It’s a new day in paradise!
Good day readers, today’s edition begins with a tribute to Patriot’s
Day 2025. This was submitted by Conway Jones, Junior, Jr.
Remembering 9/11. It is imperative that we, as Americans, reaffirm our
commitment to the values that unite us—
courage, honor, and selfless service.
A Thank You to Tuskegee Airmen
by William Todd
Jerry T. Hodges entered rigorous and intensive pilot training at Tuskegee
Army Air Field earning those much coveted silver wings of an Army pilot in
September 1945. This tribute was delivered on September 29, 2024
almost one year ago.
Born on June 29, 1925, Jerry would have been 100 years old this year, and
he really wanted to make 100 years old. He made it to 99+ years old.
Friends and loved ones got together to honor him with a jazz concert at
the home of his good friend, Adell Ward.
Musical tributes and spoken words were heard acknowledging his good
works, including the one below. When the speaker finished, those present
applauded enthusiastically and Jerry remarked how much he appreciated
what had been said. He accepted them on behalf of all Tuskegee Airmen.
Here is the tribute…
A Tuskegee Airmen Speaks at Luke AFB
Larry Jackson sent this video.
Listen to and learn history from this Tuskegee Airman, Lincoln Ragsdale.
Lincoln Ragsdale achieved great success as a civilian after WWII. He was
held in high regard.
Tuskegee Airmen wanted good things for people younger than them, for
current and future generations. The video spotlights one who succeed
brilliantly. Lincoln Ragsdale was a great example.
Find someone who stood on their shoulders or stands on their shoulders
ask them to coach you, advise you and mentor you. With focus, tenacity,
good character and determination you too can achieve great personal,
civic, financial, and social success. Watch and learn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xj0vCg2rHw
And now, what someone you have been waiting for…
Here’s my TAI Annual Convention POV
I hope you find this edition informative. I rushed it through because it’s
been almost a month since the convention. You want to know what’s going
on, don’t you. This is my POV and it is skewed in how I see things. You
don’t have agree. In fact, I hope you share with me what you don’t agree
with. We can disagree without being disagreeable.
Yolandea Wood is our newly appointed Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. Youth
Program Chair with me in front of a good looking TAI banner!
Yolandea is doing an outstanding job and gave a great presentation at a
seminar on TAI Youth Programming! She’s got everything a youth chair
needs to be successful, excellent people skills, a genuine interest in
aviation and technology, as well as personal knowledge about the
Airmen’s hopes and expectations for young people in America.
For me, Yolandea is one of TAI’s best assets. Where would we without
her?
Yolandea, your commitment to TAI at every level for the last thirty years is
truly priceless. Your work with work with the youth in the 90s is the reason
you received The General Noel Parrish Award. You deserve another! I’ll
stop because I know I’m making you uncomfortable!
The Tuskegee Airmen Surviving Spouses
give me hope for the future of TAI!
Why I believe the spouses are the pillars of TAI now and the reason the
50th TAI Annual Convention was as enjoyable as it was.
!TFAM readers and others have been asking for years, “what is TAI going
to do when there are no Original Tuskegee Airmen?”
One answer is “The spouses”.
Why the spouses?
Because for the last three years they have been showing up and stepping
up.
So, you thought like I thought, that they were not in the game. Well,
surprise surprise surprise! They are woke!
They have been quietly listening, observing, and discussing among
themselves. The group, Tuskegee Airmen Surviving Spouses are bringing
people together. They are attending the annual conventions as a unit.
They are travelling together, internationally, and they are telling their
husbands stories and how they helped them do what they did.
Who are these women and what do we know about them? We know that
these demure and genteel damsels are gracious and charming ladies. We
didn’t know that they listened and advised, when asked, how to help make
TAI successful. They heard it from the Airmen. They had a seat at the
table. For years, many have been actively involved, behind the scenes,
motivating our youth to pursue their dreams and reach for the stars.
Tuskegee Airmen Surviving Spouses are minding the store and putting new
merchandise on the shelves that the airmen installed many years ago.
They are helping TAI become better known to millions of people around
the world.
Travelling to Ramitelli Italy in April this year to meet with the townspeople
people there who remember hearing their parents and grandparents talk
about the good work the airmen performed during WWII. Having Tuskegee
Airmen Surviving Spouses present was brilliant! Their conversations with
the townspeople, warm handshakes and embraces helped the
organization make a connection with the members of TAI’s newest
chapter in Ramitelli Italy. They are our ambassadors.
It was my good fortune to be invited to attend the spouses luncheon in
New Orleans. Once again, they demonstrated how to be a TAI
ambassador of goodwill.
The luncheon was at the world famous Dooky Chase restaurant. WOW oh
wow! Before the pictures here’s a little bit about the history of Dooky
Chase’s Restaurant.
History of Dooky Chase’s Restaurant
Dooky Chase’s Restaurant opened its doors for business in 1941. What was
initially a sandwich shop and lottery ticket outlet in 1939 blossomed into a
thriving bar and later a family restaurant in Tremé. Founded by Emily and
Dooky Chase Sr., Dooky Chase’s Restaurant soon become the meeting place
for music and entertainment, civil rights and culture in New Orleans.
In 1946, Edgar Dooky Chase Jr. married Leah Lange Chase. Through the
vision of Leah Chase, the barroom and sandwich shop grew into a sit-down
restaurant wrapped within a cultural environment of African American art
and Creole cooking.
Before the United States Supreme Court reversed its 1896 Plessy v.
Ferguson decision, Dooky Chase’s Restaurant had become the hot spot for
discussing issues of civil and economic rights in the African American
community. At the time, it was illegal for white and Black people to sit
together. But Leah Chase opened the doors to her restaurant and invited
activists into the upstairs dining room.
