[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 1365]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        REMEMBERING CHIEF MASTER SERGEANT LUTHER JEFFERSON, SR.

 Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I am honored to salute the life and 
service of retired CMSgt Luther Jefferson, Sr., who served as a 
Tuskegee Airman in the 332nd Fighter Group. Chief Jefferson will be 
remembered not only for his valor and service to his country but also 
for his compassion, optimism, and generous spirit. He died at his home 
in Victorville, California on January 19, 2012.
  Luther Jefferson was born March 23, 1923, in Cotton Valley, LA, and 
was the fifth of 11 children born to Andrew and Sue Willie Curry 
Jefferson. Reared in poverty on a sharecropper's farm, Luther was 
determined to work hard, study diligently, and maintain a positive 
outlook on life.
  In March 1943, Luther Jefferson was drafted into the U.S. military. 
While completing basic training at the Army Air Base in Greenberg, NC, 
he learned of an experimental training program for African-American 
pilots, based at the Tuskegee Institute and Tuskegee Army Air Field in 
Alabama. After passing the required examination and being accepted into 
the program, he was assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group's 99th Fighter 
Squadron--part of an elite group now known as the Tuskegee Airmen. 
Logging more than 5,000 hours in aircraft that included the P-40 
Fighter and B-25s, he helped protect Army Air Corps bombers in Italy 
during WWII and participated in the post-WWII Berlin Airlift. Following 
the war, Jefferson was assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base at 
Dayton, OH in the Research and Development Section of New Aircraft and 
Human Characteristics--as one of a select few chosen to test new 
aircraft and combat simulations. Luther Jefferson also participated in 
the Dugway Proving Ground atomic test in Utah. By the time he retired 
from the U.S. Air Force in 1972, Luther Jefferson had become one of the 
branch's first African-American chief master sergeants.
  As a civilian, Chief Jefferson remained active in his community and 
volunteered as a Little League umpire and a Meals-on-Wheels driver for 
homebound seniors.
  Luther Jefferson, Sr., passed away at 88 years of age. I extend my 
heartfelt condolences to his two siblings Avis Jefferson and Alice 
Shaw; three children, Deborah Jefferson, Yvonne Atkinson, and Andrew 
Jefferson; and his six grandchildren, extended family, and numerous 
friends.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the life of Tuskegee 
Airman CMSgt Luther Jefferson, Sr.

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