Tuskegee Airmen Dies at 97

Special to the NNPA from the New Pittsburgh Courier

As a member of one of the most prestigious military units, the Tuskegee Airmen, Henry Dawson McCullough, of Point Breeze, was laid to rest last week after peacefully passing on March 5 at the age of 97.

McCullough was born on Oct. 13, 1913 in South Carolina and later relocated to Pittsburgh at a young age.  He was educated in the Pittsburgh Public School system and then attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a degree from their College of Business Administration in 1936.
After school he became employed with the YMCA as the Boys Work Secretary and then was appointed Assistant Regional Manager of the Bureau of Employment Security.

But, it was McCullough’s time in the United States Army that would make his legacy live on forever.  He joined during World War II and was stationed at Tuskegee Air Base in Alabama, where he became a First Lieutenant and one of 26 Pittsburgh residents stationed there.  He was one of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American military aviators in the armed forces.

Along with being a Tuskegee Airmen, he was also a member of the Pittsburgh Kiwanis organization, the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh and a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.

Prior to this death, he was one of only two Tuskegee Airmen still alive.

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