Minnesota's Greatest Generation Oral History Project: Part I: Interview with Joseph Gomer

Titles: Minnesota's Greatest Generation Oral History Project: Part I: Interview with Joseph Gomer (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Joseph Gomer was born in 1920 in Iowa. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942, then joined the Aviation Cadet Training and was sent to an all-black fighter squadron. Joseph was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in 1943 and shipped overseas to a segregated fighter group stationed in Italy. He flew 68 combat missions before rotating back to the United States. He remained in the service after World War II and served during the Korean War. In 1964, he retired from the Air Force with the rank of Major. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Experience as an African American serviceman; difference in growing up in an integrated community and serving in a segregated camp in Italy only for African Americans; reason their crew came to be known as the Red Tailed Angels; flying different fighter planes and protecting bombers in the air from German airplanes; desegregation of the military in 1948; reaction to the use of atomic bombs and World War II.

Dates

• 11/06/2001 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Gomer, Joseph
• interviewer: Saylor, Thomas

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 112
• Accession Number: AV2006.1.12

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Minnesota's Greatest Generation Oral History Project: Part I' <OH 112>

Quantity: 2 hours sound cassette 42 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 94 minutes length

Subjects

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