Luke Joseph Weathers, Jr., (December 16, 1920 – October 15, 2011) was a

U.S. Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

officer, historic

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

air traffic controller Air traffic control specialists, abbreviated ATCS, are personnel responsible for the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. Usually stationed in air traffic control centers and control ...

and prolific

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

combat fighter pilot with the prodigious

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 ...

302nd Fighter Squadron The 302d Fighter Squadron is part of the Air Force Reserve Command's 477th Fighter Group at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. It operates the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor conducting an air superiority mission. Mission The 302d Fighter Squadron ...

, best known as the

Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332d Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of the ...

, "Red Tails," or "Schwartze Vogelmenschen" ("Black Birdmen") among enemy German pilots. Weathers earned a Distinguished Flying Cross for defending and escorting a damaged

U.S. Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models des ...

bomber against eight

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...

s on November 16, 1944, shooting down two Bf 109s.CAF Rise Above. "Poster Signed By LTC Luke J. Weathers." https://cafriseabove.org/artifact/poster-signed-by-ltc-luke-j-weathers/ On June 25, 1945, the City of Memphis, Tennessee and 22,000 people honored Weathers with a "Luke Weathers Day" parade on Memphis' famous

Beale Street Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of blues music. Today, th ...

and a key to the city, the first ever parade for an African American in the then-racially segregated

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

.Memphis & Shelby County Room. "Luke J. Weathers, Jr.." November 8, 2014. https://memphisroom.wordpress.com/2014/11/08/luke-j-weathers-jr/ In 1960, Weathers became the first ever African American Air Traffic Controller, working at his hometown

Memphis International Airport Memphis International Airport is a civil-military airport located southeast of Downtown Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States. It is the primary international airport serving Memphis. It covers and has four runways., effective Au ...

Early life

Weathers was born on December 16, 1920, in

Grenada, Mississippi Grenada is a city in Grenada County, Mississippi, Grenada County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 13,092 at the United States Census, 2010, 2010 census. It is the county seat of Grenada County, Mississippi, Grenada County. History ...

.CAF Rise Above. "Luke Weathers Jr." https://cafriseabove.org/luke-weathers-jr/ He was the son of Luke Joseph Weathers Sr., a mixed race African American man, and Jessie Weathers, an

woman.Dig Memphis: The Digital Archive of Memphis Public Libraries. "Family on Luke Weathers Day." https://memphislibrary.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p13039coll5/id/2124/rec/2 The family later moved to

where both parents worked in a grocery store. Weathers attended Memphis, Tennessee's Booker T. Washington high school, where he was the star

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

on its

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team. After graduating from high school in 1939, Weathers attended

Xavier University Xavier University ( ) is a private Jesuit university in Cincinnati and Evanston (Cincinnati), Ohio. It is the sixth-oldest Catholic and fourth-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Xavier has an undergraduate enrollment of 4,860 studen ...

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

from 1939 to 1942.Our Memphis History. "Luke Weathers." https://ourmemphishistory.com/luke-weathers/ He later transferred to

Lane College Lane College is a private historically black college associated with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and located in Jackson, Tennessee. It offers associate and baccalaureate degrees in the arts and sciences. History Lane College was ...

where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology.The Grio. "Lt. Col. Luke Weathers Jr: Tuskegee airman buried at Arlington." TheGrio Staff. January 20, 2012. https://thegrio.com/2012/01/20/lt-col-luke-weathers-jr-tuskegee-airman-buried-at-arlington/ At his "Carl J. Weathers Jr." parade in June 1945, Weathers met LaVerne Nailling (November 20, 1925 - February 26, 1999). On July 13, 1947, they married at Memphis's St. Therese-Little Flowers Catholic Church. Their ceremony was photographed by

Ernest Withers Ernest C. Withers (August 7, 1922 – October 15, 2007) was an African-American photojournalist. He documented over 60 years of African-American history in the segregated Southern United States, with iconic images of the Montgomery bus boyco ...

, one of the most prolific civil rights movement photographers besides

Gordon Parks Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was an American photographer, composer, author, poet, and film director, who became prominent in U.S. documentary photojournalism in the 1940s through 1970s—particu ...

. Weathers and LeVerna had five children. He later transferred to Lane College where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

. They also had 10 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. On February 14, 1995, Weathers married his second wife, Jacqueline Weathers. They remained married until Weathers' passing in 2011.

Military service

After college, Weathers returned home to Memphis where he made a formal appointment to meet with his mother's employer, Memphis's infamous Democratic political boss

E.H. Crump Edward Hull "Boss" Crump Jr. (October 2, 1874 – October 16, 1954) was an American politician from Memphis, Tennessee. Representing the Democratic Party, he was the dominant force in the city's politics for most of the first half of the 20th ...

