Albert Porche was born in Houma, Louisiana in 1922. He has spent his life in Houma except for during the war. Life in the Depression was difficult for his family. They were poor. His parents were very young and not inclined to raise their children. Porche and his sister, as well as his cousin, would be raised by his grandmother. Life was rough. There were no jobs. The children almost raised themselves. Porche attended school. After classes, he worked for Western Auto and helped his grandmother with the income he received. [Annotator's Note: Western Auto was an automobile supply retail store that operated throughout the twentieth century. It discontinued business and the brand name in 2003.] Porche entered the military after many of his friends volunteered. He decided to do so along with his friends. At first, the recruiter did not accept him because of his weight. Porche wanted to enter so badly that the recruiter took a special interest in him and allowed him to gain weight so that he could enlist. He entered the Army in 1940, before the war started. It was a better life than what he had previously experienced. At first, Porche was sent to Jackson, Mississippi. He then went on to Camp Shelby. After Selby, Porche was sent back to Jackson. The recruiter guaranteed Porche that he would experience things in the Army that he would never have experienced otherwise. Being bounced around, Porche knew that was the case from the start.

Albert Porche learned to take Army life as it came. He was in Jackson, Mississippi after his enlistment. People did not think highly of soldiers being around at the time. This was before the war. Two men came from Washington and interviewed the black troops in the camp. There were three men from Louisiana selected to participate in a new unit. Porche was chosen along with Herbert Hardesty and Warren Moon for training in Tuskegee, Alabama. Though there was some initial Army training in the camp at Jackson, most of Porche's specialized training to become an Armorer was at Tuskegee. At Tuskegee, he would learn about the maintenance and loading of weapons. Additionally, he learned to load bombs and camera equipment. The training in Alabama lasted about two years. The war started and there was continuous talk about the men going overseas. Most of the time, the men of the 99th Fighter Squadron would have to stand-down. With it being a black squadron, there was always talk about them being sent into the action. They would be disappointed when they did not get transferred to the front, but there was considerable publicity about the colored airmen so their time was bound to come. The enemy even got word of the black aircrews. The 99th went across the sea in the SS Mariposa. The 99th Squadron had the ship all to themselves and their equipment. Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] had his eyes on the outfit and wanted to prevent their entry into the war. The ship zigzagged its way across the ocean and the Germans never found them.

Albert Porche and the 99th Fighter Squadron landed in North Africa. [Annotator's Note: The 99th Fighter Squadron was an all black air unit that would go on to be nicknamed the Red Tails for the distinctive color of the aft end of their fighters.] No one knew what their assignments were there. There were enemy bombings while they were in North Africa. Porche was advised to pick up a gun, but he let the individual know that all he had was a bag of tools. He had been trained as an armorer. He was in the Air Force, not the infantry. Porche observed a comical situation with a British soldier playing a piano and singing during the air attack. He told the man he should find some cover. The 99th airmen had no aircraft or guns in North Africa. Eventually, they were sent to Sicily and received some training on firing weapons. After three or four months, the 99th was sent to Italy. They still had no aircraft. It was a bad mess up. There were no planes for them until they reached Italy. After a few months in Italy, they began to receive some airplanes.

Albert Porche served in Italy with the 99th Fighter Squadron. The 99th was issued light training aircraft after months of anticipation. Soon they would be issued good aircraft to fly missions. Once in awhile, the fighters were given a bomber escort mission. The unit gained valuable experience that way. Most of the time, the pilots flew strafing missions. On one occasion, the pilots witnessed the Germans attacking American bombers. One pilot named Spanky Robinson [Annotator's Note: Major, later Colonel, George "Spanky" Roberts], attacked the Germans and drove them off. The initiative of the black pilot in his Red Tail airplane was recognized by the bomber crews. Even though the Red Tails were not officially on the roster, the white bomber pilots followed up and found them. They met with the Red Tail pilots and thanked the 99th men. They white men stayed with the 99th crewmen for a number of days. The bomber pilots would go on to request that the Red Tails fly escort with them. Afterward, the Red Tails were increasingly requested for escort service by bomber pilots. The Red Tails were proud of their reputation of never losing a bomber that they escorted.

Albert Porche went into the service after Pearl Harbor was attacked. The armed forces were trying to recruit as many people as it could possibly get to serve. [Annotator's Note: At an earlier point in this interview, Porche had indicated that he went into the service in 1940.] Porche volunteered. He was not drafted. The military was segregated at the time. He would question why he was serving when he took stock of the conditions. He made his mind up to serve the best he could. He liked the service even though others may not have wanted him to be part of it. Once they got into action and shot down enemy planes, many of the skeptics wanted to be pals with the black men. [Annotator's Note: The 99th Fighter Squadron was an all black air unit that would go on to be nicknamed the Red Tails for the distinctive color of the aft end of their fighters.] The 99th did all of its flying out of Italy. When the war was over in Europe, the men thought they would be going home. Instead, they were shipped out for the Pacific. Porche thought he would never be able to survive the second war he had to fight. While their ship was in transit to the new war zone, the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan and the Japanese surrendered. Porche was jubilant. He started throwing everything he had overboard. He did not need anything at that point. [Annotator's Note: Porche chuckles at the memory of the incident.] The transport ship was routed back to Italy. Once there, the men began to be returned to the states. The men were being alternated between ocean voyage or airplane flight back to the United States. Porche had enough financial resources to be able to buy his flight back to America. While the 99th had been in North Africa and Sicily, they did not have aircraft to fly. This was very frustrating to the members of the squadron. Some even felt the urge to go over the hill [Annotator's Note: "go over the hill" is slang for desserting]. After they received their aircraft, four squadrons would eventually be formed up under Benjamin Davis [Annotator's Note: Colonel, later General, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. led the 99th Fighter Squadron and later the all black 332nd Fighter Group and became the first black general in the US Air Force] as a fighter group. Spanky Robinson [Annotator's Note: Major, later Colonel, George "Spanky" Roberts] would take the 99th. At that point, the black group had four squadrons and they were popular escorts for the bombers. The fighters earned their favorable reputation, but they paid a big price for it.

