Calvin Moret was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on 15 August 1925. His parents, Adolph, Sr. and Georgette had five boys in their family with Calvin being the fourth in line. In the years prior to the Depression, Moret’s father worked for a major printing company. By the time of the onset of the Depression, his father had been with that company for 18 years [Annotator’s Note: the beginning of the Great Depression was the stock market crash in October 1929.]. The printing company was the largest shop in the city and was known for publishing the telephone directory. Even though his father had additional experience prior to that major printing company, the lack of work during the Depression resulted in his layoff. His father decided to sell the family’s functional automobile for just 15 dollars. The economy would not allow the maintenance of that automobile going forward thus Moret’s father sold it. He invested the proceeds into his business, The Moret Press. That original press is still in Calvin Moret’s possession and is still operable. The Moret sons learned the printing trade in that shop. It was tough, but the family made a go of it. Additionally, the Morets grew a garden in the backyard and raised chickens to supplement their income. Moret’s mother had not worked since 1916, but she went out and secured a job. She became a seamstress at a men’s clothing establishment just ten blocks from the family home. She would walk to and from work every day. The boys’ grandmother was always at home when they returned from school. As the boys matured, they would find work elsewhere because the family printing company could not sustain all of them. Adolph, the eldest brother, would get a job with the Pinkerton Detective Agency and later would become a flight instructor. His tales about his undercover work with Pinkerton were very interesting. The next older brother worked in a variety of positions. He married first and after the war came on, he was drafted into the Army. He would be promoted to the rank of sergeant and serve in the Burma and India region. The third brother had experience working with relatives in the grocery business. When the war came along, he joined the Marine Corps. The war had, for all practical purposes, started when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Though Moret was still a senior in school, he worked with his dad in the printing business until time for his 18th birthday. With his interest in aviation and aircraft dating back for years, and with his oldest brother being a flight instructor at Tuskegee, Moret decided to join the Army Air Forces [Annotator’s Note: Tuskegee, Alabama was the home of flight training for black airmen who would subsequently be known as the Tuskegee Airmen.]. Having spent the summer before his enlistment with his brother at Tuskegee, Moret had seen the flight line and gotten to know some of the instructors and cadets. The idea of flight really appealed to him as a result.

Calvin Moret volunteered for the Army Air Corps. Following testing, he was accepted on 14 October 1943. He was sent for basic training to Keesler Field in Mississippi. Additionally, there were daily tests given to the men to weed out individuals who did not have necessary qualities such as coordination, good vision, and other capabilities. Math tests were given. Moret left Keesler on 8 December 1943. He was bound for Tuskegee [Annotator’s Note: Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama] where he was billeted in a dormitory on the University Campus. The instructors were excellent. Ground classes in math, geography and history were conducted daily. Morse code and FF [Annotator’s Note: FF—friend or foe] identification was taught. Other than athletic activities, there was little free time. A class of 72 men started flying in the spring of 1944. Only 36 of those trainees graduated on 20 November 1944. The primary field was only a grass field with no markers. The windsock was the only indication that it was an airfield. Many of the University students had worked on the field to get it in shape. The Institute had a contract with the Army. The military were to furnish equipment and instructors for the cadets to learn to fly. Efforts to get all this in place were expedited to get Tuskegee in a proper condition. Finding enough black pilots as instructors was an issue initially. Some of the early trainees had to be instructed by whites in Montgomery. The government could see that the country would be brought into the war eventually. As things progressed, more flight instructors came on including those trained in civilian training programs. Moret’s eldest brother and three other men from New Orleans learned to fly in 1940 at West Virginia State College. This was only one of the institutions stood up for training purposes. When the war started, Moret’s brother had his private pilot’s license. He would be qualified through additional training to be an instructor and go on to train many Tuskegee airmen during the war. Initially, there was a preflight program flying two-place, light aircraft. It just oriented the individual to being in the air. After a few hours of flying J-3 Piper Cubs, the trainees moved to the PT-17 Stearman that flew at about 90 miles per hour. It taught the basics of flying but did not have all the finesse that would be learned later. Moret soloed on 15 May 1944. After that, the pilots were assigned to the base about 12 to 15 miles away. There were wide paved runways, towers and lighting not available on the primary field first used. Many trainees were weeded out because of their inability to fly under the initial conditions. At the new base, the pilots flew the BT-13 [Annotator’s Note: Vultee BT-13 Valiant trainer]. It was a two-place aircraft with fixed landing gear and twice the horsepower of the Stearman. There were flaps that allowed better control of the plane. The two speed propeller provided better speed control without having to accelerate the engine. The plane also had a two way radio for communication with the tower. An internal communication capability was also available to talk to the instructor without having to raise voices. With a lot of ground school and flight training the new pilots learned to master navigation.

