[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 55 (Thursday, March 29, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E693]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING MATTHEW W. PLUMMER

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. AL GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 29, 2007

  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, below is a narrative for the 
Record by Mr. Matthew W. Plummer, an original Tuskegee Airman.

       In September 1937 when I arrived at Tuskegee the Nation was 
     busily engaged in attaining the Nation's goal in building a 
     fleet of 50,000 airplanes to counter the Axis's warlike 
     threats to our European Allies. I was from San Antonio, Texas 
     where there was located several air fields; in fact I was 
     born adjacent to one of them. The earliest I can remember was 
     making my own airplanes imagining flying myself. It was not 
     long after arriving in Tuskegee I met other boys who were 
     similarly interested. We decided on our own to form a flying 
     club where we could get together and talk about flying.
       The next year we were contacted by the school officials 
     seeking the club's help locating an airfield where two 
     visitors could land. They were C. Alfred Anderson, the pilot, 
     and Dr. Forsyth, who were returning from a visit to the 
     Caribbean islands. I informed them of an airport owned by the 
     Sheltons where they could land. The Sheltons owned an ice 
     house in downtown Tuskegee and were in the process of 
     building an airplane I sometimes visited after school.
       The information I provided the school officials was helpful 
     and they appointed me as the flying guests' host during their 
     stay in Tuskegee. The height of my enthusiasm was when 
     ``Chief' Anderson took me up for a ride over campus. I will 
     always remember that short flight; it was a WacoUP47 4 place 
     cabin craft.
       It was not long after the Anderson-Forsyth visit the 
     discontent by a growing voice of citizens demanding inclusion 
     of blacks in programs involving government expenditures was 
     heard by Washington officials. In response to this demand 
     Tuskegee was invited to the hearings along with other black 
     schools offering higher education. It has been reported along 
     with other testimony Tuskegee officials proudly announced 
     there already existed on its campus students anxious to learn 
     aviation citing the existence of an aviation club. It is 
     reasonable to assume that the existence of the flying club 
     constituted one of the factors that inspired the faculty to 
     obtain CPT programs which were the predecessor to the 
     military training facility.
       I was in the second class of students enrolled in the 
     civilian pilot training program. After completion of that 
     program I was hired as an instructor for U.S. Army cadets 
     training at Tuskegee. I volunteered for the Armed services, 
     but deferred from active duty due to my position as an 
     instructor.
       One of the rewards of being an instructor was the feeling 
     of modesty upon meeting an old student who expresses his 
     admiration for the initial days of teaching lessons on the 
     skill of flying! Consistently they are gracious in thanking 
     us for the assistance in learning the skill of handling an 
     airplane.

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