World War II hero captivates Brentwood students with tales of war, protest
Dabney N. Montgomery, one of the last Tuskegee Airmen in New York, who also marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., brought a real-life history lesson to Brentwood High School students yesterday as he shared his extraordinary past.
Seated in a folding chair in the Brentwood Sonderling High School auditorium and leaning on his cane for support, Montgomery, 91, showed the heels of the shoes he saved after marching with King in Alabama. He held aloft the United States Congressional Gold Medal he was awarded for his military service.
"Every generation will be challenged," he said. "Your freedom will be challenged but . . . there is hope. Don't give up. Stand up for truth. Stand up for what is right and never ever give in."
Montgomery, wearing his brown leather Tuskegee jacket and dark cap, received at least four standing ovations from the more than 100 students, with Principal Richard Loeschner saying he had never heard such a beautiful speech in his more than 30 years in education.
Montgomery, who was born in Selma, Alabama, but now lives in Harlem, was drafted into the Army Air Corps, now the Air Force, during World War II and served in the 1051st Quartermaster Company of the 96th Air Service Group, attached to the 332nd Air Fighter Group, as a ground crewman with the Tuskegee Airmen in southern Italy from 1943 to 1945.
The Tuskegee Airmen were men and women, black and white, who took part in a program to train black pilots, crewmen and support personnel to fly and maintain combat aircraft during World War II. They were educated at Tuskegee University in Alabama.
He was awarded a Good Conduct Medal, the WWII Victory Medal, the European African Middle Eastern Service Medal with two Bronze Stars, a Service Award, the Honorable Service Medal, and a Basic Driver and Mechanic Medal, according to the May 15, 2013, Congressional Record.
He was awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal after former President George W. Bush signed a bill into law in 2006 to award all original Tuskegee Airmen the distinction.
Under attack in World War II in southern Italy, Montgomery recalled Mount Vesuvius erupting at the same time his unit faced enemy fire.
"In the middle of all of this, we stood up and we said: 'We will fight. We will fight,' " he recalled. "I have come here to say: 'You can do it.' Be smart. . . . Don't give up. Stand and say 'With my brain -- I will fight. I will fight. I will fight.'
". . . And we will fight, but not in hate, but in kindness."
Tuesday, Montgomery was given a proclamation in his honor by Suffolk County Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory and educators at Brentwood named an annual scholarship for him. At least two dozen students waited to take a photo with him.
Montgomery marched with King in Selma in 1965. He spoke of that time and marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge when he was told he had to check a nearby field for a potential bomb that may have been planted by hate groups.
As proof of the prejudice he and other African American pilots faced, he read aloud a copy of a 1918 document saying African American men could not be trained to fly planes. He spoke of injustices he faced upon returning home from World War II and told the students to continue to fight for justice but through peaceful means. When asked by one student what his inspiration was, he gently answered: "What kept me going was a love for all people."
Joie Tyrrell is a Long Island native and covers education for Newsday, where she has worked since 1998.
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