After ten weeks of flying the BT-13 [Annotator’s Note: Vultee BT-13 Valiant two seat trainer aircraft], Calvin Moret switched to the AT-6 advanced trainer [Annotator’s Note: North American AT-6 Texan]. It had 600 horsepower and a retractable landing gear. It also had a constant speed propeller that automatically adjusted its pitch according to the amount of power that was being fed to it. With full instrumentation in the cockpit, the pilot learned to fly without benefit of seeing the ground below. That navigational upgrade was another aspect of the training the new pilots received. Radio navigation was also introduced. Moret and 35 other men in his class graduated on 20 November 1944. Following completion of flight training, Moret was granted a short leave to return home and visit with his family. After the leave, he was sent to Eglin Field in Florida for aerial gunnery. Prior to this, the only gunnery training for the cadets had been using a shotgun on a skeet range to practice leading a target. That prepared the men for aiming at in flight enemy aircraft targets. At Eglin, he would shoot at a moving target flying ahead of him. The target was a sleeve about four or five feet wide and about 40 feet long. That would simulate the size of an enemy aircraft. Each flight would have four men who would be firing different colored bullets at the target. The colors on the wire mesh sleeve would be used to assist the pilots in improving their accuracy. Cameras were also used to track the progress of each man’s targeting. After being at Eglin for about three weeks, Moret and his group returned to Tuskegee for orientation in the P-40 [Annotator’s Note: the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk single seat fighter aircraft]. That was Moret’s first plane that he flew alone. The P-40 distinctive handling characteristics were provided to him by Captain Charles Hall. Hall was the first black airman to shoot down an enemy aircraft in the Second World War. His instruction gave confidence to Moret. Taxiing the powerful P-40 plus the inertia imposed on him during takeoff gave Moret great pleasure. With more flight time, he became more comfortable in the plane. He would gain over 240 hours in that type aircraft. After familiarization with the new aircraft, Moret’s group was shipped to Walterboro, South Carolina to be trained in military tactics. Tactics were just as important to understand as how to fly the plane and shoot the guns. A flight working together developed the teamwork aspect in the new pilots. It taught them to cooperate in action against the enemy. Veteran instructors were able to pass on their lessons learned to the new men. Because of the urgency to finish the war, Moret and the others were pushed hard from January 1945 until the war ended in Europe in May 1945. Takeoff would often be in the early morning hours while it was still dark. Gunnery would be the first task. The group would go over the Atlantic Ocean and target practice where sunrise had already occurred. Training missions varied. Sometimes there were high altitude gunnery practice and other times there would be low flying missions over land. Dive and skip bombing might be required at times. Rendezvous with bombers tested navigational skills. Simulated escort missions would be flown with the bombers. Moret’s class was the first that did not go overseas from Tuskegee. The timing of the war’s end in Europe prevented them from deploying though they were ready for transfer. The men were transferred to another base in Godman Field near Louisville and Fort Knox, Kentucky to learn the characteristics of the plane they would fly against the Japanese. The P-47 [Annotator’s Note: the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was a heavy single seat fighter bomber] was to be their new aircraft in the Pacific. The aircraft was much heavier than the P-40 and had advanced characteristics for higher altitude flights. As the class reached readiness for deployment, the bombs were dropped and soon afterward the war in the Pacific ended [Annotator’s Note: two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in August 1945 and within a few weeks, the Japanese signed a surrender document with the Allies.]. With the end of the war, the flying time for the class was cut to four hours a month. The reduction did not allow enough cockpit time to stay proficient. The consequence was increases in accidents with injury and even fatalities. Moret had not intended to make the military a career so with the end of the war, he sought his discharge. He had enough points to get out so he left the military on 31 January 1946 [Annotator’s Note: The point system was the military rating system to prioritize the discharge of veteran troops before releasing more recent inductees. The system included credit for months in service, months served overseas, and number of children under 18, as well as combat decorations.]. Moret served about two and a half years in the military. It was a great experience, and he recommends that all young men serve. It teaches discipline and how to respect one another. It could reduce some of the complications in our society today. The individual would benefit, and it would have a positive ripple effect in our country. All of Moret’s brothers served in the military. Four brothers were in the Second World War. The youngest brother was in the Korean War and was discharged as a second lieutenant. His oldest brother would become a first lieutenant when he and two other men from Tuskegee were asked to be Service Pilots. In that capacity, the pilots had to be on constant call to fly dignitaries anywhere required. The background and flying capabilities possessed by his eldest brother qualified him for that role. The brothers were promoted during their service so that there were three commissioned officers and two non-coms. The brothers served their country well with no problems. The Moret brothers benefited from the experience.

