Armory adopts aviator's name

By William F. West
Montgomery Advertiser

LaJune Minnifield touches a sign designating a portion of Alabama 81 as Tuskegee Airmen Boulevard before Sunday's dedication of the highway and the Fort Benjamin O. Davis Jr. National Guard Armory in Tuskegee.

-- Julie Bennett Advertiser

TUSKEGEE -- The Tuskegee Airmen, known for fierce fighting skills, disciplined military training and cracking World War II-era racial boundaries, were honored in a two-hour ceremony Sunday.

The Alabama National Guard Armory here was named for Lt. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. and a segment of nearby Alabama 81 was named Tuskegee Airmen Boulevard for the pioneering African-American military aviators who overcame white bigotry and racial segregation.

When he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1936, Davis, the son of a brigadier general, was the first African American to do so in 47 years. He went on to achieve fame as commander of the 99th Pursuit Squadron, the nation's first all-aviation unit.