Original Tuskegee Airman Dies

TUSKEGEE, Ala. (AP) – Tuskegee city officials say Lt. Col. Herbert Eugene Carter, one of the original Tuskegee Airmen, has died.

Tuskegee Mayor Johnny Ford said Carter died Thursday afternoon at East Alabama Medical Center.

Carter flew 77 missions and crashed landed only once. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first black aviators in the U.S. military. They were trained in Alabama at the Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, as a segregated unit during World War II.

Ford said he’s ordered all U.S. flags in Tuskegee to be flown at half-mast.