Smiling after we watched Red Tails, the new LucasFilm on the all-black Tuskegee Airmen whose successes during World War II helped to bring about the desegregation of the U.S. military service.
Les Williams, 91, is one of the few surviving pilots from that program, and he is the first commissioned black bomber pilot. He said that the movie was authentic to what he experienced.
He gave thanks to George Lucas producing, and self-financing a movie that no studio would pick up — an expensive film with an all-black cast. I was curious about this assertion, and found that Lucas spent 23 years fighting to bring this story to the big screen, and finally decided to go alone, spending $100 million personally on it. (EW)
Les graduated from high school at age 14, and after the war, he earned bachelors and law degrees from Stanford. After he was drafted, he literally tap-danced his way into fighter pilot training, after he impressed a general with his performances.
From the Q&A:
What made you serve your country when they treated you so badly?
“Patriotism. I wanted to serve. And I didn’t want to get drafted because I thought that as a black man I’d be drafted as an infantryman. And I’d seen so many infantrymen after WWI with amputated limbs. Missing arms. Missing legs. As a pilot, if the plane went down, it was all or nothing. I could not imagine a life without dance.”
What got you through the tough times?
“The bonds and connections we formed. My experiences with the Tuskegee Airmen are the best relationships I’ve ever had. If one of us is in trouble or in need, we reach out and help each other no matter what.”
President Roosevelt formed the Tuskegee program despite objections from military generals who feared blacks would not have the courage and intelligence to fly, and the movie opens with a 1925 Army report making those claims.
“In those days, no one had to salute blacks, but we could be court-martialed if we didn’t salute a white officer.”
When he returned from duty, “people could not imagine a group of black men flying in combat, flying bomber planes. Folks thought I was making up stories.”
But they believed him when he received a Congressional Gold Medal 60 years later.
and his autobiography: 
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