An Unknown Latino Tuskegee Airman Has Been Discovered
*Why you should read this: Because this is new, or rather, resurfaced. Because It’s a cool story with cool pictures. VL
By Juleyka Lantigua-Williams, The Atlantic (4.5 minute read)
“It’s exciting. It’s been rewarding for me to find out something that is not known to the public, to show people something that they’ve never seen before, that they’ve never heard before,” De Jesus says of the discovery.
While poring over hundreds of military records, De Jesus came across an Army Enlistment Record with all the names of those who served in the Army and were born in the Dominican Republic.
Hotesse’s name was among them, but it was misspelled in the database (with the last name missing the last “e”). De Jesus followed the paper trail and eventually discovered that Hotesse’s unit was a bombardment group made up of black soldiers. He was a Tuskegee Airman.
Though his team was scheduled to go into battle, they never saw combat abroad. The trail led De Jesus to a naturalization record, a Census form, and a marriage certificate. He was even able to learn that Hotesse had been registered in the armed services as having a “semi-skilled construction occupation.”
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