[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 83 (Thursday, June 4, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1321-E1322]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           IN TRIBUTE TO DABNEY MONTGOMERY, AN AMERICAN HERO

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 4, 2009

  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to 
Dabney Montgomery, a member of the ground crew of the Tuskegee Airmen, 
who later served as a bodyguard for Martin Luther King during the 
historic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Mr. Montgomery 
is being honored by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 
237, at an event in my district on Friday, June 5, 2009. Mr. Montgomery 
is a retired New York City Housing Authority housing assistant.
  Mr. Montgomery was born in Selma, Alabama in 1923. He was inducted 
into the armed forces in 1943 and underwent basic training in Biloxi, 
Mississippi, followed by a course in the mechanics of army supplies at 
Camp Lee, Virginia. He was one of three men in his course who were 
selected for the Army Air Corps in Oscoda, Michigan. By the time he 
arrived in Michigan, the unit was already packing to ship out. He was 
assigned to the 1051st Company of the 96th Air Service group, in charge 
of making sure that the units were supplied with food and clothing.
  Tuskegee Institute was awarded the U.S. Army Air Corps contract to 
help train America's first Black military aviators because it had 
already invested in the development of an airfield, had a proven 
civilian pilot training program and its graduates performed highest on 
flight aptitude exams. The project was considered an experiment because 
it was designed to refute a racist 1920s theory that suggested that 
blacks could not tolerate the sharp curves and dives that were needed 
to fly a fighter plane. Eleanor Roosevelt was much impressed by the 
pilots she met at the Tuskegee Institute in 1941, and persuaded her 
husband to use these talented men in combat missions. With nearly 1,000 
pilots and as many as 19,000 support personnel ranging from mechanics 
to nurses, the Tuskegee Airmen were credited with shooting down more 
than 100 enemy aircraft. Their success paved the way for today's 
integrated armed forces.
  Some members of the Tuskegee Airmen went home and lived quiet lives. 
Mr. Montgomery went on to become actively involved in the civil rights 
movement. Mr. Montgomery first met Martin Luther King, Jr. as a student 
in Boston where Mr. Montgomery studied. They shared the same godmother.
  In 1965, Mr. Montgomery was living in New York City, working as a 
social service investigator for the Welfare Department. One night he 
saw a news broadcast of blacks being beaten and gassed in Alabama for 
wanting to vote. Outraged that this could happen in America, he decided 
to return to Selma to take part in the protests. He took a leave of 
absence from his job, and arrived in Selma on the bus. He didn't tell 
his parents or his friends that he was in town, but went directly to 
the Brown Chapel AME Church, the march headquarters.
  Mr. Montgomery had experienced Alabama's discriminatory registration 
practices himself, and remembers the anger and frustration he felt at 
being denied the right to vote.

[[Page E1322]]

 In 1946 when he returned to Selma after the war, he went to the 
courthouse to register. He was given three forms that had to be signed 
by three white men testifying that he was ``a good boy.'' He persuaded 
three men who knew his father to sign the forms, but that was not 
sufficient. He also had to show that he owned $3,000 worth of land--not 
cash, which he had, but real property. So he gave up. As he walked down 
the courthouse steps, he met a white veteran going to register to vote. 
The white man just signed up--no forms, no attestations, no real 
property. Having experienced the discrimination himself, Mr. Montgomery 
wanted to change the system. He was moved by having the opportunity to 
join with the other protesters, where they prayed on the steps of the 
very courthouse where his registration had been rejected. A sheriff 
with a large gun came by and advised them to go pray in church. Mr. 
Montgomery says he told him, ``We feel sorry for you. All you have on 
your side is your gun. We have truth on our side, we have God on our 
side, and the truth and God will last forever; your gun will 
disintegrate.''
  Mr. Montgomery volunteered to be a bodyguard for Mr. King during the 
march from Selma to Montgomery. The first time the marchers tried to 
cross the bridge, they were turned back. A federal court gave 
permission and more than 3,000 people marched over the Edmund Pettus 
Bridge. White people drove by and called them names. Undeterred, they 
made the 54 mile march that helped bring about the Voting Rights Act 
saying that all Americans should have the right to vote. In recent 
years, Mr. Montgomery's service is earning him honors. In 2007, he and 
the other surviving Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the Congressional Gold 
Medal of Honor. On the morning of his inauguration, President Barack 
Obama had breakfast with the Tuskegee Airman, and Mr. Montgomery was 
there. He also took part in the reading of the U.S. Constitution at the 
Newseum. Fittingly, he was given Amendment 24, sections 1 and 2, 
barring a poll tax. Local 237 President Greg Floyd will present him 
with a Trailblazer Award at the Retiree Division's Founders Day 
celebration tomorrow.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my distinguished colleagues to join me in 
recognizing the achievements of Dabney Montgomery, an outstanding 
veteran, hero, civil rights activist and civil servant.

                          ____________________