!TFAM 2018 is an election year.

VOTE, for the good of the organization

Today is Tuesday, July 24, 2018 It’s a new day in paradise!

Published since 2008, !TFAM is a bi-weekly lifeline that unites readers and asks them to act to ensure

the Tuskegee Airmen’s legacy of excellence. !TFAM provides an inside view into the lives of

Tuskegee Airmen and the people they influence.

Original Tuskegee Airman,

Abbie Deverges will turn 103 years old on August 9, 2018

Abbie Voorhies Deverges met Colonel Ralph Smith in the spring of 2010 at the California African American Museum at Exposition Park in Los Angeles and had no idea that she would be one of the recipients of the 2010 crystal award from the SCMEB Foundation for her courage, tenacity, and superior work ethic.

When World War II ended in 1945 Abbie Voorhies was one of 479 African-American

nurses in the Army Nurse Corps, which numbered more than 59,000.

Five months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor on July 19, 1941 Abbie Voorhies’ joined the Army by way of the American Red Cross, which was the route for nurses. Assigned to Camp Livingston in Louisiana Abbie Voorhies became second

Lieutenant Voorhies.

The spring of 1942 brought a transfer and new assignment to the delight of Second Lieutenant Voorhies. She and four colleagues transferred to Tuskegee Army Air Base with the 99th Fighter Squadron and placed in charge of four nurses because of her skill and fortitude, which came as a surprise because she was the youngest in the group. While at Tuskegee Army Base Second Lieutenant Voorhies was elevated to the

rank of First Lieutenant.

First Lieutenant Abbie Voorhies met First Lieutenant Mac Ross while working in the base hospital. She liked his manners and his presentation. Abbie and Mac started dating and after a romantic courtship, they were married. Abbie said she was very happy, remembers many happy evenings socializing with other couples, and had a very good life. She remembers how respectful and attentive Mac and the other Airmen were with their wives and with other women on the base. Tuskegee Airman Leo Gray and Mac Ross were both part of the 99th. Leo said that Mac got into a little hot water when he crushed one of his plane’s wings trying to impress his new bride. After a few months of marriage Mac was deployed overseas and sent on a mission. Some weeks later, Abbie answered a knock on the door and men in uniforms told that Mac had been killed while on a mission. She said she doesn’t remember much after that. According to Airmen Leo Gray, the plane Mac Ross piloted crashed into a mountainside.

In June 1944, the Army granted its nurse officers ‘commission and full retirement privileges, dependents’ allowances and equal pay. Prior to that, nurses were receiving half the salary of their male officer counterparts of equivalent military rank and not saluted when approached.

After the war in 1946, Lieutenant Voorhies transferred to Lockbourne Army Base in Columbia Ohio. Dr. Vance H. Marchbanks, chief flight surgeon, promoted Lieutenant Voorhies to assistant chief nurse and before she separated from the service on June

30, 1947, she achieved the rank of captain.

Captain Voorhies separated from the service on June 30, 1947.

Today, she lives in Northridge California and would love to receive a birthday card from you.

I need your help. Let’s remember her legacy as an Airmen, a nurse, a wife, a friend, a sage, and a phenomenal woman. !TFAM readers make this a very special birthday.

Her contact information is:

Abbie Voorhies Deverges

c/o 17100 Calahan Street

Northridge, CA 91325

Receiving 103 cards on her 103rd birthday would be awesome!

Get busy and start writing!

Virgin Islands Youth Aviation Club students

Youth Aviation Club students departed Sunday, July 8, 2018 in route to the 2018 Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP) Aviation Career Education (ACE) Academy located at Manassas, Northern Virginia. Participants included students from the St. Croix Educational Complex, St. Croix Central High School and the CTEC Aviation Academy. Activities for the week of July 9 - 13, 2018 will include:

• Presentation from an Astronaut • Travel to Andrews Air Force Base, Washington, D.C. • Tour of Andrews Air Force Base Control Tower • Travel to Mitre Corporation. • Travel to United Airlines Headquarters • Tour of Northern Virginia Community College • Northern Virginia Community College Academics • Travel to Manassas, Virginia Airport • Coast Guard Static Displays • Travel to Marine Corps Base Quantico • Travel to Udvar Hazy National Air & Space Museum • Orientation Flights (Students' flight training) • Graduation/Closing Ceremony

-- Cenita C. Heywood, President Virgin Islands Youth Aviation Program, Inc. (340) 277-3537

Kya Sledge handling the yoke in her first small aircraft flight

Kya is a member of the Claude B Govan TAI-State Chapter and granddaughter of Toni Barts. Toni is one of the Terrelongue sisters, the family that is ensuring Tuskegee Airmen’s legacy of excellence, tenacity, intellect, and loyalty. Pictures & video of Kya handling the Yoke in her first small aircraft flight here in New York. Her grandmother took her to visit: a wolf preserve, the Statute of Liberty, pool party, beach and on a flight.

Toni Barts

Horace G. Dwiggins, III, The eldest son of General (ret)Tim Boddie passes

My Step-son, Horace G. Dwiggins, III. passed away on July 23, 2018. He was 68. His biological father Lt Col Horace G. Dwiggins, Jr., MD, passed away on September 30, 1958. He was a Tuskegee Airman (DOTA) who was a flight surgeon who worked for Col Marchbanks. I will attach a picture of both.

