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Lt.
Colonel Harrison “Harry” Tull was drafted into a
segregated Army Air Corps in 1943 and was accepted to the
Aviation Cadet Program at Tuskegee, Alabama. Assigned to the Aerial Bombardment School in Texas, he received his rated observer wings in 1944.
During World War II, he flew with the prestigious 477th Bombardment Group in
the B-25. During the Korean War, he served as a navigation instructor. Since
desegregation was a new idea in the armed forces at the time, assigning an
African-American officer to an air crew required a vote of acceptance by the
rest of the members. Tull was accepted unanimously,
and his crew was assigned to Yokota Air Base, Japan, flying Korean postwar support missions with the
98th Bombardment Wing. From 1956–1970, he served in the field of electronic
warfare. Tull was assigned to the 55th Electronic
Intelligence Operations Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base In Omaha, Nebraska,
commanding it until his retirement in 1970.
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