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VOL. 2/ISSUE 30
THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2014
Loss of a legend Tuskegee Airman Hiram Mann, 92, dies in Titusville Mary Kemper staff writer
mkemper@veteranvoiceweekly.com
Editor’s note: It is with much sadness and respect that Veteran Voice marks the passing of a matchless pioneer and true gentleman. We have had the honor of covering Lt. Col. Mann on several occasions, most recently his appearance at the 2014 Tico Warbird Museum Airshow in Titusville. Please see Mary Kemper’s column at right. Retired U.S. Army Air Corps (later Air Force) fighter pilot Lt. Col. Hiram E. Mann, of Titusville, died May 17, which was, appropriately, Armed Forces Day. He would have turned 93 on May 23. Mann was one of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, the first black pilots to serve in the U.S. armed forces in World War II. He continued on active duty until 1972, when he retired. He had always wanted to fly since he was a young boy, but it took dogged persistence and three tries to enter the Army Air Corps, which he finally did in 1942. He was first assigned to the 332nd Fighter Group, commanded by then-Capt. Benjamin O. Davis, who was the first black graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Mary Kemper
Source: Wikimedia Commons Then-Flight Officer Hiram E. Mann, left, front, joins other members of the 332nd Fighter Group, U.S. Army Air Corps, at a briefing at their base in Ramitelli, Italy, before flying on a bomber escort mission to Germany in March 1945. Mann flew 48 missions in the skies over Italy and Germany, helping to decimate German fighter and bombing aircraft and shred targets on the ground like railroad and truck supply convoys. The Tuskegee Airmen flew 1,578 combat missions, shooting down
more than 100 enemy aircraft and destroying more than 900 enemy rail cars and trucks in strafing missions, according to the National Museum of the United States Air Force. As a group, the Airmen over-
See MANN page 2
Lt. Col. Mann a warrior for the ages E
ver since he was a little boy, he chased a dream — someday, to fly. He found it — or, rather, he made it happen. Or it made him. All are true. Lt. Col. Hiram E. Mann fought so many battles, to the end of his life, pursuing that dream — and he won them all.
See KEMPER page 3
“I’m not known as one who champions the president’s appointments, but I have to tell you I have been pleased with Shinseki.” Congressman Bill Posey, R-Rockledge