Tuskegee Airmen Moment of Silence

Floor Speech

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Mr. FIGURES. Mr. Speaker, I rise with the Alabama delegation, including one of our U.S. Senators and many others here on the House floor, to pay respect to the end of an era. One of the most improbable, inspiring, and truly remarkable chapters in American history quietly closed during our most recent break.

Lieutenant Colonel George Hardy, a veteran of Vietnam, Korea, and World War II, passed away.

This is not a name most of us know in isolation, but we all know the story of the Black men who were trained as pilots on airfields in the backwoods of Macon County, Alabama, who would go on to become what the world knows today as the Tuskegee Airmen.

Lieutenant Colonel George Hardy was the last surviving Tuskegee Airman who flew combat missions in World War II. He was born in Philadelphia at a time when the military was not integrated, but by the age of 19, he was flying combat missions over the skies of Europe, defending and liberating rights and freedoms abroad that we all know that he did not enjoy even back at home.

Despite that, Lieutenant Colonel Hardy kept the mission first, front and center. With the other Tuskegee Airmen, they exceeded expectations, and they left behind a spectacular record of service and accomplishment. Though these men took off as the unlikeliest of American heroes, they landed as what is possibly the greatest, most well-known, most well-decorated fighting force in this Nation's history.

As a young man now that has the privilege to represent Tuskegee, it is my honor, my obligation, and my duty to stand on this House floor and acknowledge the life and the legacy of Lieutenant Colonel George Hardy and the Tuskegee Airmen and all of those who have served this Nation.

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