From those strategy sessions, planned and scheduled activities propelled
civil rights and protests in the courts and onto the streets of New Orleans. In
the 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. and others would join these local leaders
for strategy sessions and dialogue over meals in the upstairs meeting room
at Dooky’s.
Leah Chase said, “Food builds big bridges. If you can eat with someone, you
can learn from them, and when you learn from someone, you can make big
changes. We changed the course of America in this restaurant over bowls of
gumbo. We can talk to each other and relate to each other when we eat
together.”
And now, pictures…
Front row L to R: Penny Bailor, Leslyn Petill, Joyce Rohlsen, Delores
Booker, and Sallie Pratt
Back row L to R: Jerry Burton, Dotty Thornhill, Jerome Stoudamire,
Delores Brown, Gwen Spann, Lawrence Stoudamire, Amelia Montgomery
Artwork from Leah Chase’s art collection
This lady with the white hair is Stella
Chase the daughter of Dooky and Leah Chase.
Delores Booker and her Lonely Eagle husband were, for many years,
evaluated scholarship applications for Tuskegee Airmen Scholarship
Foundation.
Jerry Burton presenting a bronze replica of Tuskegee Airmen
Congressional Gold Medal to Jerome and Lawrence Stoudamire on behalf
of their father, Tuskegee Airman and Lonely Eagle Stoudamire.
Original art pieces from Leah Chase’s art collection in the private dining
room where the spouses luncheon was held.
Sallie Pratt and Dotty Thornhill seated beneath original artwork from Leah
Chase’s art collection.
Surviving spouse Penny Bailor and
son, Kermit Bailor Jr.
Protocol chair and surviving spouse Delores Brown
Marve Abrams, Convention Planning Officer, and surviving spouses
Dorothy Thornhill, Sallie Pratt, and Amelia Montgomery at the Higgins
Hotel, site of the TAI Annual Convention. Don’t they look marvelous!
Amelia, Dotty, and Sallie are too cute!
The WW II Museum was the site of the gala. The picture of Original
Tuskegee Airman, Mr. Kermit Keel sitting next to Delores Brown, surviving
spouse.
They are actively involved in the organization making a positive
contribution to uplift the youth of America.
The spouses have attended the past three conventions. They have
travelled to in Ramitelli Italy this year in April to
They are actively involved in the organization making a positive
contribution to uplift the youth of America.
Here’s a picture of TAI member and stakeholder, Dave Terrell and me.
Dave is a long time member of the TAI Chapter at Langley. I met Dave
Terrell and Brenda Bowie at the same time, at a convention. For several
years, we saw each other at the annual conventions. We were regular
attendees and looked forward to catching up with each other. It was
great! I also met Tina Martin Price around that time, past chapter
president. All three of them played crucial roles in the organization at the
national, regional and chapter level.
Good day readers,
I attended the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. annual convention and it was
wonderful seeing folks that I haven’t seen since the 2019 convention!
For me, it was a reunion.
Flitting around, stopping and chatting y’all felt so good. I’ve missed
you!! Reconnecting with fellow members and stakeholders in
Tuskegee Airmen, Inc for as long and longer than I was one of the
butterflies flitting around and landing on the most beautiful flowers
you’ve ever seen.
God bless the love of my life for making sure my flight to New
Orleans was first class, (and yes, I am bragging! Hahaha). He’s a
doll! I imagine that he’s blushing right now as he reads this.
Back to my NOLA/TAI experience. I arrived in New Orleans safely,
crystal blue skies and white billowy clouds accompanied my taxi ride
to the Hotel Monteleone in The French Quarter where Dwight, the
taxi and door attendant, greeted me with a most welcoming smile,
sincere and genuine. , Having caught no zzzzs the night before,
Leaving LAX early Wednesday morning, I arrived at MSY that after
noon Arriving on
In response to our lawsuit, a federal court had given the
administration until Friday, August 15, to restore a critical database
about government spending that it had unlawfully taken down earlier
this year.
The information is now back online, and the American people can
again see for themselves whether the regime is or isn’t spending
money as directed by Congress.
Here’s more about the case:
- In February, Donald Trump put a man named Russell Vought in
charge of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). - Vought was one of the primary architects of the
infamous Project 2025 manifesto, which essentially serves as
an authoritarian playbook for the Trump regime. He believes
that Trump has virtually limitless power — including the power
to ignore Congress. - The Office of Management and Budget is one of the most
critical agencies in the entire federal government because it
oversees a vast amount of what the executive branch does. - By law, OMB is required to publicly post information about the
funds allocated to each federal agency. This is known as the
Public Apportionments Database. - But in late March — under Vought’s leadership and in clear
violation of the law — OMB took that database off of its website. - On April 8 — representing Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics
in Washington (CREW) — Public Citizen filed suit in federal
court challenging OMB’s removal of the Public Apportionments
Database from its website. - In July, a federal judge ordered the administration to restore
the Public Apportionments Database. - The administration then asked the court of appeals to let it keep
the database hidden while its appeal of our lawsuit goes
forward. - On August 9, the court rejected that request and gave the
administration a deadline of August 15 to restore the database. - The administration complied and the Public Apportionments
Database is now back online.
The Public Apportionments Database is one of the most important
tools we have for monitoring whether the Trump regime is spending
taxpayer money the way Congress intended or whether, instead, the
administration is openly flouting Congress’ constitutional authority
over government spending (the so-called “power of the purse”).
Getting the Public Apportionments Database restored is an essential
part of our ongoing campaign to maintain transparency in
government and to be vigilant about what the Trump regime is up to.