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ORIGINAL TUSKEGEE AIRMAN, AIR FORCE BRIGADIER GENERAL CHARLES E. McGEE
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HON. ANTHONY G. BROWN
of maryland
in the house of representatives
Monday, February 7, 2022
Mr. BROWN of Maryland. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and pay final tribute to retired Air Force Brigadier General Charles E. McGee, who died peacefully in his sleep January 16, 2022 at his Bethesda, Maryland home at the age of 102 years old.
McGee was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 7, 1919. He was among eight remaining Tuskegee Airmen combat pilots out of the 355 that were assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group during WWII in Europe. In addition, he flew combat missions in Korea and Vietnam accumulating a total of 6,308 flying hours and 409 fighter combat missions during his 30-year active-duty military career.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army October 26, 1942, while studying engineering at the University of Illinois, and earned his pilot's wings June 30, 1943. By February 1944, he was stationed in Italy with the 302nd Fighter Squadron of the 332nd Fighter Group, flying his first mission on February 14. He flew the Bell P-39Q Airacobra, Republic P-
47D Thunderbolt and the North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft, escorting Consolidated B-24 Liberator and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers over Germany. Austria, and the Balkans.
During missions, he also engaged in low level attacks over enemy airfields and rail yards. On August 24, 1944, McGee, while escorting B-
17s over Czechoslovakia, engaged a formation of Luftwaffe fighters and shot down a Focke Wulf 190. McGee flew a total of 137 combat missions. He was promoted to Captain and returned to the United States on December 1, 1944. He became an instructor pilot on the North American B-25 Mitchell bombers at Tuskegee Army Air Field that another unit of the Tuskegee Airmen was readying to deploy to the Pacific Theater. He remained there until 1946, when the base was closed.
After World War II, McGee was sent to Lockbourne Air Field, Columbus, Ohio, to become the base operation and training officer. Later in 1948, he was posted to an Aircraft Maintenance Technical Course and was assigned to an air refueling unit. When the Korean War broke out, he flew North American P-51 Mustangs, later redesignated by the Air Force as F-51s, again in the 67th Fighter Bomber Squadron, completing 100 missions, and being promoted to Major. McGee continued to serve with the United States Air Force as it was reconstituted as a fighter pilot, flying the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star and the Northrop F-89 Scorpion aircraft.
During the Vietnam War, as a Lieutenant Colonel, McGee flew 172 combat missions in a McDonnell RF-4 photo reconnaissance aircraft. His plane was hit by enemy fire twice--during the Korean conflict and again years later near Laos, both times on his right wing. After a series of other assignments, both in the United States as well as in Italy and Germany, and promotion to colonel, McGee retired on January 31, 1973. He ended his military career with 6,308 flying hours.
McGee was recognized for his combat and military service with a number of awards including: Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Legion of Merit with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star, Air Medal with 25 Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, Korean Presidential Unit Citation, Hellenic Republic World War II Commemorative Medal, along with related campaign and service ribbons.
After his military service, McGee held many prestigious functional and honorary positions in the field of aviation. In 1978, at the age of 58, he completed the college degree at Columbia College in Kansas City, over thirty years after his initial enrollment at the University of lllinois. Though interrupted by World War II, attaining a college degree had been a lifelong goal. McGee served as the Director of the Kansas City airport and as a member of the Aviation Advisory Commission.
For over 30 years, he was an ambassador of the Tuskegee Airmen Incorporated (TAI), a nonprofit, giving numerous public addresses. He received numerous accolades, including the National Aeronautical Association's ``Elder Statesman of Aviation.'' McGee served two terms as National President of Tuskegee Airmen, Incorporated.
In 2011, he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 approved the honorary promotion of documented original Tuskegee Airman, United States Air Force Colonel
(Retired) Charles E. McGee, to Brigadier General.
McGee was a torchbearer, consistently emphasizing the significance and lasting legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen on the U.S. military and American society. It was the Tuskegee Airmen he said that ``right the wrong those that believed Blacks were not able to master sophisticated equipment, that Blacks lacked courage, and that Blacks did not have the wherewithal to fight a determined enemy. It was the Tuskegee Airmen that ended up with a stellar WWII aviation war record and thereby edged the military toward integration and America away from segregation.''
Brigadier General McGee and his late wife, the former Frances E. Nelson of Champaign, Illinois, raised three children, became grandparents of ten and great grandparents of many more. He will be greatly missed; however, his legacy will live on as a source of inspiration for generations to come. I wish retired Air Force Brigadier General Charles E. McGee `high flight.'
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 168, No. 24
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