Soaring High Against All Odds

Visitors to the Publix Supermarket in Gainesville might expect to find college students working to make some extra money. But they might not expect to find an example of living history greeting them at the door.

Steve Lawrence was part of a group of men who overcame tremendous odds and left their mark on history during World War II. Lawrence was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first group of black airmen in America.

Lawrence worked as a welder in a shipyard before he was drafted into the military in 1943 to help with the war effort. He was shipped to Sheppard Field, Texas to be trained in aerial engineering and airplane engine mechanics. He was then stationed at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama.

The Tuskegee Airmen were comprised of personnel associated with the 99th Pursuit Squadron or the 332nd Fighter Group during World War II. They endured discrimination from officers who thought black people were not smart enough to fly airplanes. Instructors deliberately did not teach them what they needed to know.

“Tuskegee was an experiment designed to fail,” Lawrence said from his home in Gainesville.

In the first pilot class trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field, 13 started the training program in July 1941, and only five finished in 1942. Among those to first beat the odds was Captain Benjamin O. Davis, the first African-American general in the U.S. Air Force. By 1946, 994 pilots successfully completed training at the Tuskegee Army Air Field and were given their wings to fly.

Although Lawrence never saw combat, he contributed to the cause by working as a mechanic on the Vultee BT-13 Valiant, the AT-6 Texan and the B-51 airplanes. He trained the cadets and made sure they were in tip-top shape for flying the airplanes.

“I made sure they didn’t crash my airplane,” Lawrence said.

For Lawrence, the hardest part about being drafted was entering into a segregated military, especially being from the North where prejudice was minimal. Lawrence and 100 Tuskegee graduates were shipped to Harlington, Texas, to be trained to learn to use gunnery on the B-25 Mitchell Bomber. When they arrived ready to learn, the officers refused to teach them. Because of the color of their skin, Lawrence and his comrades sat around for two weeks and cut the grass of the facilities.

Despite racism and numerous obstacles, the Tuskegee Airmen enjoyed monumental success. The Tuskegee Airmen escorted bombers from Italy to Germany to  destroy airfields, factories and fuel refineries. The pilots flew over 1,500 missions and downed 400 planes, never losing a single airplane they were escorting, a record unmatched by any other fighting group.

The Tuskegee Airmen’s success in the air led to President Harry Truman enacting Executive Order Number 9981 in 1948, demanding equal treatment and opportunity for advancement in all sectors of the U.S. military. This was one of the country’s first steps toward racial integration.

Nearly 60 years after World War II, on March 29, 2007, President Bush presented the Tuskegee Airmen the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington, D.C.

For Lawrence and others not able to attend the ceremony, Congressmen Cliff Stearns arranged a ceremony to honor local heroes in North Florida.

On July 23, 2007, the Tuskegee Airmen were honored in Ocala, Fla., for their bravery. Lawrence, the only Tuskegee Airmen from Alachua County to receive the award, and five other veterans received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award bestowed by the U.S. Congress.

After serving at Tuskegee Army Air Field, Lawrence re-enlisted in the army in 1945 and was assigned to the 811th Engineers Battalion in Guam, where he ran heavy equipment such as cranes and bulldozers.

After the war, Lawrence moved back to his hometown of Philadelphia. A New Year’s Eve party brought Lawrence to a woman who would stay by his side for over half a century, and counting: Virginia Johnson.

Virginia was born and raised in Philadelphia and lived only a few blocks away from Lawrence. She worked as a riveter during World War II, helping to fulfill the duties of men while they were away fighting for freedom. After the war, she went back to vocational school and had plans of becoming a nurse. Meeting Lawrence changed her ambitions and she accompanied him to Bible school.

After one son, two grandchildren and 52 years of marriage, Virginia is still Lawrence’s support and partner. She helps him whenever and wherever she can.

Virginia acts as an icebreaker between Lawrence and the young students he inspires. Speaking at local high school history classes, ROTC programs and halfway houses, Lawrence is a role model for kids who might not have anyone else to look up to. He tells them how Christianity can lead to a good life and encourages them to attend church and Sunday school. Lawrence also makes a point to talk about togetherness in the family life, because many of the kids he speaks with come from single-parent homes.

“It has been a good experience speaking with the kids,” Lawrence said. “It gives them a positive example.”

After Lawrence received a degree in theology from the Manna Bible Institute in Philadelphia and Virginia finished her education, Lawrence and his wife became missionaries for the American Sunday School Union, originally organized in Philadelphia in 1817.

The couple ventured to Mississippi in the 1960s to establish Sunday schools and churches and to spread the word of God to people who thought of them as second-class citizens. Despite the couple’s honorable intentions, they endured discrimination and racism, which was all too common in the South.

Lawrence remembers many accounts of discrimination, some of which occurred in his neighborhood. A church near the Lawrence’s home in Mississippi, which served as a headquarters for black voting, was burned down because it was a beacon of hope for equality.

After fighting for freedom in the military and making the world a better place as a missionary and pastor for 30 years, Lawrence has been working for the past eight years as a bagger and greeter at Publix Supermarket at Hunter’s Crossing.

“I do it for the interaction with people, and it helps out with the bills,” Lawrence said. “Gas is expensive."