Albert Porche began his typical day as a fighter armorer by having breakfast and then going to look on the board where the flight assignments were shown. If his plane was involved, he removed the tape from the gun barrels and swabbed inside the weapon to prevent any moisture from being in them. The planes on the base would fly out and return numerous times during the day. Porche had a friend maintaining the plane next to his. The friend enjoyed singing. Porche admonished him to get serious with preparing his plane, and his friend agreed to do so. When a returning flight came in and was doing stunts, his friend suddenly grew silent. When Porche checked on him, he discovered that his friend had been beheaded by the propeller of one of the planes that was buzzing the field too low. It was the harshest thing that happened to Porche. It was an accident and the memory stayed with him a long time. The men were all in their teens so they were basically very young. The maintenance crewmen stayed with one pilot and plane as long as he survived. Porche never lost his pilot. The units that Porche served with had black officers. They were the only all black fighter squadrons. There were four squadrons in his fighter group [Annotator's Note: Porche served with the 99th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group]. Things got better after the 99th got into action and showed that they could perform in combat. Even some white boys [Annotator's Note: Porche's words] came over and attempted to transfer into the all black squadrons. Porche had two white friends who enjoyed being with the black troops so much that they would use their liberty to visit the men of the Red Tails. Porche saw they wanted to be part of the 99th but they were always refused entry. When Porche got time off, he would make money. He established his own laundry service for officers and enlisted. He used high octane airplane fuel for cleaning the officers' uniforms for free. He used a coal fired iron to press the uniforms. He charged the enlisted men for the same service. He amassed a lucrative business as a result. One day he went up on a mountain with his submachine gun and two pistols to get away from everyone so he could count his money. He sent some of the money home through a few of his buddies. Italy was nice but the Germans had beaten it down. The townsfolk and places in the mountains were left alone by the Germans. Rome was not touched by the Nazis either. The Italian people were very nice. Italy was better than France or the other places Porche went to during the war. The money that he sent home helped his family get by. The laundry business was very beneficial to his wartime income.

Albert Porche was in Italy when the war in Europe ended. The men were to be transferred to Sweden but with the end, the troops went to Sicily. The plan was for them to go to war against the Japanese. The dropping of the bombs [Annotator's Note: the atomic bombs] on Japan and the subsequent surrender changed those plans. When the war with Germany ended, Porche could not believe it. He heard it over the radio before he believed it. After the surrender, nothing was being done by anyone. There was a lot of drinking and partying going on. The commander finally broke up the party. Porche thought he would be headed back to the United States, but he looked at the list of personnel assignments and saw he would be going to Japan. He was on a transport boat for a number of days before the news of the end of the war with Japan came. His selection to fight against the Japanese seemed to be a random selection. During the war with Germany, the enemy went to great lengths to knock out the men of the 99th Fighter Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group. Hearing a bomb explode close to you makes your hearing go out for a day or so. It comes back after awhile. After the Japanese surrendered, the transport that Porche sailed on returned to Italy. The men, at that point, were being returned to the United States either by boat or airplane flight. Porche bought a flight back from one of his friends. It was the best feeling in his life to be returning to the United States. It was a hard feeling to see that many of those he served with would not be returning. The jobs in the Air Force's support crews were safer than those of other members in the military. The bases were 20 to 25 miles back from the front. They did handle explosives, but they were careful not to arm the bombs until after they were loaded aboard the aircraft. The armorer had to hear from the pilot what ordnance was required and then define that for the people who brought the bombs to the aircraft. Porche would arm the bombs prior to the plane taking off. That way, the pilot just had to fly and shoot or drop. [Annotator's Note: Porche chuckles.]

When Albert Porche returned from the war, he had no expectations of being treated differently from the way he was treated prior to the war. It was still a Jim Crow way of life [Annotator's Note: Jim Crow refers to the segregated and bigoted way of life prevalent in the country before the advent of civil rights legislation]. It did not take long for changes to start appearing though. During the war, it became obvious that color was not significant if someone on your side critically needed your help. When Porche returned stateside, he decided to go back home and later take a trip to California that was offered to him. He never made it to California because he never left home. His homecoming was special. Returning to his grandmother who had raised him was very special. Being in the military was a good thing for Porche. He learned a lot and saw many places. It was a positive experience for him. The war did more good than it did harm. It is important to have The National WWII Museum to remind people of all the losses that were experienced in the Second World War. The war improved our country and its people despite its hang-ups.