Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH P. CRYAN
District 20 (Union)
SYNOPSIS
Honors life of Tuskegee Airman Shade Meshack Lee.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Senate Resolution honoring the life of Tuskegee Airman Shade Meshack Lee.
Whereas, Master Sergeant Shade Meshack Lee was a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen during World War II and a longtime resident of Elizabeth, New Jersey; and
Whereas, Prior to the United States’ entry into World War II, Black people were denied the opportunity to assist in military air operations out of the belief they were not sophisticated enough to work with complex aircraft; and
Whereas, In 1940, after lobbying by various civil rights groups, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced that the Army Air Corps would begin training Black pilots at the Tuskegee Army Airfield in Tuskegee, Alabama; and
Whereas, Many of the trainees were college graduates who went on to serve as pilots, navigators, bombardiers, instructors, mechanics, control tower operators, and support staff; and
Whereas, The “Tuskegee Airmen” as they were called, earned more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 744 Air Medals, 14 Bronze Stars, eight Purple Hearts, two Soldier Medals, one Silver Star, one Legion of Merit, one Red Star of Yugoslavia, three Presidential/Distinguished Unit Citations, and more than 300 Congressional Medals of Honor; and
Whereas, As a result of their brave service, the Tuskegee Airmen helped pave the way for the issuance of Executive Order 9881 by President Harry S. Truman which ordered the desegregation of the Armed Forces in 1948; and
Whereas, As a young man, Mr. Lee joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a New Deal program to hire unemployed men for public conservation jobs, and became a radio telegrapher, obtained his high school equivalency diploma and taught fellow CCC workers a technique he devised to speed the flow of messages they were learning to send and receive in Morse Code; and
Whereas, After the CCC and repeatedly being turned down for employment because of his race, Mr. Lee joined the military; and
Whereas, In the military, Mr. Lee was a communications chief and flight line technical inspector with the all-Black 553rd Replacement Training Squadron, part of the Tuskegee Airmen, formed to train pilots to replace those returning from overseas flight missions; and
Whereas, The army base where Mr. Lee was stationed strictly enforced the segregation customs of the era; and
Whereas, The segregation was not only devastating to the morale of the Black soldiers, it also hindered the productivity of the black and white units and the army base overall because personnel were being assigned based on race, not on the needs of the mission or what the men were capable of doing; and
Whereas, Mr. Lee consulted with a Major from the Air Force about the situation, and this lead to the racial integration of the flight line, Black and white soldiers working side by side for the benefit of the mission; and
Whereas, Through numerous correspondence, military, and college-level courses, Mr. Lee became proficient in fields that included ultrasonics, electronics, advanced mathematics, radar microwave and engineering; and
Whereas, One of Mr. Lee’s major contributions to the military was developing an ultrasonic device used to simulate booming missions for men training to become fighter pilots; and
Whereas, Mr. Lee spent 20-plus years in military service and after retiring, he held a variety of technological positions including radar technician at Newark International Airport, resident engineer of the data processing center for Saks Fifth Avenue, marine service engineer, computer engineer, and microwave engineer for NBC Studios, New York; and
Whereas, Mr. Lee consulted on the role of the Tuskegee Airmen in the movie “Red Tails” released in 2012, and, along with other Tuskegee Airmen, was featured in People magazine; and
Whereas, Mr. Lee and his six brothers received recognition from the United States government for being one of two families to have seven active duty sons contributing to the World War II effort; and
Whereas, In March 2007, Mr. Lee, and fellow Tuskegee Airmen, was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President George W. Bush; and
Whereas, Mr. Lee had a passion for books and learning, and penned his memoirs and shared his life experiences through public speaking and presentations to students and church members to preserve the history of the Tuskegee Airmen for younger generations; and
Whereas, Sadly, Master Sergeant Lee passed away on October 17, 2016 at the age of 95; and
Whereas, As we lose more members of the Greatest Generation each day, it is important to recognize the accomplishments of men like Master Sergeant Lee who selflessly served our nation while overcoming racial segregation and prejudice; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House proudly honors Master Seargent Shade Meshack Lee for his lifetime service to our nation and his role in helping to bring about desegregation of the United States Armed Forces as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the President of the United States, the United States Secretary of Defense, the Governor, the Adjutant General of the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, each member of Congress elected from this State, the Director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the President of the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum, and to the family of Master Seargent Shade Meshack Lee.
STATEMENT
This Assembly resolution honors the life of Master Sergeant Shade Meshack Lee. Mr. Lee, a resident of Elizabeth, New Jersey, proudly served this nation while bringing about real, long-lasting racial change. As a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, Mr. Lee was part of an elite group of Black men who played a critical role in the Allied victory during World War II and paved the way for desegregation of the United Sates Armed Forces.
As a young man, Mr. Lee joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and became a radio telegrapher, obtained his high school equivalency diploma and taught fellow CCC workers a technique he devised to speed the flow of messages they were learning to send and receive in Morse Code.
After the CCC, Mr. Lee joined the military. In the military, he became a communications chief and flight line technical inspector with the all-Black 553rd Replacement Training Squadron, formed to train pilots to replace those returning from overseas flight missions.
Through numerous correspondence, military, and college-level courses, Mr. Lee became proficient in fields that included ultrasonics, electronics, advanced mathematics, radar microwave and engineering. One of his major contributions to the military was developing an ultrasonic device used to simulate booming missions for men training to become fighter pilots.
Mr. Lee spent 20-plus years in military service and after retiring from the military, he held a variety of technological positions in the field of engineering. He consulted on the role of the Tuskegee Airmen in the movie “Red Tails” released in 2012, was featured in People magazine, and in 2007 was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. In addition, Mr. Lee and his six brothers received recognition from the United States government for being one of two families to have seven active duty sons contributing to the World War II effort.
Mr. Lee had a passion for books and learning, and penned his memoirs and shared his life experiences through public speaking and presentations to students and church members to preserve the history of the Tuskegee Airmen for younger generations.
Master Sergeant Lee passed away on October 17, 2016 at the age of 95. As we lose more members of the Greatest Generation each day, it is important to recognize the accomplishments of men like Master Sergeant Lee who selflessly served our nation while overcoming racial segregation and prejudice. His legacy will inspire people for decades to come.