound advice for the cadets who wanted to pursue a career in the military as a pilot.

“One of the first things to do is get yourself a good basic background like you have right now. You are fortunate to have [CVHS JROTC],” he said. “Start to pursue some of the kinds of courses that can help you get to [fly]. Aerodynamics – you need to understand how [the plane] can fly – and you have to have some knowledge of weather, so meteorology courses are good.”

He added pilots of the future would also need to have knowledge of space or astronomy/astrophysics. He said the government, and private sectors, are looking into space travel in the future and “someone is going to have to fly those missions.”

He spoke briefly of the challenges of being a Tuskegee Airman as far as race was concerned. In a YouTube video, Friend shared a story of a military leader who said he would not have his military used to further race relations. He said now his friends laugh at that remark but back then it was a serious thing.

“Over the many years that I spent in the military I saw a lot of effort put forth by people [who would] bring us together and to consider a person a person … The day will come soon where we don’t hyphenate Americans, not African-American or Native-American but just American,” he said in the YouTube video interview.

Lt. Col. Robert Friend will be speaking on Feb. 10 at the Sunland-Tujunga Branch of the Public Library, 7771 Foothill Blvd., from
3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

  Mary Okeefe