Florida Senate - 2024 SB 1312
By Senator Torres
25-01505-24 20241312__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to Tuskegee Airmen Commemoration Day;
3 amending s. 683.01, F.S.; designating Tuskegee Airmen
4 Commemoration Day, which occurs on the fourth Thursday
5 in March, as a legal holiday; providing an effective
6 date.
7
8 WHEREAS, before World War II, African Americans had very
9 limited roles in the defense of the United States and none in
10 military aviation, and when the nation was drawn into the war,
11 African Americans aspired to more meaningful jobs in the
12 military, including flying and maintaining aircraft, and
13 WHEREAS, as the rapid expansion of aircraft production
14 during the war created a greater need for military pilots,
15 public outcry from civil rights groups and black professional
16 organizations exhorted the United States War Department to begin
17 training black pilots in the Army Air Corps, and
18 WHEREAS, the United States War Department’s Civilian Pilot
19 Training Program (CPTP) authorized colleges and universities to
20 train students in order to increase the number of civilian
21 pilots and thereby increase the nation’s military preparedness,
22 and
23 WHEREAS, Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute was one of six black
24 colleges and universities chosen to participate in the CPTP, was
25 later selected to offer advanced training, and was the primary
26 flight training facility for the student pilots who would become
27 the famed Tuskegee Airmen, and
28 WHEREAS, the 99th Pursuit Squadron, the first black flying
29 squadron, trained at Dale Mabry Field near Tallahassee to
30 prepare for combat overseas, and the Eglin Field ranges in
31 Okaloosa County were used by the first class of advanced
32 training cadets, as well as pilots in the advanced training
33 stage, for gunnery and combat tactics, and
34 WHEREAS, the outstanding performance of the Tuskegee Airmen
35 was unprecedented in military aviation history, and
36 WHEREAS, the month of March is significant to the Tuskegee
37 Airmen, as it is the month in which the first cadets received
38 their wings; the first maintenance crew began training at
39 Chanute Field, Illinois; the first Pursuit Squadron, the 99th,
40 was activated; Eleanor Roosevelt visited Kennedy Field and flew
41 with Chief Alfred Anderson, an African American instructor
42 pilot; and President George W. Bush presented the Tuskegee
43 Airmen with the Congressional Gold Medal, and
44 WHEREAS, General Daniel “Chappie” James, Jr., born in
45 Pensacola, became the first African American to achieve the rank
46 of four-star general in the Armed Forces; Second Lieutenant
47 Charles P. Bailey, Sr., born in Punta Gorda, was the first
48 aviator from Florida to become a Tuskegee Airman pilot of the
49 99th Pursuit Squadron; and Lieutenant Alvin J. Downing, born in
50 Jacksonville, was a special service officer and renowned
51 musician and educator in the Army Air Forces Band and in the St.
52 Petersburg and Clearwater areas, and
53 WHEREAS, Second Lieutenant Alphonso Simmons of the 100th
54 Fighter Squadron from Jacksonville became a casualty of war on
55 March 3, 1945; and the first Tuskegee Airman aviator from
56 Florida to earn his wings and the first Floridian Tuskegee
57 Airman of the 301st Fighter Squadron, First Lieutenant James
58 Polkinghorne, Jr., of Pensacola was a casualty lost on a combat
59 mission over Italy on May 5, 1944, and
60 WHEREAS, Lieutenant Colonel George E. Hardy, residing in
61 Sarasota County, is a famed “Red Tail” P-51 pilot of the 332nd
62 Fighter Group; Lieutenant Daniel K. Keel, Jr., residing in Lake
63 County, is one of only five triple-rated airmen, serving as
64 pilot, bombardier, and navigator; and Callie Odom Gentry,
65 residing in Pasco County, is a female Tuskegee Airman who was a
66 stenographer during the war, and
67 WHEREAS, Tuskegee Airman Chief Master Sergeant Richard R.
68 Hall, Jr., formerly of Winter Park, was an aircraft mechanic in
69 the 99th Fighter Pursuit Squadron, served 30 years in the
70 military, and was one of the first African American Chief Master
71 Sergeants; Lieutenant Colonel Robert C. Hughes, formerly of
72 Brevard County, was a Caucasian flight instructor; and
73 Lieutenant Raymond Cassagnol, formerly of Seminole County, was
74 one of five Haitian-born Tuskegee Airmen, NOW, THEREFORE,
75
76 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
77
78 Section 1. Present paragraphs (h) through (u) of subsection
79 (1) of section 683.01, Florida Statutes, are redesignated as
80 paragraphs (i) through (v), respectively, and a new paragraph
81 (h) is added to that subsection, to read:
82 683.01 Legal holidays.—
83 (1) The legal holidays, which are also public holidays, are
84 the following:
85 (h) Tuskegee Airmen Commemoration Day, the fourth Thursday
86 in March.
87 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.