Lt. Col. Harry Stewart was a Tuskegee Airman, a heroic combat pilot who survived the dangers of World War II and the ignominies of racism to reach 100 years old. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross and was one of the few remaining Tuskegee Airmen at the time of his death. He lived the latter half of his life in the Detroit area.
Stewart was born on July 4, 1924, in Newport News, Virginia. His family moved to Queens, New York when he was 2, and he grew up near two airports, an Air Force base in Newport News and La Guardia Airport. The planes overhead sparked his interest in aviation.
Stewart enlisted in the Army Air Force when he was 18 years old. He was introduced to the harsh reality of segregation when he was forced to move to the Jim Crow car as the train he was taking from New York to Biloxi, Mississippi for basic training passed through Washington D.C. He trained at the Tuskegee Institute, and graduated in Tuskegee Airmen Class 44-F-SE on June 27, 1944.
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first Black pilots in the U.S. military, serving in a segregated unit and helping pave the way for the eventual integration of the armed forces. The Airmen formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group in the U.S. Air Force, two of the most highly respected and successful units in World War II.
Stationed in Italy and France, Stewart’s combat record was impressive. He flew 43 missions between late 1944 and the spring of 1945. On one mission, he shot down three enemy German planes for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross medal. He is one of only four Tuskegee Airmen to have achieved three aerial victories in a single day. In 1949 Stewart and three other Tuskegee Airmen were first-place trophy winners in the United States Air Force’s inaugural “Top Gun” aerial team competition, though their accomplishment was hidden from history for over 45 years, reading “unknown” in the official records. Stewart served in active duty from late 1944 to 1950, then in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, with the final rank of lieutenant colonel.
Unfortunately, racism prevented Stewart from transferring his military success and skill as a pilot into civilian life. He was rejected by Pan Am Airways, despite his over-qualification, and told that airplane passengers would not like to see a Black man in a pilot’s uniform. Undeterred, he sought more schooling, attending engineering night classes at New York University while working for New York City’s engineering department. He received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1963.
Following positions in the New York area, Stewart was hired by construction behemoth Bechtel Corporation, headquartered in San Francisco. He moved up in the company, traveling the world, becoming manager of procurement for the Refinery and Chemicals Division. Wanting to move closer to the east coast, where his wife Delphine was from, Stewart accepted a job at the ANR Pipeline Company in Detroit in 1976. At the time of his retirement around ten years later, he held the position of vice president of administrative services. Detroit, as it turned out, was home to a number of former Tuskegee Airmen and the National Museum of the Tuskegee Airmen.
In 2007 Stewart, along with other Tuskegee Airmen, received the Congressional Medal of Honor from President George W. Bush. In 2019, he co-wrote his biography, Soaring to Glory: a Tuskegee Airman’s Firsthand Account of World War II with Philip Handleman.
Stewart died on February 2, 2025 at his home in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Seven months earlier, he celebrated his 100th birthday with fellow Tuskegee compatriot, Col. James Harvey, also 100 years old, at an event at the Tuskegee Airmen Museum.