Armour G. McDaniel, Sr. (July 7, 1916 – November 12, 1989) was an American military officer who served as a U.S. Air Force

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

and commanded the

332nd Fighter Group The 332d Expeditionary Operations Group is a provisional air expeditionary group of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command, currently active. It was inactivated on 8 May 2012 and reactivated 16 November 2014. The group forms part of ...

301st Fighter Squadron The 301st Fighter Squadron is a United States Air Force Reserve squadron, assigned to the 325th Operations Group, stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. It is an associate unit of the active duty 325th Fighter Wing. The squadron was f ...

, a Tuskegee Airmen unit. McDaniels also served as the Commandant of Cadets at Tuskegee Army Airfield. He fought in World War II and was briefly held as a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany.

Early life and education

Armour G. McDaniel, Sr. was born July 7, 1916, in Martinsville, Virginia, to Charlie and Mary Earley McDaniel. He attended both Lucy Addison High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and the Piedmont Christian Institute (high school). He attended Virginia State University, graduating with a B.S. in business administration. He also graduated from Temple University with a P.A. in economics, and received his teacher qualification from

Rider College Rider University is a private university in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. It consists of four academic units: the Norm Brodsky College of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Education and Human Services, and West ...

in Princeton, New Jersey. He returned to Martinsville, Virginia, to teach English, history and social science at an all African-American high school until the beginning of World War II.

Military service

McDaniel attended flight training at Tuskegee Army Airfield in Tuskegee, Alabama, as a member of its Class 43-A-SE, one of the first flight classes at the airfield. After completing training on January 14, 1943, he was deployed to Italy in December 1943 as a member of the all-African American

, best known as the " Tuskegee Airmen." The squadron's mission was to provide air cover for Allied ships using Naples harbor and escort Allied bombers into Germany's strategic targets. On March 24, 1945, Col.

Benjamin O. Davis Jr. Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. (December 18, 1912 – July 4, 2002) was a United States Air Force (USAF) general and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen. He was the first African-American brigadier general in the USAF. On December 9, 1998, h ...

led 332nd Fighter Group pilots on a bomber escort mission from the Foggia Airfield Complex's Ramitelli AirField in Italy to protect Fifteenth Air Force bombers on a mission to attack a tank assembly plant in

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent ...

. When fighters scheduled to take over escort duties failed to show up and Davis's plane began to suffer engine problems, requiring him to head back to Ramitelli, McDaniel, now a captain, assumed command from Davis, leading the pilots to Berlin despite their P-51 aircraft running low on fuel. As they neared Berlin, he and his pilots were attacked by 25 German Me 262 fighter jets. They downed three German jets, suffering no losses to their U.S. bomber fleet. Nonetheless, the Germans shot down and captured McDaniel and another P-51 pilot. As McDaniel leaped from his aircraft, he fractured both legs. The Germans initially imprisoned McDaniel at Nuremberg, Germany, Munich, Germany, and ultimately at Stalag VII-A near Moosburg, Germany, for over 30 days. He was eventually liberated by

General George Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

's US Third Army on April 29, 1945. In January 1945, McDaniel became the 301st Fighter Squadron's commanding officer, replacing Major Lee Rayford, who returned to the United States. In 1946, McDaniel became the commandant of cadets at the Tuskegee Army Air Field. McDaniel was later stationed in Alaska, where he led several units. In 1964, McDaniel retired from the active duty Air Force as a

. He later worked for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in New York City as a civil rights specialist.

Family

After World War II, McDaniel married Faye J. Wilson McDaniel (1935–2019) of Fayetteville, Tennessee. McDaniel had three children: Armour G. McDaniel, Jr. (October 2, 1952 - October 29, 1989), Gregory McDaniel and Gwendolyn Jackson. He also had four step-children: Delmer Jerome Edmonds, Jr., Kevin L. Edmonds, Donald E. Edmonds and Regina F. Majors.

Death, interments

McDaniel died on November 12, 1989, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Section 65, Grave 2822. His wife, Faye, is buried alongside him in Arlington.

Legacy

* McDaniel's widow, Faye J. Wilson McDaniel (1935–2019), attended the 2016 ribbon-cutting ceremonies celebrating the renaming of a section of

Interstate 65 Interstate 65 (I-65) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates ending in 5, it is a major crosscountry, north–south route, connecting between the Great Lakes and the Gulf ...

near

Columbus, Indiana Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Bartholomew County, Indiana, United States. The population was 50,474 at the 2020 census. The relatively small city has provided a unique place for noted Modern architecture and public art, commissio ...

, for the Tuskegee Airmen. Surrounded by members of the U.S. military and government officials, Mrs. McDaniel cut the ribbon. * In February 2019, Virginia State Senator

Bill Stanley (politician) William M. Stanley Jr. (born July 21, 1967) is an American politician. A Republican, he was elected in 2011 to the Senate of Virginia for the 20th district. The 20th district includes the cities of Galax and Martinsville, Henry and Patrick coun ...

(R-Franklin County) honored the memory of McDaniels by presenting a flag to McDaniel's Martinsville-based cousin, placing a framed photograph of a wreath on McDaniel's grave at Arlington National Cemetery, and flying a flag over the Virginia state capital in his honor. A photograph capturing one of McDaniel's missions is displayed at the Smithsonian's National Aerospace Museum. The photograph shows a damaged wing on McDaniel's plane after he led an attack on German barges on the Danube River in 1944. McDaniel personally destroyed six barges, each containing approximately 250 troops. Despite damage to his plane, McDaniel successfully returned to base.

References