In 1962, I was assigned to the AFROTC Detachment 15, Tuskegee Institute as the Commandant of Cadets. In that capacity, I worked with the Angel Flight and (the widow) Mrs. Mattye O. Dwiggins (the Assistant Dean of Admissions) was their faculty sponsor. We met and a few months later we were married and were together for 50 years. At that time, she was a widow with three young boys: 12,11 and 8. We lost Mattye O. Boddie on December 23rd, 2011 (cancer). I will attend the TAI convention.

Sincerely,

J Timothy Boddie Jr

BGen USAF Retired

Horace Dwiggins III Lt. Col Horace Dwiggins II

Please keep General Boddie and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Sculptural maquette of Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr. on loan to Army and Navy Club, Washington, DC

July 19, 2018 Dear Sunnye: We are pleased that The Army and Navy Club, Washington, DC has accepted on loan the General Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr. bronze maquette that I commissioned. The details are reported in the July 2018 issue of the club’s magazine, DISPATCH. A copy of page 14 is attached. Respectfully, Conway Jones Attachments: The Army and Navy Club DISPATCH, July 8, 2018, extract, page 14 Photograph: Conway Jones with Lt. Colonel Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. maquette at Army and Navy Club, Washington, DC

TAI Member and Author Farrell J. Chiles’ latest book: "African American Warrant Officers - Their Remarkable History"

I am pleased to announce the release of my latest book "African American Warrant

Officers - Their Remarkable History". The book is published in conjunction with the

100th Anniversary of the Army Warrant Officer Corps (July 9, 1918 July 9, 2018).

"African American Warrant Officers - Their Remarkable History" highlights the

achievements and contributions of African American Army Warrant Officers.

There is an African proverb that says, "Until the lions have their own historians, the

history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter".

This book includes the biographies, stories, articles, and photos contributed by these

"Quiet Professionals". They are commended for telling/sharing their stories.

Copies of the book are available at:

http://booklocker.com/books/9834.html

AFRICAN AMERICAN WARRANT OFFICERS - THEIR REMARKABLE HISTORY

Congratulations Farrell, keep up the good work!

Special Convention Activities

The Veteran and Survivor Benefits panel will include speakers from the Veterans

Administration, Disabled American Vets, and Col. (ret) James Crump. Come prepared with questions, pen, and paper. This event is scheduled for Thursday, August 9th at 2 PM.

Love Stories as told by Tuskegee Airmen Wives and others – There’s laughter, hoops, high hurdles, war, victory and sizzle…for the first time, a love story told by the son of a Tuskegee Airmen couple, Lowell Steward Jr.. This event is scheduled for Friday, August 10th at 4 PM. Also, on the program, four surviving spouses, talking to each other and the audience about their Tuskegee Airmen husbands. Shirley Driver,

Amelia Montgomery, Faye McDaniel, and Sallie Pratt will keep us smiling and

thoroughly entertained. This is history told by herstory.

Morning Meditation Sessions, two local meditation instructors will lead participants in guided meditations and focused breathing techniques to improve concentration, circulation, reduce stress, slow aging, and increase happiness. This event is scheduled for Friday and Saturday at 8 AM.

Tuskegee Airmen Scholarship Foundation 1816 S. Figueroa Street, Suite #4.13

Los Angeles, CA 90015 Telephone: 323-318-0635E-mail: info@taisf.org

Origins and Early History of Tuskegee Airmen Scholarship Foundation

During the 1977 Tuskegee Airmen Inc. (TAI) National Convention at Tuskegee, Alabama, General

Daniel James and Tuskegee Army flying school classmates (class 43-G) Lowell Steward, William Ellis,

Claybourne Lockett and William Melton conceived the TAI National Scholarship Fund.

Because TAI National’s 501 (c) 3 accreditation was pending in 1977, the National Board of Directors

empowered the fully tax-exempt Los Angeles Chapter to proceed as its agent in the organization and

development of the Scholarship Fund.

The inaugural fund-raising banquet in April 1978 originally planned to coincide with General James’

retirement from the United States Air Force became, instead, a post-humus award ceremony

bestowing the first TAI National Scholarship Fund Distinguished Achievement Award upon General

James after his death in January 1978.

In a 1988 interview from Molding A Black Legacy: The Chronicle of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., Tuskegee

Airman, Lowell C. Steward, Founding Chairman of Tuskegee Airmen Scholarship Fund, said, “The

original attempt of TAI National Scholarship Fund was to give something back to the community and

honor our greatest hero, for whom it was originally named. As the fund grew, we added other names

of heroes: the Honorable William H. Hastie, the first Black governor of the Virgin Islands and Chief

Judge of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals; Charles B. Hall, the first Black pilot to destroy an

enemy aircraft in aerial combat; and Wendell O. Pruitt, an outstanding pilot who was awarded the

Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal with six oak leaf clusters; and expanded our objective to

perpetuate the memory of the Tuskegee Airmen by aiding and encouraging youth to pursue careers in

aviation and aerospace.” “By endowing the funds collected and only awarding the income earned

from the principal in the form of scholarships, we are assured of keeping the name Tuskegee Airmen

alive by serving the youth of the United States of America.”

The award was given a second time in 1980 to Lt. General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. General Jimmy

Doolittle received the Fund’s Distinguished Achievement award in 1983. Later that year, the Los

Angeles Chapter, on behalf of the Scholarship Fund, sponsored an annual Distinguished Achievement

Award dinner in honor of Lena Horne.

Tuskegee Airmen Scholarship Fund officially became Tuskegee Airmen Scholarship Foundation on

May 26, 2004.

That’s all for now!

I love you madly,

Sunnye

Editor and publisher

“!TFAM” Ad Sales| Sunnye at sunnye4ever@gmail.com or 818.577.0647

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