Calvin Moret became interested in flying when he was about eight years old. Before the war started, he found himself interested in working with his hands in making small model planes with gasoline engines. When the war started, it became necessary for pilots to be able to readily identify enemy airplanes. Pictures of planes only provided two dimensions where models were three dimensional. A plane could be observed from varying angles with a model. Moret’s school was approached to see if anyone had capabilities for model making. Moret was requested to participate. He made model airplanes to scale using plans [Annotator’s Note: Moret gestures to indicate that the models he constructed were approximately one foot long.]. The finished products were given to the Army or Navy to train their pilots [Annotator’s Note: for training purposes for visual recognition of friend or foe aircraft.]. At Tuskegee, the cadets used photographs with various backgrounds presented to simulate combat circumstances. A quick glance at the photograph was all that was allowed. For the most part, a tenth of a second was all that was needed to properly identify a friend or foe. As a high school model builder, Moret had an early involvement in the war effort. Before the war started, Moret had his first opportunity to fly. His brother had acquired a pilot license and flew out of Joy Airport in Saint Bernard Parish [Annotator’s Note: this parish is near the city of New Orleans]. Moret’s older brother requested that the school principal excuse his younger brother from class so he could take him for a flight. Young Moret was excused and he had his first flight. It was a thrill to see the views from those higher elevations. Having his brother at the controls was a pleasure. He never anticipated at the time that he would be a military pilot. His love of airplanes was boosted by that experience. The war had not yet started then. Moret’s brother was at Joy Airport on 7 December 1941 [Annotator’s Note: the date United States military installations in and near Pearl Harbor were attacked by the Japanese.]. He was flying others that day. He was told to cease flying that day but was not provided with a rationale for that demand. That brother worked in the post office during that period. Adolph was a very talented guy [Annotator’s Note: Adolph Moret, Jr. was Moret’s eldest brother. With his flight experience, he subsequently would be a Tuskegee Airmen flight instructor during the war.]. He had a lot going for him but was held back by segregation at that time. Moret’s motto was to go around hurdles if you could not go over them. His older brother showed that success could be achieved by following that mantra. He went to West Virginia State College to learn to fly. With finances being tight, he would occasionally exist on a candy bar for his daily meal. He made sacrifices to learn to fly. The Morets went around the hurdles during the 1930s when they could not go over them. The government was paying for instructors and equipment, but his brother had to be available to be there and learn. He was a hard worker and it worked out for him.

