Roger C Bill Terry

It was 1945, a time of war, and little was forgiven. So when Army bomber pilot Lt. Roger C. (Bill) Terry, along with 61 other black officers, marched into a "whites only" officers club, he was court-martialed. Two of the others also were tried, and in the end 101 who were involved in one way or another were given reprimands after the incident at the ironically named Freeman Field, Ind. Terry--charged with mutiny, treason, disobeying a direct order and conspiracy--was the only one convicted.

It was 1945, a time of war, and little was forgiven. So when Army bomber pilot Lt. Roger C. (Bill) Terry, along with 61 other black officers, marched into a "whites only" officers club, he was court-martialed. Two of the others also were tried, and in the end 101 who were involved in one way or another were given reprimands after the incident at the ironically named Freeman Field, Ind. Terry--charged with mutiny, treason, disobeying a direct order and conspiracy--was the only one convicted.

Thank you for the wonderful article about Roger C. (Bill) Terry (Oct. 20). We are glad that the charges and conviction against him as a young airman for entering a "whites only" officers club have at last been overturned. The court-martial should never have been there in the first place. This is just another reminder of the callous and brutal discrimination meted out to minorities in the armed forces at that time and, to a degree, in subsequent years. Bill Terry attended Willowbrook Junior High School and Compton High School in the same class as my older sister.

When Army bomber pilot Lt. Roger C. (Bill) Terry entered a "whites only" officers club with 60 other black aviators during World War II, he shouldered his way into civil rights history but effectively ended his military career. Terry was one of the three black officers--later called the "Freeman Field Three"--who were court-martialed for their part in the 1945 incident, which set off a chain of events that eventually led to the desegregation of the military.

They journeyed from the cotton fields of Mississippi, the foundries of Detroit and the colleges of the West to become catalysts for the "noble experiment"--all-black World War II Army Air Corps units. And they succeeded. These first black pilots flew 200 missions in Europe, escorting bombers during Allied air strikes and gaining the respect of German airmen who knew them as the "Black Birdmen." The aviators never lost a bomber in those heavy escort missions over Germany.