Traveling Tuskegee Airmen memorial visits Barberton
From left, Dia Thomas, Reference Librarian; Frederick Gisentaner, Security Officer; Joshua Brickner, Fiscal Officer; John Collver, Celtic Club; Jim Collver, Celtic Club President; Ann Hutchison, Library Director; and Gretchen Quinn, Reference Services Manager, at the Barberton Public Library with a traveling display honoring the Tuskegee Airmen. The banner will be at MAPS in July.
BARBERTON The Celtic Club Green Man Project began displaying a seven foot retractable banner honoring the Tuskegee Airmen, America’s first Black fighter pilots in World War II, at numerous locations beginning in February for Black History Month, according to information provided.
It was at the Barberton Public Library for one week starting April 14. The banner has been displayed at 19 locations so far – with more to come – leading up to a World War II event at the Military Aviation Preservation Society (MAPS) Museum in Green July 12-13. The banner has a history of the Tuskegee Airmen and lists the names, ranks and hometowns of the 69 Ohio Tuskegee Airmen pilots. The Celtic Club will read the names, etc. from the banner at the MAPS event in July.
The inspiration for the banner was the lifelong friendship between two teammates from the 1948-50 Kent State University men’s basketball team: John Collver and William Cox. John, 98 years old, was a bow machine gunner on a United States Navy aircraft carrier in the South Pacific in WWII- while William, the third Black athlete at Kent State, was a flight mechanic for the Tuskegee Airmen in Alabama during the war. John is Vice President of the Celtic Club.
Joshua Brickner, Fiscal Officer of the Barberton Public Library, commented, “A special thank you to the Celtic Club Green Man Project for allowing us to share and celebrate the history of the Tuskegee Airmen with the Barberton community.”
Dia Thomas, Reference Librarian at the Barberton Public library, stated, “Being an Air Force veteran, it was an honor to have this banner showcasing African American pilots at the Barberton Library, so that their contributions and history are not forgotten.”
