Lt. Col. James H. Harvey III, a Tuskegee Airman and one of the nation’s first African American fighter pilots, stands by as his wife and daughter pin on his colonel insignia at his honorary promotion on Nov. 4. Trevor Cokley/USAF
Photo Caption & Credits
AFA In Action: 100-Year-Old Tuskegee Airman Promoted to Colonel
Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org
Storied Tuskegee Airman James Harvey III was honorarily promoted to colonel during halftime of the Air Force vs. Army game on Nov. 4 before tens of thousands of spectators at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver.
Harvey, who turned 100 years of age in July, is among the few World War II Tuskegee Airmen still surviving today.
Wearing a crisp new service dress uniform provided by the Air & Space Forces Association, Harvey stood in the south end zone alongside the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., Sen. Michael Bennett (D-Colo.), and Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall. His two daughters, Alysyn Green and Kathy Harvey, and his niece, Karen Jackson, pinned colonel on his shoulders.
“Because of his work breaking barriers, I can stand here today as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Brown said during the ceremony. Brown, the former Chief of Staff of the Air Force, was the first Black service Chief in U.S. history. He is only the second Black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “James, I want to thank you for your service. I want to thank you for breaking barriers, and it’s my distinct honor to promote you to colonel today.”
As one of the last living members of the Tuskegee Airmen, Lt. Col. James Harvey III was honorarily promoted to colonel by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Brown Jr. Joint Chiefs of Staff/@thejointstaff
Following the pinning ceremony, two historic aircraft conducted a stadium flyover: a P-47 Thunderbolt, like those flown by Tuskegee Airmen from Harvey’s 332nd Fighter Wing, which won the propeller-class segment of the first-ever Air Force gunnery meet in 1949, and a P-51 Mustang, flown by the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.
“It was a magnificent honor to watch thousands of Airmen, Guardians, and Soldiers cheer on Colonel Harvey when our Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. C.Q. Brown, promoted him from being the Air Force’s oldest lieutenant colonel to the newest colonel in the U.S. Air Force,” said AFA’s Executive Vice President Maj. Gen. Doug Raaberg, USAF (Ret.), who took part in the end-zone ceremony as a distinguished guest. “The Air & Space Forces Association is proud to ‘issue’ him a uniform fitting of his senior rank and stature as a Tuskegee Airman, combat fighter pilot, and leader.”
Also present during the ceremony were the Chairman’s wife, Sharene Brown, newly sworn-in Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin, Gen. Mark Kelly, Commander at Air Combat Command, and Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark, Superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy.
To learn more about Harvey’s magnificent career, read Air & Space Forces Magazine’s online July 10, 2023, article, “Attitude is Still Altitude for this Tuskegee Airmen As He Turns 100 Years Old.”
Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org
Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, nominee to be the next Air Force Chief of Staff, voiced support for reducing the number of PCS moves Airmen and their families have to make, arguing it could improve retention.
Strikes at Boeing will delay deliveries of the F-15EX, Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach said before his Oct. 9 confirmation hearing. He also referred several times to the jet carrying hypersonic missiles and "very long range" weapons, indicating a rising mission for the jet.
Air Force pilots are not flying enough, and the service must fix what has become a chronic issue and the myriad of factors that contribute to it, particularly a lack of spare parts, the nominee to become the next Chief of Staff of the Air Force told senators during his…
America's Air Force today is smaller and older than it was in my day, but what worries me more than size or age is just how ready we are to fly, fight, and win in a future war.
The combination of an “unacceptable” eight-year delay, potentially billions of dollars in costs create a new logistics enterprise, and the need to prioritize a more advanced capability persuaded the Air Force to buy an additional 75 Boeing KC-46s, according to a new document.
Starting later this year, Air Force will offer pregnant service members a new maternity wrap dress to replace the service’s maternity jumper first fielded in 1993. The maternity wrap dress and a new maternity coat were created in an effort to modernize the service’s existing maternity uniform with better-fitting items…
Air Force officials say they're making progress on getting the T-7A Red Hawk trainer on track after years of delays—and now they're even exploring whether they can shift some training duties from the T-6 Texan II to the Red Hawk down the road.
Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org When it comes to aviation technology, the spotlight often shines on...
“On Oct. 6, the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies was visited by one of Ukraine’s top F-16 fighter pilots, known by his call sign ‘AB.’ His visit offered a rare and candid glimpse into the ongoing transformation of Ukraine’s Air Force and the pivotal role of the F-16 in defending…
Subscribe to the Air & Space Forces Daily Report
The latest news from Air & Space Forces Magazine, as well as news from other leading publications, delivered right to your inbox every morning!
We’re sorry, there has been an error. Please review your input or try again later.
