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Home > About > Lonely Eagles In Memory of the Lonely Eagles  About ECCTAI President's Message Membership Chapter Officers ECCTAI Meetings The TAI Story Lonely Eagles TAI Chapter Listing Contact Us On Tuesday March 8, 2005. Beloved husband of Elaine B. Hancock; father of Ava, Mark, Norma and Kathryn; grandfather of Obi, Elaine, Jon, Kenneth and Kevin; brother of Elinor (Henderson) and Richard. Also surviving are a host of nieces,  nephews, other relatives and friends.
On Friday, March 11 from 6 to 8 p.m., friends may call at Dunbarton Chapel, Howard University, 2900 Van Ness St. N.W. Funeral services will be held Saturday, March 12, at 12 Noon at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, 16th and H Sts., N.W. Interment Rock Creek Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Victor L. Hancock Endowed Scholarship for Howard College of Dentistry, 2225 Georgia Ave., N.W., Suite 922, Washington, DC 20059 Attn: Karine Sewell. Arrangements by McGUIRE FUNERAL SERVICE. Lemuel Rodney Custis  Lemuel Rodney Custis, who was Hartford's first black police officer and helped bring about desegregation of the armed forces as a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, died Thursday, February 24, 2005. He was 89.
Custis, of Wethersfield, was a member of the first class of black men to undergo pilot training at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. George Schnyer of East Windsor, who has studied the Tuskegee Airmen, said Custis was the last surviving member of the group. Custis was not boastful. He never mentioned he was leaving his police job to become an Army pilot during World War II. Connie Nappier of New Britain, who later went through the same pilot training Custis completed to become a Tuskegee Airman, remembered Custis as a beat cop in Hartford. Custis had joined the department in 1940, two years after earning a bachelor's degree at Howard University. "One day we missed Lem," Nappier recalled Tuesday. After two or three days passed, he and many others in Hartford's black community figured "the man found a way to get rid of Lem." They learned the truth months later when the Pittsburgh Courier, a newspaper that served black America, arrived. "There was Lem on the front page with the other four fellas, having earned his wings," Nappier said. "Lem was one of those who was determined that he was going to see it through and get his wings, not to pin bouquets on himself, but to prove we had the capabilities that any other human had," Nappier said. The Army was responding to pressure when it agreed to begin a training program for black pilots at Tuskegee. Custis was assigned to the all-black 99th Fighter Squadron, which flew escort and patrol missions in P-40 Warhawks in North Africa, Sicily and Italy from April 1943 to July 1944. Members of the 99th first tangled with German fliers while covering the beaches during the Allied invasion at Anzio on Jan. 27, 1944. Sixteen Warhawk pilots spotted 15 German Focke-Wulf 190 fighters dive-bombing Allied ships off Anzio. The black aviators attacked the Germans, who were flying superior airplanes, and shot down five without losing one of their own. The squadron's success that day gave Custis a sense that he was part of  something special, although it would be decades before the black aviators would receive wide acclaim for their combat in Europe.