(October 2, 1874 – October 16, 1954) ("Boss" Crump), the most dominant political force in Memphis for most of the early 20th century. Weathers wished to discuss with Boss Crump an article Weathers read in an African American newspaper advertising the

' newly minted aviation cadet training program in

Tuskegee, Alabama Tuskegee () is a city in Macon County, Alabama, United States. It was founded and laid out in 1833 by General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, and made the county seat that year. It was incorporated in 1843. ...

. Incredulous, Boss Crump immediately called

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

and, frequently referring to Weathers with the pejorative N-Word, sponsored Weathers for the aviation program. On April 29, 1943, Weathers graduated as a member of the Single Engine Section Cadet Class SE-43-D, receiving his silver wings and commission as a

2nd Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

. Weathers earned a Distinguished Flying Cross for defending and escorting a damaged

bomber against eight Messerschmitt Bf 109s on November 16, 1944, shooting down two Bf 109s. "Roll of Honor - U.S. Air Force - Deceased -Weathers, Luke Joseph, Jr., Lt Col, USAAF Veteran." https://airforce.togetherweserved.com/usaf/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=161614 During one bombing mission, Weathers flew so close to the ground that he almost inadvertently dropped his entire bomb payload on a wedding. He pulled his plane up after noticing a distressing look on the bride's face. After the end of

in Europe, newly promoted to captain, he was posted to Tuskegee where he served as a flight instructor. For his heroics in World War II, the City of Memphis, Tennessee and 22,000 people on June 25, 1945, honored Weathers with a key to the city, a "Luke J. Weathers Day" parade and official dance on Memphis' famous

and a key to the city, an honor never previously given to an African American in Memphis. Guests included Weathers' parents, Jessie Weathers and Luke Weathers Sr., and Weathers' uncle William. On

VE Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easter ...

on August 18, 1945, Weathers introduced Colonel (and later General)

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 ...

, Weathers' former commanding officer, during a special ceremony celebrating

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

's unconditional surrender in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. Weathers continued to serve in the military as a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserves. In 1985, Weathers retired as a

Lt. Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the army, armies, most Marine (armed services), marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use t ...

after 23 years in the military.

Unit assignments

*1944–1945, 332nd Fighter Group

Combat and non-combat operations

*1942–1945, World War II *1944–1944, WWII - European Theater of Operations/Anzio Campaign (1944) *1945–1945, WWII - European Theater of Operations/North Apennines Campaign (1944–45)

Honors

Pinnacle Airlines Endeavor Air is an American regional airline that operates as Delta Connection for Delta Air Lines. The airline was founded as Express Airlines I in 1985 and was renamed Pinnacle Airlines in 2002. In 2012, Pinnacle's parent company filed for Cha ...

named its 100th completed aircraft, "The Spirit of Beale Street", in honor of Weathers and the city of Memphis. Tuskegee_Airmen_presentation

*In 2004,

The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...

unveiled a portrait of Weathers escorting the damaged

bomber to safety during

. * In 2007, Weathers and the collective

were awarded the

Congressional Gold Medal The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...

. * On July 24, 2023 the VA Medical Center in Memphis, TN was renamed the Lt. Col Luke J Weathers, Jr Medical Center.

Post-military career, historic air traffic controller career

After leaving the military, Weathers worked for the

Philip Morris International Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational tobacco company, with products sold in over 180 countries. The most recognized and best selling product of the company is Marlboro. Philip Morris I ...

and the Royal Crown Company. He later transferred to

where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology. In the 1960s, Weathers joined the Federal Aviation Administration, becoming the first African American

, working at his hometown

, airport in 1965. Weathers also worked as an air traffic controller in

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

Galena, Alaska Galena () (''Notaalee Denh'' in Koyukon) is a city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2020 census the population was 472, slightly up from 470 in 2010. Galena was established in 1918, and a military airfield was ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He also owned a coin-operated laundry, a flight school, and a vocational rehabilitation program for veterans.

Death, George Lucas's ''Red Tails''

On October 15, 2011, Weathers died of pneumonia in Tucson, Arizona. He was 90 years old. His funeral was held at Memphis's St. Therese-Little Flower, the church he and his first wife LaVerne integrated in 1963. On January 20, 2012, Weathers was interred at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

, Plot Section 64 Site 64–2. The Tuskegee Airmen-themed film, ''

Red Tails ''Red Tails'' is a 2012 American war film directed by Anthony Hemingway in his feature film directorial debut, and starring Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. The film is about the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American United States A ...

'', opened in theaters nationwide the same day Weathers was interred.

References

External links

Arlington National Cemetery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weathers, Luke J. 1920 births 2011 deaths Tuskegee Airmen United States Army Air Forces officers Military personnel from Tuskegee, Alabama African-American aviators Military personnel from Mississippi Military personnel from Tennessee Military personnel from Arizona 21st-century African-American people