Tuskegee Airman William Wheeler dies at 87

When William Wheeler was a student at Howard University in 1943, he swallowed his bitterness, boarded a segregated train in Washington, D.C., and headed south.

Ahead of him awaited a groundbreaking aviation program that would eventually train the 994 black pilots who became known as the Tuskegee Airmen.

Wheeler, 87, who died Tuesday at Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, became one of them.

"I hated the country at the time, and wasn't sure I wanted to fight for it," Wheeler, a 47-year Hempstead resident, said in 2010. "But I realized that despite our nation's injustices, even slaves had fought for this country and that black people had fought in every U.S. war since. I felt I couldn't let that tradition down."

As word of his death spread, Wheeler was praised for his efforts to preserve the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen. In the last years of his life, Wheeler frequently participated in oral history projects at schools, air shows and aviation museums across the country.

"He understood the role of living history, and as a result, his inexhaustible energy saw him in classrooms, assemblies and constantly at Airpower," said Gary Lewi, a spokesman for the American Airpower Museum in East Farmingdale, where Wheeler frequently participated in programs.

While he was at Howard, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People persuaded President Franklin Roosevelt to end the military's refusal to train black pilots and the Army began an all-black flight school in Tuskegee, Ala.

Wheeler scored well on an aptitude test and in March 1943 went to Washington's Union Station to catch the train south.

After graduating from Tuskegee's cadet program as a second lieutenant, he was assigned to an airfield in South Carolina for combat training. One of his instructors was Spann Watson. Watson, a longtime Westbury resident, died in 2010.

After his honorable discharge, in 1945, he met Minnie Jenkens, an 18-year-old high school student, on a Harlem street corner. Two months later, they were married. She died in 2004.

"She was the love of my life," he said.

After the war, the rapidly expanding commercial airline industry began snapping up military pilots. No Tuskegee aviator was hired.

Wheeler retired in 1990 as an administrator with National Westminster Bank.

Burial arrangements were incomplete Tuesday. Survivors include three children: Scott Wheeler, of Emeryville, Calif.; Derek Wheeler, of Riverdale; and Cameron Wheeler, of Yonkers.

In 2007, he was in attendance when President George W. Bush collectively presented the Tuskegee Airmen with the Congressional Gold Medal.

"We had a proud record, and eventually we were deemed to be heroes," he said.