Capt. Lawrence E. Dickson, who is the first out of the 27 Tuskegee Airmen to be identified was finally laid to rest at the Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors on Friday, 75 years after his plane crashed in Austria.
Serving at a time when the American Army was segregated, the Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American Aviators in America.
The 332nd Fighter Group and the 99th Pursuit Squadron were the only black groups that fought in World War II and were considered highly successful despite facing discrimination in and out of the army.
Present at Dickson’s funeral, who before his death was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for meritorious service were his 76-year-old daughter, Marla L. Andrews and his grandchildren, according to The Washington Post. Andrews, who was handed an honorary folded flag during the ceremony never knew her father, unfortunately.
“I don’t think I would have felt so empty and so alone,” she lamented to The Washington Post.
“I heard many people say that he was very friendly, he was very warm, he was extremely personable. I just had the feeling that if he would have lived, it would have been so different.”
“But he didn’t,” she said.
Dickson, who was 24 at the time of his death crashed his P-51 Mustang fighter plane around the Italy-Austria border on Dec. 23, 1944, while returning to a base in Italy after an aerial reconnaissance mission, according to The Associated Press. After futile attempts to recover his remains, the U.S. military called off all efforts in 1949 declaring them non-recoverable.
However, in 2012, an American recovery team unearthed the crash site after an Austrian researcher tipped them.
During an excavation in 2017, Dickson’s remains were found. His DNA was subsequently extracted and it positively matched with those of his daughter, a nephew and a distant cousin, the Washington Post reports.
Other valuables found at the crash site that were returned to Andrews included a ring, a part of a harmonica and a small cross.
There are still 26 Tuskegee Airmen whose remains haven’t been discovered after they went missing in action.
Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton has said that his little brother was subjected to racial abuse,…
Reggie Bush has regained his place as the 2005 Heisman Trophy winner after over a…
Since 2012, actor Nick Cannon has openly shared his struggle with lupus to support others…
Former USC superstar Caleb Williams has been drafted by the Chicago Bears as the No.…
Stephen A. Smith is an ESPN analyst. People widely regard him as the face of…
Lil Durk is an American rapper and one of the most influential voices in the…
In 2022, Kevin Hart added a new title to his impressive resume: a tequila entrepreneur.…
AEW's latest pay-per-view, Dynasty 2024 on Sunday night saw Swerve Strickland defeat Samoa Joe to…
Renowned civil rights activist Opal Lee, known as the "Grandmother of Juneteenth," will be awarded…
Violet Horne lost her two sons to gun violence within the space of a month.…
An Ohio man said a K-9 bit him seven times after he was pulled over…
Three male foreign tourists who were spotted posing naked in a popular dune in Namibia…
Will.i.am is partnering with other prominent figures to revolutionize the digital media scene by forming…
Sabelle Beraki's childhood was inundated with the lack of representation when it came to a…
Benjamin Harvey is the founder of AI Squared, a third-party software company that helps organizations…