[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 16 (Wednesday, February 3, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E144]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       PAYING TRIBUTE TO TRAILBLAZING TUSKEGEE AIRMAN LEE ARCHER

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                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 3, 2010

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and celebrate 
the legacy of Lee Archer, who--despite facing a host of racial 
injustices--tirelessly defended our Nation as a member of the Tuskegee 
Airmen, the first African American unit of the U.S. Army Air Corps. 
Archer died last Wednesday in New York City at the age of 90.
  The Harlem-raised Airman is credited with defeating four-and-a-half 
enemy aircrafts. He has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, 
the Air Medal with 18 Clusters, the Presidential Unit Citation, and a 
host of other accolades honoring his service to this country. Most 
recently, Archer and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen were conferred the 
Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor bestowed by Congress.
  Before Archer retired from the military in 1970, he flew 169 combat 
missions--three times the typical number for white pilots--and attained 
the rank of lieutenant colonel. Archer's deftness at piloting was 
incontestable; nonetheless, enlisting in the Army Air Corps proved to 
be no easy feat for him. In 1941, he was rejected from pilot training 
on the sole basis of his race. Originally deemed too intellectually 
inept to fly a plane, Blacks were not allowed to join the Army Air 
Corps until the 1940 appointment of Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., as the 
Army's first Black brigadier general. Archer graduated from pilot 
training in 1943 and joined the all-Black Tuskegee Airmen. The 
experiences of Archer's father, a World War I veteran, taught Archer 
that willingness to lay down one's life for his country does not 
necessarily assuage the racism that he faces. In a 2008 interview with 
the Journal News, Archer stated of his father: ``he came home from 
World War I and nothing had changed despite the fact that he fought his 
butt off for our country.''
  Lee Archer's devotion to breaking barriers extended far beyond his 
experiences in the U.S. Military. After retiring from the military in 
1970, the New York University-educated Archer was named Corporate Vice 
President of one of America's most successful companies, General Foods, 
thereby making Archer one of the first Black executives of a major 
American corporation. In 1987, his legacy was broadened when he founded 
Archer Asset Management, a venture capital firm. Archer's successes as 
an entrepreneur, executive, and serviceman are unparalleled.
  Notwithstanding the bigotry and racism that he faced in his attempts 
to defend his country, Lee Archer became an imperturbable force in the 
U.S. Military. Archer and his comrades proved that African Americans, 
too, possess an extraordinary capacity to provide exemplary service to 
our Nation. Although he was not always able to take advantage of the 
principles of freedom and equality upon which this Nation was founded, 
he assiduously defended these principles, and invariably impacted the 
future of our country.

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