Calvin Moret admired his brother [Annotator’s Note: Adolph Moret, Jr. was Moret’s eldest brother. With his brother’s flight experience, he became a flight instructor for Tuskegee Airmen during the war.]. His brother married in November 1941, just before the war started. He and his wife ended up at Tuskegee when he became a flight instructor there. The couple had two children at Tuskegee. He left the service in 1946. The brother bought a piece of property, drew up the plans and built a house himself. His younger brother, Calvin, provided some of the labor to assist his older brother. The house stood for decades. The couple had three more children in New Orleans. but a situation arose that caused the family to move to California in 1953. Adolph sought to purchase a Christmas tree when he observed a car crash. He was near a police station. After he rushed to the car to assist the injured, he went in the police station to get help from them. The police not only refused to help him, but they insulted him with racial epithets. He was then jailed under false pretenses. Eventually, he was assisted by his dad and A.P. Tureaud who was a frontrunner in the civil rights movement. There is a statue of the latter in Saint Bernard Parish [Annotator’s Note: this parish is near the city of New Orleans.]. When the trial came up, it was squashed. The experience left Moret’s brother with bad feelings. If something like that had occurred to one of his children, he might be inclined to shoot someone. Consequently, the best thing for him to do was to leave the city. He left his job at the post office and decided to find employment in California. The family left before the fifth child was born. Postal work was found in their new home. The family went on to have five more children without ever having to be on any public program or welfare. Although he could not afford to take his family out for fast food, his brother would save money to take them on vacation at Yosemite or some other national park when the children were out of school. It was an inexpensive way to expose the family to good things. He became very familiar with Yosemite. The children turned out very well. Segregation in the New Orleans areas forced good people to move away. His brother was an example of that. Moret also felt the impact of segregation when he wanted to learn to operate a linotype machine at Delgado [Annotator’s Note: a community college in New Orleans]. The law said he could not sit down with white students although it was alright for him to risk his life flying in airplanes. Moret decided to go to class at Southern University in Baton Rouge in the summer of 1949. He finished the class in four months although it was originally defined as a two to four year class. He was in a class with three others. Each of them had two hours a day with the instructor. Moret often took extra time with the instructor when some other student had a conflict with the scheduled linotype class. He would gain as much as six hours a day as a result. He then would bring the books home and study until ten o’clock at night. He was at the steps of the building in the morning at seven o’clock. He would be there all day long. He learned to both operate and maintain the machine. The family bought a used linotype machine from Shreveport. Moret would train five linotype operators on that machine including one who went on to work at The San Francisco Chronicle. That depicted how he went around hurdles and never stopped because of adversity. That machine worked all the way up to Hurricane Katrina [Annotator’s Note: August 2005]. It was a specialty machine that could not be completely replaced by computers. It served the family well.

Calvin Moret was born in the first house built on the square. His family would be the only black family in a neighborhood comprised of white families that arrived later. Some folks owned their property and others rented. The children never worried about the color of their skin. Those feelings came later. Moret’s playmates were mainly white. The Moret property was large and there was a lot of area to enjoy playing. Children had a tendency to congregate there. At this time, the law defined separation of blacks and whites. When the children rode the bus, Moret and his brothers went to the back behind the screens. Schools and churches were all segregated. Although he never pushed himself on others, through the years, neighborhood friends were drawn to him. Contacts with some families have stayed close over multiple generations even to the point of attending each other’s funerals. Being a barbershop singer, Moret once ran late to another family’s funeral. They were concerned because they never missed each other’s memorial service. Those were strong relationships. When Moret left the service in 1946, he had his commercial flying license. He would rent airplanes at Lakefront Airport to take friends and relatives up [Annotator’s Note: Lakefront Airport is on Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans.]. When he and his brother formed a flying club in 1949, they purchased a plane and hangered it there. Soon they noticed that all the signs indicating segregation disappeared. The humiliating circumstances were removed. There were no court orders or marches to cause that to happen. It occurred because the signs were interpreted to be an affront to the Moret brothers. It was a quite change. This was done before Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. The right and the wrong of the situation was the basis for removal of those signs. Another instance happened to Moret’s dad in the early stages of the war. He was in a class being taught the basics of first aid. He had a tourniquet around his leg to stop blood flow. There was a knock on the door and the instructor went to see who was there. Moret’s father saw a black face at the door before the individual left. The instructor used a racial epithet to say that the person wanted to join the class. Although Moret’s father had fair skin, he told the instructor to count him out if blacks were not allowed in the class. The instructor never considered that the man might someday be in a position to save his life with knowledge obtained in his class. The philosophy of segregation had been instilled for so long that it was ingrained in people just like speech patterns. It cannot be gotten out.

Calvin Moret and the Tuskegee Airmen helped break down racial barriers. They did not realize at the time that they were doing so. The changes resulted in proving that they had capabilities that had previously been suppressed. Their efforts facilitated the talents of others to come forth. There has been a contribution to the nation as a result. Reports in the 1920s said that the form of the cranium of blacks proved that their brains could not handle flight or other activities. A black doctor developed plasma that allows use of blood across different types. That doctor was involved in an accident and was not taken into a hospital for a transfusion because of segregation policy. He died. That was both ironic and tragic. Many other similar loses to the nation could be identified due to segregation. A plaque was erected to honor Homer Plessy, and the ride he took to facilitate desegregation of public transportation in the south. The separation of the races was a means for whites to exert superiority over blacks. It occurred in employment also. Discrimination does not always involve physical characteristics. If a person attended a known black school, discrimination might happen. Less qualified individuals might be hired because of skin color. A book entitled Lonely Eagles [Annotator’s Note: by Marilyn Nelson] might help in understanding these feelings. Moret’s brother is a nice looking, tall man with a beautiful wife. She is beautiful by anyone’s standards.

