{"id":129739,"date":"2024-02-28T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=129739"},"modified":"2024-02-29T21:49:03","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T21:49:03","slug":"honoring-past-heroes-by-celebrating-todays-warrior-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=129739","title":{"rendered":"Honoring past heroes by celebrating today\u2019s warrior spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WASHINGTON (AFNS) — \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

This February, Department of the Defense<\/strong><\/a> employees toured a special display recognizing the excellence of past aviators, the Fighter Gunnery Trophy.<\/p>\n

Won by members of the 332nd Fighter Group in 1949, the trophy is on loan from the National Museum of the United States Air Force<\/strong><\/a> in recognition of African American\/Black History Month.<\/p>\n

Bruce Jones, strategic initiatives program integrator for the Installation Planning Branch of the Air Force Civil Engineers, learned of the Fighter Gunnery Trophy and wanted to bring it to the Pentagon. His hope was that more people would learn the story of those who earned the propeller group class of the first aerial performance competition in 1949.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been helping to correct and commemorate the history of the Tuskegee Airmen for the last few years,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThrough my work with the Air Force historians \u2026 I was able to connect with the Air Force Museum and develop a plan to bring the trophy here to [Washington] D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trophy has been placed in a prominent, temporary display within the \u201cAfrican Americans in Defense of our Nation\u201d corridor of the Pentagon through March 6. The corridor received a major redesign and upgrade<\/strong><\/a> to help educate visitors and DoD employees about the value brought by diverse American heroes.<\/p>\n

In addition to highlighting the many achievements of the Tuskegee Airmen, David Bragg, deputy director of the Field Heritage Program, was responsible for bringing to light other unsung heroes. Two that he mentioned were Maj. Gen. Marcelite Harris<\/strong><\/a>, the first African American female general officer in the Air Force, who broke several barriers as she worked her way up the maintenance officer ranks, and Maj. Gen. Lucius Theus<\/strong><\/a>, who was asked by the Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird<\/strong><\/a> in 1970 to chair the interservice task force on Education in Race Relations at a time when racial tensions were high.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I joined the Air Force in the early 1970s, I immediately experienced some of the training that came from General Theus\u2019 team designed to mitigate racial tensions in the service at that time when there were actually race riots happening at military installations,\u201d Bragg said. \u201cI\u2019m not saying that they cured all problems, but what he did was a positive starting point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other heroes that Bragg highlighted when working on the corridor upgrade included:<\/p>\n