As the subject of movies, documentaries, and a number of books, the Tuskegee Airmen can hardly be called forgotten. Veterans of the all-Black mini air force within the US Army Air Forces of World War II have deservedly become icons for their success in fighting against fascism in Europe, and against racist stereotypes in America. President George W. Bush presented Congressional Gold Medals to the survivors in a White House ceremony in 2007. Several became famous in their own right, notably their commander, Benjamin O. Davis Jr., the first Black general officer in the US Air Force, and Daniel “Chappie” James Jr., the first African American four-star general in the US military. With that legacy, a reader could legitimately ask what has been forgotten. Turns out, the twenty-seven men who were lost during missions have largely been forgotten, reduced to names on lists. The remains of only two were found and returned.
This is not a traditional work of history but more a memoir of the author’s interactions with surviving family of the missing airmen. Much of the work is a series of vignettes on the missing, giving their backgrounds, the known facts of their disappearance, and the lasting impact of their loss. They came from various parts of the country, and while a few attended integrated schools, for most, segregation was an overarching part of their life, including their time in the Army Air Forces. None came from wealthy backgrounds, but most came from solid families that valued education. While hardly uniform, their lives prior to entering the military present a picture of men from a rising Black middle class—intelligent family-oriented men, many with at least some college education. A large number of them attended what were called Black colleges, while participating in the pioneering Black fraternities. They were, in line with most Americans who died in the war, a young group with the youngest twenty years old and the oldest only a few years senior. Several were married, with most marrying after entering the Army, meaning their widows had only a few months with their husbands before they shipped overseas never to return.
Forgotten Souls is one of the increasingly rare books that actually does what its title implies. It is not a history of the Tuskegee Airmen as a group. Instead, it is about a literal search to learn who were the twenty-seven Tuskegee Airmen who died in the war. Author Cheryl Thompson wanted to record more than names and perhaps the dates the men went missing. The real strength of the book comes from the interviews the author conducted with widows, children, and other relatives. The interviews were seemingly informal affairs conducted in kitchens and parlors of homes, with often elderly relatives who pulled out photos, personal items, and memories of the departed. Thompson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist who teaches journalism at George Washington University. In Forgotten Souls, she turns her investigative skills to understanding the backgrounds of those men, the circumstances of their disappearance, and the impact of their loss on families. She has done solid work piecing together the lives of these men some eight decades after they died. It is a deeply personal mission, as her father served as a sergeant in the 332nd, a part of her own background that helped people open up to her.
That is the real value of the book—the recovery of something of the lives, the dreams, and the values of these men whose lives were cut short. These men died far from their homes fighting in a war for their country despite the inequities of the system. The indignity of their implied second-class status permeates the work. With few exceptions, Thompson, as well as the surviving families, suspect if not outright charge that the Army wanted the program to train and commission Black men as pilots to fail, in part by issuing them inferior or worn-out aircraft. The book is also about the search for their physical remains, although there the success rate is far lower. The 332nd flew missions out of Ramitelli, an all-Black air base in southern Italy on the Adriatic coast. Missions usually required flight over water, over mountains, and deep into enemy territory. As a result, the wreckages of most airplanes were never recovered. Following standard practice, the military informed the next of kin that their loved one was “missing in action” and officially declared dead one year later. Thomson repeatedly charges that the military had little interest in searching for the remains of these men because they were Black. That is a serious charge but unfortunately, she provides no context. Some seventy-two thousand US servicemen remain unaccounted for from World War II—almost one in five of all US war dead. Given the enormity of the war, separating what was caused by racial bigotry from more practical problems with recovery and identification is never clear. That minor criticism aside, Forgotten Souls gives these young men who died fighting for their country some voice, some evidence of their existence other than a name on a list.