History came alive for Clarkston High School students when Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Jefferson visited on Jan. 22 to share his experiences in World War II.
Jefferson flew 19 missions as a Tuskagee airman, a "Red Tail" fighter pilot in the war. He received many awards over the years including the Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross, and is in the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame.
"I go across and boom, the shell came up through the floor," he described. "I have gloves and oxygen mask. It gets hot. I am doing 400 miles per hour. Everything is in the red - oil pressure, heat, everything. Everything on the instrument panel is blue. I have to get out."
"I go across and boom, the shell came up through the floor," he described. "I have gloves and oxygen mask. It gets hot. I am doing 400 miles per hour. Everything is in the red - oil pressure, heat, everything. Everything on the instrument panel is blue. I have to get out."
The airmen with him reported him killed in action, but he made it to the ground and was captured. He spent nine months in Germany as a Prisoner of War.
"We were treated like gentlemen because they knew everything about us," Jefferson said. "No beatings, no torture. I was safer in the Stalag Luft III POW camp than I would be in Mississippi at the time. They were shooting people in Mississippi."
Lt. Col. Alexander Jefferson with a model of a P-51 Mustang which he flew in WWII.
http://www.clarkstonnews.com/Articles-News-i-2013-01-30-250334.113121-sub-Red-Tail-in-town.html#123
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