"After our success at Anzio and Salerno ... we had an inkling that perhaps we had made a real contribution," Custis said during an interview in April 2000. "And then, of course, as the years went by, and you got older and you had a better perspective of history and so forth, we could realize that we had really done something from a historical standpoint." The Tuskegee Airmen went on to earn more fame by escorting Allied bombers. German pilots were taking a heavy toll on the lumbering bombers, and fighter escort was crucial. The Tuskegee Airmen, by then flying as the 332nd Fighter Group, were the only Allied outfit not to lose a bomber they escorted to enemy fighters. Despite their performance in combat, the black aviators still endured indignities at home and abroad. But it didn't make them bitter. "I like to think that most of us, as a result of all of our experiences, tried to really overcome some of those scars we had picked up over the years - some of the mental and social scars," Custis said during an interview in 2002. "We tried to be good citizens in whatever city or town we thought we'd live our lives in." Custis left the service in 1946 after attaining the rank of major and went to work in Connecticut state government. He retired in 1980. Custis' wife, Ione, died in 1991. His funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at the Farley-Sullivan Funeral Home, 34 Beaver Road, Wethersfield. Burial will follow at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford. Reference: Hardford Curant By DAVID OWENS, Courant Staff Writer Robert C. Bailey On Sunday, August 31, 2003 of White Plains, MD. Beloved and precious husband of Mabel Benoit Bailey; devoted father of Robert Davis Bailey, Robert C. Bailey Jr., Joan Lloyd and Jan Bailey; step-father of Robert T. Benoit, Jr. and wife, Onnetta and the late Michael Benoit; loving grandfather of Traci Tyer, Tina Douglas, Maria Braman, Opal Benoit, Mark Benoit, Leanor Hodge and Robert L. Bailey. Also surviving are seven great-grandchildren, special friend, Thyra Benoit and a host of other relatives and friends. Viewing Thursday, September 4, 7 to 9 p.m. at Metropolitan United Methodist Church, Pomonkey, MD, where there will be a family hour Friday, September 5 10:30 a.m. until time of service, 11:30 a.m. Interment Maryland Veterans Cemetery, Cheltenham, MD. Repast at Metropolian United Methodist Church, following burial. Arrangements by Thornton Funeral Home. Cunningham C. Bryant, Maj. Gen. (Ret.)  On Tuesday, July 29, 2003. Loving husband of Hyacinth B. Bryant; devoted father of Candice C. and Gregory B. (Bertie) Bryant and Beverly G. (Frank) Nelson; beloved grandfather of Kerri Rose and Frank H. Nelson Jr. and Stephen S. Bryant. He is also survived by one sister, Juanita B. Mitchell; two nieces, Jacklyn and Janice, one nephew, Samuel, other relatives and friends.
The late Maj. Gen. Bryant will lie in state at Calvary Episcopal Church, 820 6th St. N.E. on Wednesday, September 3 from 6 to 9 p.m. and on Thursday, September 4, from 9 a.m. until funeral services at 10 a.m. Interment Arlington National Cemetery with Full Military Honors at 1 p.m. Family suggests contributions be made in the name of Maj. Gen. Bryant to Calvary Episcopal Church Building Fund or Cardozo Class of 1940 Scholarship Fund, c/o William Mason, 4229 19th St. NE, Washington, D.C. 20018. Services by STEWART. Colonel Harry A. Sheppard, USAF (Retired) It is with deep, deep sorrow we announce that Colonel Harry A. Sheppard, USAF (Retired) passed away on Tuesday, July 22, 2003 at his home in Arlington, Virginia. Colonel Sheppard was born October 24, 1917 in Jamaica, New York. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps on April 1, 1941 and became one of the first Blacks accepted for aircraft maintenance training in the Air Corps and to be assigned to the 99th Pursuit Squadron, which was activated a month earlier at Chanute Field, Illinois. He completed pilot training, earning his wings and a commission at Tuskegee Army Air Field on May 28, 1943 and was assigned to the 302nd Fighter Squadron. During WW II, he flew 123 combat missions in P-39, P-47, and P-51 aircraft. During his 33-year military career, he served as Pilot, Engineering Officer and Supply Officer, earning an impressive list of decorations, including the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Service Medal, and Air Medal with 13 oak leaf clusters. Colonel Sheppard was a charter member of East Coast Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. and served as the first chapter secretary. He served as Chapter President 1987-1988 and as Eastern Region President for three years. Colonel Sheppard is survived by his widow, Amy Casserly Sheppard, four daughters and one son. A memorial service will be held at 11:00am on Tuesday, September 9, 2003 at the Old Post Chapel on Fort Myer, Virginia. Inurnment at Arlington National Cemetery immediately following. