Eugene Jackson was not thinking about making history when he joined the US Army Air Forces, now the Air Force, in 1942. The pilots, ground crew, and other trainees at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama were “just airmen” at the time, he said.

Jack Bryant, too, had service on his mind. He entered flight training at Tuskegee in hopes of following his brother into the role of pilot. He wanted to do his part in World War II.