In 2000 he was among those in attendance when President George W. Bush presented the Airmen the Congressional Gold Medal.
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As a fighter pilot, Brown flew 68 combat missions with the first African-American pilots in US history.
“You don’t think about it because, you know, he’s your grandfather, but when I would hear other people talk about what he did, that’s when started to realize that he did something special because basically what they did integrated the armed forces”, granddaughter Lisa Bodine told CBS Radio News.
“By the end of the war, numerous bombers groups said they preferred the Tuskegee Airmen Red Tails to protect them”.
In 1,578 total combat missions, the Tuskegee Airmen, nicknamed the “Red Tails” destroyed 150 enemy aircraft on the ground and 112 in air-to-air combat.
“I like to say that the message of this is excellence overcomes prejudice, excellence overcomes obstacles”, Brown told CNN in 2012 about his feat as a Tuskegee airman.
His service earned him a Distinguished Flying Cross. “I didn’t understand the brutality of the Civil War, but when I was a Tuskegee Airman, I knew that I was good, I knew that I had to challenge the system, and I loved to fly”.
Brown also worked as a professor and director of the Center for Urban Education Policy at the City University of New York Graduate Center.
An avid runner, Brown ran the New York City Marathon nine times. “If you believe you can overcome, you can overcome. That’s the story of the Tuskegee Airmen”.
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“During his 17 years of exemplary service as president, Dr. Brown intensified the college’s outreach to New York City’s economic and educational institutions through partnerships with business and industry”, said CUNY Chancellor James Milliken.
