Tuskegee Airman found freedom in flying

As a boy growing up in rural Georgia, LeRoy Roberts Jr. would stop whatever he was doing to watch the twice-daily mail plane pass overhead. As a young man, he persuaded a European pilot to give him flying lessons — even though his skin color prevented him from holding a pilot's license.

But thanks largely to first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Lt. Col. Roberts and hundreds of other black men became distinguished aviators, fighting both the Nazis and the racist policies of a still-segregated U.S. Army. Collectively, they were known as the Tuskegee Airmen and last year were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal — and long-overdue recognition for their bravery in World War II.

Lt. Col. Roberts, who was last stationed at McChord Air Force Base before retiring from the military in 1965, died Wednesday (Aug. 13) in Tacoma. He was 86.

Lt. Col. Roberts flew 42 missions against the Germans as a fighter pilot. He made history again, becoming a flight commander during the Korean War, just as the U.S. military was desegregating. He had both black and white officers under his command as he led 106 missions against the North Koreans.

"Most of us had the idea it was going to be easy, that we'd be over this in a hurry," Lt. Col. Roberts said of the Korean conflict in a 2000 interview with The Seattle Times. "We were dead wrong."

He is one of four Tuskegee Airmen to pass away within the past month, said Tommie Lamb, president of the Sam Bruce Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, named after a Garfield High School graduate who was shot down over Sicily in 1942.

Lt. Col. Roberts, who after leaving the military worked for 20 years as a federal employee with the General Services Administration in Auburn, spent much of his time giving talks and slide-show presentations about the history of the Tuskegee Airmen.

"What Mr. Roberts was all about was having opportunities for all young people," said Lamb, 74, of Kent. "I often heard him say, 'If you give everybody an equal shot, there's no telling what America can do. But if you stifle one group, you end up stifling the whole country.' "

Lt. Col. Roberts, the eldest of eight children, was born Dec. 11, 1921 in Toccoa, Ga. He joined the Army in 1944 and was later accepted for pilot training. He was 23 when he was sent to Tuskegee, Ala., where black pilots, navigators, gunners and engineers received their training.

Though the airmen had the backing of Eleanor Roosevelt, then-Sen. Harry Truman and other high-powered politicians, military brass didn't want blacks flying warplanes, Lamb explained — and gave the Tuskegee Airmen the "worst of the planes, the old clunkers." Lt. Col. Roberts, who served with the 332nd Fighter Group in Italy, said he and his fellow airmen made a pact to support one another.

They had to succeed "come hell or high water," Lamb said. "The whole black community was depending on those guys to do good."

And they did: They successfully escorted thousands of bombers during World War II without losing a single one to enemy fire.

For Lt. Col. Roberts — who earned a bachelor of science degree from San Francisco State College — flying gave him a freedom he couldn't find on the ground, said his youngest daughter, Cheryl Roberts, of Salem, Ore.

"He was very patriotic and he believed in the democratic process and equality, even though he couldn't enjoy that himself," she said. "Some of his greatest heroes were people who thought he was subhuman, people who despised him" because of his race.

Her father had a commanding presence and didn't suffer fools lightly — but he always knew how to lighten things up with a well-timed joke, Cheryl Roberts said.

"There was nothing mushy about my dad," she said. But the way Lt. Col. Roberts carried himself and the way he spoke to people, especially children, she said, "just called you to your better self."

In addition to his daughter, Lt. Col. Roberts is survived by his wife of 61 years, Ann Roberts of Tacoma; daughters Karen Robinson, of Tacoma, and Susan Roberts, of Los Angeles; one grandson and one great-grandson. His son, LeRoy Roberts III, died in a 1977 car accident.

A funeral Mass will be held at 9 a.m. Monday at Tacoma's St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, 7112 S. 12th St., followed by a reception in the parish hall. After the reception, there will be a graveside service at Calvary Cemetery, 5212 70th St. W. in Tacoma.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made in Lt. Col. Roberts' name to the Tuskegee Airmen National Scholarship Foundation, P.O. Box 9166, Arlington, VA 22219-1166.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com

Information in this article, originally published Aug. 17, 2008, was corrected Aug. 20, 2008. An editing error in a previous version of this article gave the incorrect impression that Harry Truman and other high-powered politicians didn't want blacks flying warplanes. The original article also incorrectly stated that after retiring from the military, Lt. Col. LeRoy Roberts Jr. worked for 20 years as a federal employee for the Government Services Administration in Kent; he worked as a federal employee with the General Services Administration in Auburn..