BILL NUMBER: SCR 45 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
RESOLUTION CHAPTER 92
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 29, 2013
ADOPTED IN SENATE JULY 1, 2013
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 26, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 5, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Senator Wolk
(Coauthors: Senators Block, Correa, Evans, Lieu, Price, Roth, and
Wright)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Ian
Calderon, Frazier, Hall, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Mitchell, Muratsuchi,
Patterson, Weber, and Yamada)
MAY 20, 2013
Relative to the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Highway.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 45, Wolk. Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Highway.
This measure would designate the portion of Interstate 80 between
Midway Road and the State Route 12 East interchange in the County of
Solano as the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Highway to honor the Tuskegee
Airmen and the contributions they made during World War II. The
measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine
the cost for appropriate signs showing this special designation and,
upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to
erect those signs.
WHEREAS, Despite adversity and limited opportunities, African
Americans have played a significant role in United States military
history over the past 300 years. They were denied military leadership
roles and skilled training because many people believed they lacked
the qualifications for combat duty; and
WHEREAS, Before 1940, African Americans were barred from flying
for the United States military, but civil rights organizations and
the black press exerted pressure that resulted in what became known
as the "Tuskegee Experiment"; and
WHEREAS, On January 16, 1941, the War Department announced the
formation of the 99th Pursuit Squadron, the first African American
flying unit in the United States Army Air Corps, that trained at the
Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, and which became known as
the "Lonely Eagles," who fought in the Mediterranean and European
Theaters; and
WHEREAS, For every African American pilot there were 10 other
African Americans, including navigators, bombardiers, maintenance and
support staff, instructors, and all the personnel who keep airplanes
in the air; and
WHEREAS, On March 7, 1942, the first class of African American
pilots at Tuskegee Army Airfield, 42-C, completed advanced pilot
training. There were only five who completed the training: Captain
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. and 2nd Lieutenants Mac Ross, Lemuel R.
Custis, Charles H. DeBow, Jr., and George S. Roberts. Captain Davis
was assigned to the base, and the other four became the first African
American flying officers in the 99th Pursuit Squadron; and
WHEREAS, The squadron was quickly dubbed the "Tuskegee Airmen" and
redesignated the 99th Fighter Squadron on May 15, 1942, and assigned
to the 332nd Fighter Group, for which they later served as a bomber
escort group that famously lost very few bombers to enemy fighters.
The 332nd Fighter Group was later expanded to include the 99th,
100th, 301st, and 302nd Fighter Squadrons; and
WHEREAS, In June 1943, the Tuskegee Airmen entered into combat
over North Africa. The Tuskegee Airmen exemplified courage, skill,
and dedication in combat. They flew P-39-, P-40-, P-47- and P-51-type
single-seat fighter aircraft on more than 15,000 sorties, completing
over 1,500 missions during the war; and
WHEREAS, On July 2, 1943, Lieutenant Charles B. Hall scored the
99th Fighter Squadron's first aerial victory. Never before had an
African American fighter pilot in the United States Armed Forces shot
down an enemy aircraft; and
WHEREAS, The new mission of the 332nd Fighter Group, under the
command of Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., was to escort heavy
bombers of the 15th Air Force on raids against strategic enemy
targets in southern and central Europe; and
WHEREAS, During July 1944, the Tuskegee Airmen downed 36 enemy
aircraft, the most they ever scored in a single month, and had begun
flying the P-51 Mustang, which was faster and more maneuverable than
the previous types of fighter aircraft that the group had flown from
their base at Ramitelli Airfield in Italy; and
WHEREAS, During World War II, 72 Tuskegee Airmen shot down a total
of 112 enemy aircraft, including the first German jet fighters. The
Tuskegee Airmen proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that African
Americans were capable of flying the best of the Allied fighters to
victory against the best of the enemy fighters. They earned an
indelible place in the history of air combat and in the history of
their country and of the world; and
WHEREAS, On May 11, 1945, three days after Germany surrendered,
the 332nd Fighter Group assembled for a ceremony in which Major
General Nathan F. Twining, commander of the 15th Air Force, presented
various honors, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air
Medal, and the Bronze Star, to various members of the 332nd Fighter
Group; and
WHEREAS, The Tuskegee Airmen destroyed over 1,000 enemy aircraft,
received more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and lost so few
Allied bomber aircraft to enemy fighters when flying escort missions
that they earned the title "Red Tail Angels" from the bomber crews
who would specifically request the 332nd Fighter Group as their
escort; and
WHEREAS, On November 6, 1998, President Clinton approved Public
Law 105-355, which established the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic
Site at Moton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama, to commemorate and
interpret the heroic actions of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War
II. The site contains a museum and interpretive programs at the
historic complex at Moton Field as well as a national center based on
a public-private partnership; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates that
portion of Interstate 80 between Midway Road and the State Route 12
East interchange in the County of Solano as the Tuskegee Airmen
Memorial Highway to honor the Tuskegee Airmen and the contributions
they made during World War II; and be it further
Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to
determine the cost of erecting appropriate signs, consistent with the
signing requirements for the state highway system, showing this
special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate
sources covering that cost, to erect those signs; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the Director of Transportation and to the author for
appropriate distribution.