Original Tuskegee airman Walt Richardson dies at age 85
When Walt Richardson and his wife, Helen, were blessed with eight children, he worked multiple jobs to support them.
When he was selected to be one of the first black men to integrate the Air Force, he rose above the racism that surrounded him.
You dont let these things make you bitter, he taught his children. You use them to make you better.
Richardson was 85 when he died early Saturday morning at his home in Fort Walton Beach. Funeral arrangements are pending.
He was one of the original Tuskegee airmen, a gifted entertainer, a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal and a deacon at St. Mary Catholic Church.
Despite the cancer that had spread through his body, he worked right up to the end of his life, with a March 21 fall at his house triggering a rapid decline.
He said, Let me go with my boots on, said Pat Richardson, his second oldest son. Dont put me in a home. Let me take it to end.
And he did, breathing his last at 4:05 a.m., hours after his son, Henri, sang Wind Beneath My Wings, to him from California.
Full Article: http://www.stripes.com/news/us/original-tuskegee-airman-walt-richardson-dies-at-age-85-1.275332#.UziHt1feeUm
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Chief Master Sergeant, Walt Richardson, may you rest in peace.
We could all learn a lot from this mans life.
It was a movie I really enjoyed watching (the original one - not the remake). I'll always remember the words: "You weren't assigned, you were chosen."
Both the original and the remake were excellent movies Buzz but I'm like you I thought the first was better.
Little point of interest Larry - it was the Army Air Corp, not the Air Force.
By the time he enlisted in the service it had become the US Air Force, which was formed in Sept. of 1947. Prior to Sept. 1947 the service was in fact the USAAF United States Army Air Force.