Last week I shared a story about a Tuskegee Airman, Harry Stewart, with a Kentucky connection. In March 1948, he parachuted to safety when his fighter plane crashed in the Butcher Hollow area of Kentucky’s Johnson County, home of then fifteen-year-old Loretta Webb, the future Loretta Lynn. Although Stewart left quietly from Johnson County a day after the crash, he was given a hero’s welcome with a well-attended appearance at the community of Van Lier in 2005.
There’s another Kentucky connection I found regarding the iconic Tuskegee Airmen, a segregated unit of African American fighter pilots during World War II. Colonel Noel Francis Parrish, born in Versailles (some accounts say in Lexington) — a white man — became the Tuskegee Army Air Field commander in December 1942. Son of a minister and teacher, he was considered a great success, doing much to further the cause of Blacks in the U.S. military, and his help likely was a catalyst for advancement of the race in civilian life also. Parrish retired from U.S. service as Brigadier General Parrish in 1964, awarded with the Legion of Merit and the Air Medal during his long tenure.
Noel F. Parrish (Photo from Wikimedia Commons)
Prior to 1940, Blacks were not permitted to pilot military planes. With the emergence of the so-called “Tuskegee Experiment” in World War II, it became clear that Blacks were entirely capable, and in fact, able to excel and fly heroically and patriotically as fighter pilots.
According to military-history.fandom.com, historians give credit to the Kentucky-born commander Parrish for his “enlightened leadership and fair treatment of cadets which improved morale by reducing the amount of segregation and overcrowding and improving relations with both blacks and whites in the town of Tuskegee.” The site also stated that “the record of the Airmen became a driving force for President Harry Truman’s decision to desegregate the U.S. military in 1948.”
Perhaps the greatest tribute to Parrish was an award named after himself. The Brigadier General Noel F. Parrish Award is given annually by the Tuskegee Airman, Inc. organization.
Parrish died of cardiac arrest at the Veterans Medical Center in Piney Point, Maryland, on April 7, 1987, and is buried Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. A eulogist at his funeral service said: “He may have been the only white person who believed that Blacks could learn to fly airplanes.”
Sources: webarchive.org; militaryhallofhonor.com; Washington Post (obituaries); en.wikipedia.org; af.mil; The Official Guide to Kentucky Military Facts & Trivia, by Colonel (Ret.) Larry L. Arnett
Last year, I decided to dedicate a hundred hours of concentrated study to increase my knowledge of the U.S. Constitution. I found the time well-spent, and while I’m nowhere near an expert on the subject, the knowledge I had beforehand is now greatly enriched.
Señor Flairty getting ready to study (Photo by Suzanne Isaacs)
For 2022, I chose learning Spanish for my one hundred self-improvement hours. Our population has moved in that direction, and I hope learning the language will regularly prove useful. So far, I’m up to about thirty-six hours on the study and am concentrating on the reading of the language, with the hope of gaining the skills to read and comprehend a short Spanish novel or a book of the Bible. A good source told me that it will be more difficult to learn to speak the language unless I have lots of other Spanish speakers around me. That might change in the future, but for now, I only sporadically spend significant time with Spanish-speaking individuals.
I’ve been using a variety of teaching materials for my typical fifteen to twenty minutes I spend daily. There are plenty of free teaching videos online, and they range from simple and repetitive to intense conjugation lessons (sometimes difficult). Just start by googling “beginning Spanish.”
I use a great site called SpanishDict, and it allows me to type in Spanish words or sentences and instantaneously receive the English translation, and it doesn’t cost a cent. Currently, I’m translating the chapter of Matthew from a Spanish Bible. The site includes the sound pronunciation of the translation. It’s probably the best learning material I use, but there are many, including books and CDs. And with that said, don’t shy away from children’s lessons as part of your resources. They’re often taught with upbeat music and happy visuals… and nobody has to watch you.
The biggest immediate positive for me is that looking over the menu in a Mexican restaurant is much more exciting than previously, and I look forward to more good results.
Adios for now!
