from War History Online, Guest Article by Eugene Jones Baldwin:
Arnold and George Cisco grew up in mostly white, rural Jerseyville, Illinois, graduating with honors from Jerseyville High School in the 1930s. They both attended the University of Illinois. Arnold received a bachelor of arts degree in languages and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. George earned a Bachelor of Science degree. The boys’ father, Roscoe Cisco was a noted piano player and music teacher. He also was a caretaker for a well-to-do white St. Louis family’s Jerseyville summer house, where the boys and their younger brother Harlow were born.
When World War II began, the Cisco brothers were determined to fight for their country, in spite of the fact that the armed services were segregated. The Navy designated blacks to serve as cooks or laborers. The Army formed all-black units, one of which built the Alaskan Highway. The U.S. Army Air Corps, citing bogus sociological studies from Southern colleges, determined that blacks were not capable of flying. Never mind the hundreds of black student pilots who trained at institutions such as Howard University. Thus the flight cadets at Mouton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama were for show only.
Until Eleanor Roosevelt appeared, to inspect the field, and to the dismay of her Secret Service detail, climbed aboard the training plane of flight instructor Alfred “Chief” Anderson (as a kid, he taught himself to fly and land), and the two took off for a flight around Alabama. Upon returning to base, a Look Magazine photographer shot a photo of the smiling Mrs. Roosevelt and Chief Anderson. Whether or not the event was staged, the Tuskegee Airmen would soon be sent to join the war effort.
George Cisco initially joined the U.S. Army’s 761st Tank Battalion after graduating from officer training school at Fort Knox, Kentucky in 1943, with the rank of Second Lieutenant. Eventually, he transferred to the Army Air Corp and earned his pilot’s wings, officially becoming a Tuskegee Airman. He was killed on a training mission on August 16, 1944, when his Thunderbolt plane was hit by another plane as it landed at Walterboro Air Base in South Carolina.
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Arnold and George Cisco grew up in mostly white, rural Jerseyville, Illinois, graduating with honors from Jerseyville High School in the 1930s. They both attended the University of Illinois. Arnold received a bachelor of arts degree in languages and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. George earned a Bachelor of Science degree. The boys’ father, Roscoe Cisco was a noted piano player and music teacher. He also was a caretaker for a well-to-do white St. Louis family’s Jerseyville summer house, where the boys and their younger brother Harlow were born.
When World War II began, the Cisco brothers were determined to fight for their country, in spite of the fact that the armed services were segregated. The Navy designated blacks to serve as cooks or laborers. The Army formed all-black units, one of which built the Alaskan Highway. The U.S. Army Air Corps, citing bogus sociological studies from Southern colleges, determined that blacks were not capable of flying. Never mind the hundreds of black student pilots who trained at institutions such as Howard University. Thus the flight cadets at Mouton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama were for show only.
Until Eleanor Roosevelt appeared, to inspect the field, and to the dismay of her Secret Service detail, climbed aboard the training plane of flight instructor Alfred “Chief” Anderson (as a kid, he taught himself to fly and land), and the two took off for a flight around Alabama. Upon returning to base, a Look Magazine photographer shot a photo of the smiling Mrs. Roosevelt and Chief Anderson. Whether or not the event was staged, the Tuskegee Airmen would soon be sent to join the war effort.
George Cisco initially joined the U.S. Army’s 761st Tank Battalion after graduating from officer training school at Fort Knox, Kentucky in 1943, with the rank of Second Lieutenant. Eventually, he transferred to the Army Air Corp and earned his pilot’s wings, officially becoming a Tuskegee Airman. He was killed on a training mission on August 16, 1944, when his Thunderbolt plane was hit by another plane as it landed at Walterboro Air Base in South Carolina.
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from War History Online, Guest Article by Eugene Jones Baldwin:
Arnold and George Cisco grew up in mostly white, rural Jerseyville, Illinois, graduating with honors from Jerseyville High School in the 1930s. They both attended the University of Illinois. Arnold received a bachelor of arts degree in languages and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. George earned a Bachelor of Science degree. The boys’ father, Roscoe Cisco was a noted piano player and music teacher. He also was a caretaker for a well-to-do white St. Louis family’s Jerseyville summer house, where the boys and their younger brother Harlow were born.
When World War II began, the Cisco brothers were determined to fight for their country, in spite of the fact that the armed services were segregated. The Navy designated blacks to serve as cooks or laborers. The Army formed all-black units, one of which built the Alaskan Highway. The U.S. Army Air Corps, citing bogus sociological studies from Southern colleges, determined that blacks were not capable of flying. Never mind the hundreds of black student pilots who trained at institutions such as Howard University. Thus the flight cadets at Mouton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama were for show only.
Until Eleanor Roosevelt appeared, to inspect the field, and to the dismay of her Secret Service detail, climbed aboard the training plane of flight instructor Alfred “Chief” Anderson (as a kid, he taught himself to fly and land), and the two took off for a flight around Alabama. Upon returning to base, a Look Magazine photographer shot a photo of the smiling Mrs. Roosevelt and Chief Anderson. Whether or not the event was staged, the Tuskegee Airmen would soon be sent to join the war effort.
George Cisco initially joined the U.S. Army’s 761st Tank Battalion after graduating from officer training school at Fort Knox, Kentucky in 1943, with the rank of Second Lieutenant. Eventually, he transferred to the Army Air Corp and earned his pilot’s wings, officially becoming a Tuskegee Airman. He was killed on a training mission on August 16, 1944, when his Thunderbolt plane was hit by another plane as it landed at Walterboro Air Base in South Carolina.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Arnold and George Cisco grew up in mostly white, rural Jerseyville, Illinois, graduating with honors from Jerseyville High School in the 1930s. They both attended the University of Illinois. Arnold received a bachelor of arts degree in languages and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. George earned a Bachelor of Science degree. The boys’ father, Roscoe Cisco was a noted piano player and music teacher. He also was a caretaker for a well-to-do white St. Louis family’s Jerseyville summer house, where the boys and their younger brother Harlow were born.
When World War II began, the Cisco brothers were determined to fight for their country, in spite of the fact that the armed services were segregated. The Navy designated blacks to serve as cooks or laborers. The Army formed all-black units, one of which built the Alaskan Highway. The U.S. Army Air Corps, citing bogus sociological studies from Southern colleges, determined that blacks were not capable of flying. Never mind the hundreds of black student pilots who trained at institutions such as Howard University. Thus the flight cadets at Mouton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama were for show only.
Until Eleanor Roosevelt appeared, to inspect the field, and to the dismay of her Secret Service detail, climbed aboard the training plane of flight instructor Alfred “Chief” Anderson (as a kid, he taught himself to fly and land), and the two took off for a flight around Alabama. Upon returning to base, a Look Magazine photographer shot a photo of the smiling Mrs. Roosevelt and Chief Anderson. Whether or not the event was staged, the Tuskegee Airmen would soon be sent to join the war effort.
George Cisco initially joined the U.S. Army’s 761st Tank Battalion after graduating from officer training school at Fort Knox, Kentucky in 1943, with the rank of Second Lieutenant. Eventually, he transferred to the Army Air Corp and earned his pilot’s wings, officially becoming a Tuskegee Airman. He was killed on a training mission on August 16, 1944, when his Thunderbolt plane was hit by another plane as it landed at Walterboro Air Base in South Carolina.
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