Thu, Jan 26, 2012
Retired Tuskegee Airman Missed Opening Of 'Red Tails' Film
While many of us may have been going to local movie theaters
Friday to see the George Lucas film, "Red Tails," another of the
real Tuskegee Airmen was being interred at Arlington National
Cemetery near the nation's capital. Retired Air Force Lieutenant
Colonel Luke Weathers, Jr. was one of the thousands of men
associated with the first opportunity for black pilots to fly for
the US in combat. He died at age 90 in October.
The burial ceremony included a missing-man formation flown by
four F-16s from the 113th Wing of the DC Capital Guardians. The
Tennessean reports a caisson pulled by six horses carried
Weathers’ body to his burial spot, an Air Force band
accompanied the wagon, and family members wore red ties and scarves
to pay tribute to the Red Tails.
Luke Weathers III, the deceased's son, is now 61 years old, and
recalls that the fight for acceptance by the US military's first
black fighter pilots went on long after WWII. He recalls that they
proved themselves in combat, "and then they wanted their country to
love them, but that didn’t happen, either. He would talk
about his hard trials and tribulations to others, to children,
because he never wanted us to feel like this is a reason we
couldn’t make it. He would tell us nothing good comes easy.
He’d say there are going to be barriers … and you can
overcome them."
Meanwhile, at the box office, the film George Lucas backed with
his own money after several studios turned the project down has
done better than expected by Hollywood insiders. Reviews from
actual viewers have been much better than early reviews from
critics, with Box Office Mojo reporting an overall "A" rating, and
an "A+" from viewers under 18 and over 50. The film grossed $18.8
million in its opening weekend, second only to $25.3 million.
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