Calvin Moret admits that the Tuskegee Airman flying experiences did not affect his life until the movie was released [Annotator’s Note: Red Tails was the motion picture based on the Tuskegee Airmen. It was released in 2012.]. Prior to that, his experiences may have had an influence on his flying out of Lakefront Airport [Annotator’s Note: Lakefront Airport is a small airport on Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans.]. Close acquaintances and relatives knew of his flying experiences. Others did not recognize his role with the Tuskegee flyers. He had been singing with the barbershop group for 25 years prior to his name and photograph being flashed in the newspaper and on television. When asked why he did not make a point of discussing his military career, Moret responded that he did not want to appear to be bragging. When the word of his experience came out, Moret was bombarded with requests to speak at various venues. Most of the requests were from whites. Moret was interviewed by Sally Ann Roberts [Annotator’s Note: a local New Orleans newsperson] before he traveled to Washington for the inauguration [Annotator’s Note: no specifics concerning the inauguration were provided]. Many people saw the interview and that increased the requests for him to speak to groups. When he sings, people are told that he was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen. Many people are interested in knowing his experiences. It is necessary to come together frequently to get to know one another’s experiences. World War Two exhibited a joint effort of all citizens to develop a manufacturing capacity to protect our country. That was despite the segregation. There were many lives lost in the war, but people found it within themselves to work together to expand our innovations and manufacturing to win the war. The Japanese could have attacked the West Coast after Pearl Harbor. They did not realize the opportunity existed. New Orleans saw the Higgins boats [Annotator’s Note: the LCVP—Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel was referred to as a Higgins boat because it was largely built by Higgins Industries in New Orleans.] being built all over the city, day and night with people of all skin colors. While black and white troops came back to the United States together on troopships, when they reached the homeland, they were faced with the institution of built-in segregation. The war brought the United States forward as a super power with its huge capability for waging war. Humanity has not changed enough when one views the poverty all around the world since the end of the war. Diseases are still rampant in some places. Some nations with the worse conditions have atomic bombs and intercontinental rockets. Their priorities are wrong. The United States provides munitions of war to a number of countries around the world. Never are the arms manufactures heard to be on strike. We have the intelligence to overcome many of the adversities such as insufficient, healthy water supplies. We could work to eliminate that problem. Most of the war fighters who are seen carrying modern weapons are very thin. They probably have never eaten a hamburger or fried chicken in their life. There is a lot more to life than shooting at someone. Some countries do not want the medical or food assistance from our country unless they can control it. Humanity is behind some of the misfortune befalling people. The National WWII Museum has provided not only an economic impact on New Orleans, but it has also shown the war to be the one to end all wars. It brought about changes and developments. The United Nations has been an agent for positive change. Only the future will be able to determine the efficiency of the organization. Some individuals will be ready to die and even volunteer to do so as a result of brainwashing that was started when they were very young. Warfare is tragic. During the Second World War, so many people died. We should try to avoid the tragedy happening again. Technology can be developed without the pressures of war driving it.

Calvin Moret accumulated about 250 hours in cadet training. He would go on to have about 250 hours in the P-40 [Annotator’s Note: the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft]. Subsequently, he would fly the P-47 [Annotator’s Note: the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bomber] for about 50 to 60 hours. That was about 600 total hours during the war. After the war, he picked up an additional 100 hours in civilian airplanes. Most of his hours were in a P-40 which he found to be a maneuverable airplane under an altitude of 10,000 feet. A P-47 was efficient at higher altitudes and was a solidly built plane for ground operations. It could take it and dish it out. It had eight .50 caliber machine guns plus rockets and bombs. He saw a P-47 show 400 miles per hour at 22,000 feet. Factors used to adjust that to true airspeed would place that at about 575 miles per hour. That was moving. When flying over 20,000 feet in altitude, it is hard to relate to that speed. Conversely, at treetop level, Moret has experienced 300 miles per hour. At that height, it is apparent how fast the aircraft is going. It becomes a blur. After the war, a club was formed at Lakefront Airport [Annotator’s Note: Lakefront Airport is a small airport on Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans.] to teach some guys to fly. One of the individuals soloed shortly before he moved to California. He was able to get his commercial license thereafter. Over time, the new pilot achieved his instructor, instrument, and multiengine ratings. He went on to teach two men to fly who subsequently flew for United Airlines. Moret is equally as proud that he taught that man to fly as he is that he taught a man to operate the linotype machine who went on to work for The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper. He likes the idea of passing the baton and having someone there to not only receive it but progress onward. Moret hopes that his interview helps in the future in promoting understanding and inspiration about the changes that have occurred in utilizing more people in being productive in our society.

