Lt. Roger "Bill" Terry (August 13, 1921 – June 11, 2009) from Los Angeles, California was one of the Tuskegee Airmen. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II. He was dishonorably discharged after the Freeman Field Mutiny.

Early life

Terry was from Los Angeles, California. Terry graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles where his roommate was the baseball player

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...

. Both Terry and Jackie Robinson would go on to be court-martialed for resisting segregation in the

U.S. Armed forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

Career

Terry joined the Tuskegee Airmen after graduating from UCLA in 1941. In February 1945 he graduated flight school and had the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. The Whites only officer's club was much better than the one afforded to the black officers. Terry and over 100 black officers were determined to integrate the white officer's club. A man who would go on to become Detroit's first black mayor Lt. Coleman Young was also one of protestors.

Freeman Field Mutiny

Freeman Field : ''For the civil use of this facility after 1946, see Freeman Municipal Airport '' Freeman Army Airfield is an inactive United States Army Air Forces base. It is located south-southwest of Seymour, Indiana. The base was established in 1942 a ...

in 1945, a large number of the Tuskegee Airmen attempted to integrate the all white officer's club. The black pilots were arrested and charged with insubordination. Terry was arrested for "jostling" one officer in the incident which later became known as the Freeman Field Mutiny. Terry was charged with insubordination and also charged with getting physical with a white officer. The insubordination charge was not upheld, but he was convicted of getting physical with a white officer. His punishment was a $150 dollar fine, a reduction in rank, and he was dishonorably discharged. In 1995 the assistant secretary of the Air Force, Rodney Coleman removed disciplinary letters from the files of the Tuskegee airmen. He also removed Terry's court martial and dishonorable discharge and restored his rights and privileges. Terry was said to have been proud of his behavior in the mutiny and subsequent

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

After service

Terry earned a law degree and worked for the District Attorney of Los Angeles, California. He was active in Tuskegee Airmen causes and even became an advisor on the film Red Tails. In Los Angeles, there is a square which has been dedicated to Terry.

Awards

* Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the Tuskegee Airmen in 2006

Death

Terry died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

on June 11, 2009. He was 87. He is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.

References

External links

Fly Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...

(2009 play about the 332d Fighter Group)
Roger Bill Terry article

Tuskegee Airmen
at

Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was d ...

Tuskegee Airmen Archives
at the University of California, Riverside Libraries.
Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.

(

U.S. National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properties ...

)
Tuskegee Airmen National Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Terry, Roger 1921 births 2009 deaths Congressional Gold Medal recipients Military personnel from Tuskegee, Alabama Tuskegee Airmen United States Army Air Forces officers African-American aviators 21st-century African-American people