Last Tuskegee Airmen from Memphis dies at 99
He was not on the list.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The last Tuskegee Airmen from Memphis died on Thursday at the age of 99, according to Taste of Aviation.
Jerry T. Hodges Jr. served as one of the Original Tuskegee Airmen, a group of Black Army Air Corps cadets, during World War II. He passed away in California.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Hodges Jr. was born in Memphis on June 29, 1925. He attended Porter Elementary School until his family moved to Heth, Arkansas, and he graduated valedictorian from Robert R. Moton High School in 1943.
Hodges then attended Hampton Institute for a few semesters before he left college in 1944 to enlist in the Army Air Corps to pursue his interest in aviation.
Hodges Jr. became a Tuskegee pilot in 1945 and was assigned to the 607th Bomb Squadron of the 477th Bomber Group.
Taste of Aviation says Hodges was one of the more than 500 people who completed the Tuskegee pilot training program but did not see action.
He was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2012.
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