Calvin Moret sings a song of brotherly love, hope and inspiration for the world of tomorrow.

When Calvin Moret was at Godman Field near Fort Knox [Annotator’s Note: Kentucky], he noted that Italian and German prisoners of war were given privileges that black Air Forces officers did not have. They could play on certain basketball and tennis courts or ping pong facilities that were off limits to the black Americans. Some would ask how the blacks could fight for a country that treated them that way. No matter the faults and failings of the country, the men still loved their country. Just as a child can do wrong, but the parent still loves the child. That is an analogy to the situation. Many do not realize that 66 black Americans died over Europe defending the rights of their country even though the rights allowed whites to put down the blacks. Germans acquired jets late in the war and the first shot down was by a black American. The same people that were being suppressed for so long had the ability to do things the oppressors thought they could not. The movie about Tuskegee Airmen shows how better to use the talents of all the players [Annotator’s Note: Red Tails was the motion picture based on the Tuskegee Airmen. It was released in 2012.]. Moret has told groups of people that many bomber crews were killed before the black pilots were brought in to protect them. The movie tells the story about the airmen. Laws created by the oppressors were killing their own men. Some bomber raids had as many as 300 bombers in them with each having a crew of about ten men. If 60 bombers were lost, there would be 600 men who lost their life. The black pilots never lost a bomber that they were assigned to protect. Segregation and the color of the skin resulted in fatalities. Changes are taking place by die hard segregationists dying out. Young people are being exposed to blacks in school and recognize their talents. They see Oprah Winfree or Bill Cosby and the talents they possess. Men like Ben Carson have talent in neurosurgery. The nation suffers when other people similar to Ben Carson are not utilized. At Godman Field, no one raised the issue of inequality with the POWs. Moret saw the situation at another base. There is a book entitled The Freeman Field Mutiny where a group of bomber pilots was being trained to go overseas, but the base commander was putting many obstacles in their way. They had been flying for a long time but never got overseas to fly their B-25s [Annotator’s Note: North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber] and help shorten the war. How many lives would have been saved? The Freeman Field base commander would not allow the black officers to go into the officers’ club because they were trainees. Everyone was trainees there. Some men went over the order. The base commander ordered them confined to barracks. One man was even court martialed. That was an example of discrimination that the powers to be exerted without retribution. One individual that Moret knew while he was a cadet stayed in the military after the war. He retired as a colonel. He gained access to classified information after it was allowed to go public. He saw telephone conversation transcripts and correspondence on that base. According to the Army’s own testimony, it was determined that the base commander did things against military law against his own men. The 201 files [Annotator’s Note: the 201 file is the military personnel files] were released to show this in 1995 about the time that the Tuskegee Airman story was shown on the airways. The Air Force brought this out to the public 50 years after the fact.

