Tuskegee Airman, 93, Robbed Twice in One Day in St. Louis

A 93-year-old Tuskegee Airman was first robbed of his money and then of his car within about an hour on Sunday on the violent streets of St. Louis. 

The victim, who feared more trouble if he was identified by news media, told authorities he became lost while driving to his daughter's home at 11:20 a.m., so he stopped at an intersection to call her on his cellphone, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

He said a man jumped into his car and look cash from his pocket. The man then got in another vehicle and it took off. He said he tried to follow the car but lost it.

He said he stopped and got out of his car to ask two men for help, but they jumped in his car and drove off.

"St. Louis, shame on us," said Yolandea Wood, a Tuskegee Airmen Inc. board member. "If you know the history of the airmen, you know they had the courage to overcome the obstacles."

An unidentified person later found the airman's vehicle, police told KMOV-TV.

The Tuskegee Airmen were the country's first African-American pursuit pilots and they protected U.S. bombers from enemy fire over parts of Europe and North Africa during World War II, according to CNN.

The training for the pilot program was based out of the Tuskegee Institute, a historically black university in Alabama in 1941. The program expanded to include nearly 1,000 black pilots located at several air bases.


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