[Deathwatch] Benjamin O. Davis Jr., Tuskegee Airmen Leader, 89

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Tuskegee Airmen leader Davis dies
July 6, 2002 Posted: 2:26 AM EDT (0626 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/07/06/obit.davis.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Benjamin O. Davis Jr., the leader of the famed
all-black Tuskegee Airmen during World War II and the first black
general in the Air Force, has died. 

Davis, who was 89 and suffered from Alzheimer's disease, died Thursday
at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. 

Davis, a native of Washington, began his military career during the era
of segregation and led a unit of airmen that was credited with a major
role in bringing about the integration of the armed services in the
years after the war. 

He was a 1936 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and son of Benjamin
O. Davis Sr., who rose to brigadier general in the Army. 

In 1970, after he retired from the Air Force, Davis was put in charge
of the federal sky marshal program designed to stop airliner
hijackings. The following year, he was named an assistant secretary of
transportation. 

Davis left the Air Force as a lieutenant general with three stars and
was the most senior black officer in the armed forces. President
Clinton advanced Davis to a full general in 1998, awarding him a fourth
star. 

As commander of the 332nd Fighter Group, Davis and his pilots escorted
bombers on 200 air combat missions over Europe during World War II. 

Davis, whose wife, Agatha, died this year, leaves a sister. 

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.