'Forgotten Souls' explores the legacy of the missing Tuskegee Airmen

Transcript

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William Brangham: Often overlooked in the history of World War II are the 27 Tuskegee Airmen who disappeared in combat over Europe.

Geoff Bennett recently sat down with Cheryl W. Thompson. Her father was also an airman, and she chronicles the lives of those missing men and the racism they endured while serving their country in her new book, “Forgotten Souls: The Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen.”

Geoff Bennett: Cheryl Thompson, welcome to the “News Hour.”

Cheryl W. Thompson, Author, “Forgotten Souls: The Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen”: Thank you for having me.

Geoff Bennett: This book centers on 27 Tuskegee Airmen who vanished during World War II. Why have their disappearances remained unresolved for nearly eight decades now?

Cheryl W. Thompson: You know, Geoff, I think there’s a lot of reasons why, but I think they just were forgotten, right? The war ended in ’45. People went on with their lives.

And it wasn’t really until like 2011 when a research analyst, it was his job to sort of find the missing World War II veterans, and he decided to focus on the 27 missing airmen. But I just think they were forgotten, right? There were so many people who disappeared in that war and others that I think they just were forgotten.

Geoff Bennett: And the families, as you point out in the book, left with no remains, no answers, no official acknowledgement. How did that official silence really compound the sense of loss they felt?

Cheryl W. Thompson: Well it’s funny because, when I first reached out to the families — and there was one — the first one I reached out to, my standard line was always, hey, my dad was an airman. Like, I’m looking. I’m researching this book, and I want to know, like, when was the last time you heard from the government?

And they were so happy that somebody cared enough to reach out to them, that they have never forgotten, right? They just kind of suffered in silence, if you will, for all of these almost 80 years. And I think that now that somebody has said, hey, we really care about this, like, tell us your story, now it’s brought all this stuff up.

And they’re still hoping that someone — somebody will try and find these men.

Geoff Bennett: Yes.

You mentioned your father. His presence runs quietly, but powerfully throughout this book. At what point did this stop becoming just a reporting exercise and become something really personal for you?

Cheryl W. Thompson: Well, I always say that I wish I had paid more attention growing up to the stories that he used to tell. But it was when I first decided to do the book, I thought, I wonder what he would think?

But being the reporter, I always sort of like kept that reporting hat on. But, yes, there were times when I thought, over my God, this is like, what would my dad think about this? What would his reaction be?

When I reached out to the airmen who were still surviving at the time when I was doing the research, I wondered, like, did he know them? What was their relationship? And so I think it was always in my mind somewhere, like the reporter/daughter thing and wonder, like, would he be proud? Would he be happy about this? Would he think I was going too far by asking certain questions?

Geoff Bennett: Did you ever answer that question for yourself about what he ultimately thought or would think?

Cheryl W. Thompson: I like to think that he would be happy that — because he knew these — some of these men. He was over in Italy with a lot of these men.

And so I wish I knew which ones he knew. I know from my research that he was in the cadet class with some of them. The guy who was on the cover of the book, he knew him. They were in the same cadet class. And I just thought, he would be — I think he would be pleased to know that they weren’t forgotten.

Geoff Bennett: You document that one pilot’s remains were recovered, but it was only after a researcher followed a hunch. And this is in 2018.

What does that suggest about what still might be possible?

Cheryl W. Thompson: Well, technology has changed so much. Everything has changed so much since the 1940s, 80 years, I mean, because a lot of these guys went — some of them went down in the Mediterranean. And it goes deep, thousands of feet deep. And there are remains out there.

But I’m not sure what’s going to happen. My hope is that somebody will pick up the torch.

Geoff Bennett: Let’s talk more about the airmen, because what so often gets lost about them is that they had to be flawless simply to be allowed to exist. They had to be perfect in every way.

What did perfection cost them, though, emotionally and psychologically?

Cheryl W. Thompson: What I always say about these men is — and I say it in the book — they were resilient. They were treated badly because of the era. It was Jim Crow South, and they weren’t wanted.

And they weren’t wanted in Uncle Sam’s Army. They certainly were not wanted as the first Black military pilots. And so they had to sort of put that aside, even though you knew it was — it stayed with them. The airmen I talked to when I started this book, there were seven of them who had flown over in Europe and seven of them who were still alive.

And I talked to five of the seven. And now they’re all gone. The last one died last year. But it still haunted them. The way they were treated, they never forgot it. But they knew that they had to rise above it, because their goal was really to serve this country. That’s what they wanted to do. They wanted to be pilots. They wanted to fly.

They didn’t want the politics of all of this. And that came along with it, unfortunately. But they persevered. And they did amazing things. And they were still proud of it until the day they died of what they accomplished.

Geoff Bennett: What does the federal government owe these men and owe their families, not just symbolically, but materially?

Cheryl W. Thompson: I think that the families I talked to would be happy if somebody just reached out to them to say, hey, we haven’t forgotten your dad. We haven’t forgotten your brother. We haven’t forgotten your uncle.

But they have heard nothing from the government, according to them, in decades. And, so, so many of these families, the spouses and the parents, they are gone. They died without getting any closure. And I think, at this point, the families just want to know that somebody still cares.

Geoff Bennett: The book is “Forgotten Souls: The Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen.”

Cheryl W. Thompson, it’s a great pleasure to speak with you.

Cheryl W. Thompson: Thank you, Geoff.