Look closely at the Tuskegee Airmen Rose Parade float.
History is in the details.
"We're going to have some of the unit emblems on the float -- the 99th (pursuit squadron), the 477th (bombardment group) -- and we wanted to make sure they were accurate," Frank Scalfaro, president of the West Covina Rose Float Foundation, which commissioned the float, told The Sun newspaper. "There's a pride associated with your branch and we've got to make absolutely certain the details are right."
The float was created Charisma Floats. They worked with the Western Region Tuskegee Airmen Archive to make sure everything was accurate.
"Tuskegee Airmen: A Cut Above" is a salute to a group of black pilots who served during World War II. Sixteen of the original Airmen will be on the float when it parades down Colorado Boulevard.
"Knowing how hard these guys strove to achieve what they did, and how they weren't appreciated for almost a hundred years -- that's disgraceful," said one volunteer who helped build the float. "It's the least I can do. Understanding what they have to go through to serve... they didn't even ask for recognition. They just wanted to serve."
Several Southland Airmen will be aboard the float:
- Theodore (Ted) Lumpkin, Los Angeles
- Wilbert (Bill) Johnson, Los Angeles
- Col. Louis Hill, Los Angeles
- Isham “Rusty” Burns, Palm Desert
- Mitchell (Mitch) Higginbotham, Dana Point
- Oliver Goodall, Altadena
- Clarence (Red) Finley, Los Angeles
- Jerry Hodges, Los Angeles
- Harlan Leonard, Riverside
