ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — A Tuskegee (tuhs-KEE'-ghee) airman who shot down two German fighter planes while escorting a damaged bomber to its base now lies in Arlington National Cemetery after a burial with special honors.
Luke Weathers Jr.'s burial comes as Hollywood is flooding U.S. theaters Friday with the action film "Red Tails," based on the Tuskegee Airmen and their struggles for equal treatment. They were the first black aviators in U.S. military history and are among World War II's most respected fighter squadrons.
Weathers, 90, died Oct. 15 in Tucson, Ariz. He lived much of his life in Memphis, Tenn.
The Arlington ceremony began with a missing-man formation flyover by four F-16s. Then Weathers' flag-draped coffin arrived on a caisson led by an Air Force band.
Shares