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in his name to the Hospice of Northern Virginia, 6565 Arlington Blvd., Suite 501, Falls Church, VA 22042. Dr. Percy Langston Ellis, Jr. On Sunday, May 18, 2003 in Lexington, VA. Beloved husband for 50 years of Viola Patterson Ellis and loving father of Dr. Percita L. Ellis. Survived by devoted sister, Elnora Ellis Chase of Elizabeth City, NC; three nieces, Patricia G. and Elaine E. Chase and Valerie P. Johnson (Robert); two great-nieces; three nephews, Larry W. Chase (Vanessa), Rev. Percy R. Chase and Louis P. Prather, Jr.; one great-nephew; brother-in-law, James O. Patterson Jr. of New York City; sister-in-law, Bernice I. Patterson of Washington, DC; numerous cousins and friends. He was predeceased by his parents, his sister, Pearl L. Prather and his twin brother, Daniel L. Ellis. Friends may call on Saturday, May 24, 2003 from 9 a.m. until time of service at 11 a.m. at Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, 5301 North Capitol St., NE, Washington, DC, Rev. Graylan S. Hagler, minister. Interment Fort Lincoln Cemetery, Brentwood, MD. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be donated to the Plymouth Youth Scholarship Fund. Arrangements by MARSHALL'S. ECCTAI will serve as honorary pallbearers. Matilda Roumania Peters Walker Matilda Roumania Peters Walker, 85, who learned to play tennis on a clay court in Washington in the days of racial segregation and became one of America's top-rated black tennis players, died May 16 at Prince George's Hospital Center of complications from pneumonia. She had lived with her daughter in New Carrollton since the late 1990s and lived previously in Washington. Mrs. Walker was known as Roumania Peters during her years in tennis. In 1944 and 1946, she won the national title of the American Tennis Association, one of the nation's oldest black sports organizations. The latter victory came against legendary African American tennis star Althea Gibson. She won national championships in singles and doubles. Mrs. Walker teamed with her sister, Margaret Peters, to win the ATA's women's doubles title 14 times from the mid-1940s to the early 1950s, a record that remains unbroken. The sisters were a dominant pair in their era, much like Venus and Serena Williams of today. They traveled to regional and national invitational ATA tournaments on the campuses of traditionally black colleges across the country. The success and prominence of the Peters sisters made them into national celebrities. Movie stars posed with them for publicity photographs, and they played exhibition matches for English royalty. But there was virtually no financial compensation. Tennis, at the time, was an amateur sport. Mrs. Walker, like many others, paid for her equipment and traveling expenses. At the time, she worked full time as a physical education instructor at Tuskegee Institute, which she attended on a tennis scholarship. Mrs. Walker graduated from Tuskegee in 1941 and received a master's degree in physical education from New York University. She returned to her native Washington in the 1950s to take a teaching position at Howard University. From 1964 to 1981, she was a physical education instructor for D.C. public schools, mostly at Dunbar High School. She directed a tennis camp for the D.C. Department of Recreation for about 20 years, mentoring hundreds of students. She got her start without the benefit of an organized program. As a 10-year-old, she picked up a racket and began playing tennis at the Rose Park playground across the street from her Georgetown home. She and her sister played for hours each day, honing their serves and backstrokes. She continued to play competitive tennis into her sixties, according to her daughter, Frances Della Walker Weekes. "Tennis meant everything to her," Weekes said. "She was happy with everything she got out of the game." She credited tennis for a courtship and subsequent 35-year marriage to James Walker, who died in 1992. They met at Tuskegee, where Walker, a mathematics professor, applied for a teaching position after seeing Roumania Peters's photograph on the cover of a magazine. She was a member of Epiphany Catholic Church in Washington and Zeta Phi Beta social sorority. In addition to her daughter, of New Carrollton, survivors include a son, James George Walker of Washington; and two grandchildren. |
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East Coast Chapter, Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. P.O. Box 8541 Bolling AFB Washington, DC 20032-8541 |
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