Tuskegee Airman living in NM dies at age 84

[The Straight Story]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — John Edward Allen, a New Mexico veteran who served as a Tuskegee Airman during World War II and later earned honors for his Air Force service during the Vietnam War, died Tuesday after a long battle with cancer.

The NAACP Albuquerque Chapter President Harold Bailey said Allen died from multiple myeloma. He was 84.

A long-time resident of New Mexico after retiring, Allen was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Forces right out of high school in Live Oak, Fla., in 1945. At 17, he was assigned to the 332nd Fighter Wing of the Tuskegee Airmen — a group that broke racial barriers in World War II by becoming the first black aviators in the U.S. military.

He did not see combat in World War II but he later received the Air Force Commendation Medal for assisting in de-arming two dozen 500-pound bombs that were dropped from the wing of a B-52 being prepared for a Vietnam War mission.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/tuskegee-airman-living-nm-dies-age-84