On October 10, the National Park Service opened the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site at Moton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama, to commemorate and interpret the heroic actions of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.

Between 1941 and 1945, nearly 1,000 African-American aviators completed the flight course at the university and the U.S. Air Corps Base to become the courageous soldiers famous worldwide as the Tuskegee Airmen.

The Tuskegee Airmen went on more than 15,000 combat missions in Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, escorting bomber aircrafts on dangerous missions. Dozens perished in battle or were held as prisoners of war. Before World War II, African-Americans were denied the right to enter the U.S. Army Air Corps to train as combat pilots.