Calvin Moret saw about half of his Tuskegee flight class dropout of training. That was about on par with that of the white flight school trainees. Problems with controls reactions or navigation skills would warrant cessation of an individual’s training. If a person did not follow orders, he would not fit in the group. Most reasons were legitimate. Moret did not know of any specific reasons that were not legitimate. The primary flight requirement was to stay in formation behind the leader in elements of four aircraft. The group acted together. It required precision and following the code of conduct. Fighters had to stay within range of the bombers to protect them. Nevertheless, they could not follow too closely. A visual distance had to be maintained to properly see and react to the enemy. The bombers were tasked to deliver their ordnance to a target. They had to follow their formation in a straight line. The fighters protected them from enemy fighters above. The bombers had no protection from the enemy antiaircraft fire from below. It was noted that the black pilots had not as many aerial kills as the whites. The whites would leave their positions of protecting the bombers to chase the enemy aircraft. No one knows how many bombers were shot down as a result. If a bomber is allowed to be shot down because it is not protected by a fighter pursuing one enemy aircraft, then that American fighter pilot is losing sight of his main job in the escort mission. While in training, Moret weighed 150 pounds when he took his first flight in the PT-17 [Annotator’s Note: Boeing-Stearman PT-17 Kadet two seat trainer aircraft]. The instructor weighed about the same. Moret saw his instructor at a ceremony at Tuskegee. Tuskegee was being dedicated as a National Historical Site. The instructor looked down but he was standing on his own. With the weight of two men in the aircraft, the PT-17 handled differently than it would if only one man was flying it. There was a freedom and exhilaration when Moret flew the PT-17. He had never even driven an automobile before. He had prepared for a long time for that moment. It was thrilling to take it up and land it. It took mental confidence for him to land the aircraft the first time. He did it without the crutch of the instructor being there to take over if needed. When Moret went to training, he had never been away from home. He found individuals that seemed to have the same intent as he. They wanted to do the best that was possible. The men were from all across the country, but they had a good rapport. A few weeks before graduation from advance training; there was a mission to rendezvous with other flights using different courses. It was necessary to analyze aircraft speed, wind speed, individual navigational course requirements all with a hazy atmosphere. Moret had a good feeling when all the flights arrived on time at the proper location. He has a photograph of his class around a P-40 [Annotator’s Note: the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter was used in this advance training.]. It is sad to know that many have died already. Some died after the war when they stayed in the service. Some deaths were in Korea. Moret is worried that no one is keeping up with the members of the Tuskegee Airmen. The group included not only pilots but ground crews and medics and others. Between 1941 and 1949, there were 19,000 people stationed at Tuskegee. The pilots numbered 992. At a recent convention, Moret heard that 150 pilots remained. He hopes someone is keeping up with those that are left. He read that a German veteran of World War One died when he was over 100 years old.

Calvin Moret was in advance training ready room awaiting instructions for his mission. He was there with another trainee named Raymond McKuen [Annotator’s Note: surname spelling is not certain]. They had started training together. Moret was assigned to fly acrobatics maneuvers. The other man was assigned to go up with his instructor. Moret grabbed his parachute and went up. Shortly afterward, he heard an unusually large amount of radio traffic. After landing, Moret learned that the other flyer had crashed his aircraft and died. He had been flying acrobatic maneuvers with his instructor when he went inverted. The instructor had failed to buckle his seat belt and fell out of the aircraft. The instructor was wearing his parachute so he landed safely. Meanwhile, the pilot crashed his plane even though he had experience flying prior to entry into the military. There were rumors about the white instructor and it left bad feelings. The instructor was removed from the base and nothing else was heard about it. A classmate escorted the dead pilot’s body back to his home in Chicago. Another incident happened after graduation. While practicing dive bombing, an aircraft will pick up speed rapidly [Annotator’s Note: Moret gestures almost a full vertical dive with his right hand.]. It was critical to start the pull out of the dive at the proper altitude. One individual did not accomplish that. He hit the ground at about a 35 degree dive. Only bits of his body were discovered afterward. Another situation happened at Godman Field, Kentucky when planes were taking off and assembling in formation after making a 180 degree turn. One airplane that was to slide under the flight leader in order to find its position on the right side of the leader did not have the proper altitude. The propeller hit the tail of the other aircraft and it lost control and rolled over and crashed. The pilot had left the airplane but at only 1200 or 1500 feet altitude, his parachute did not fully deploy. The body hit the ground and was described as bouncing like a rubber ball. He was instantly killed. Those were three deaths that Moret knew of during his training. Moret personally had several close calls. One involved a night flight exercise at Walterboro, South Carolina. In simulating combat, there was little lighting. The mission was to have the individual planes peel off and land within a minute of each other. A jeep was to be at the end of the runway to guide the aircraft back to the hanger after landing. There was a substantial distance from the end of the runway to the hanger. Moret knew there was a drop-off in between the runway and the hanger. With his P-40 [Annotator’s Note: the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter was used in this advance training.] being a tricycle aircraft with its nose up, he had to taxi side to side [Annotator’s Note: Moret gestures in an S motion to indicate the side to side taxi process] in order to see ahead of the plane. The following aircraft was a minute behind him so he had to keep moving forward after landing. Prior to landing, Moret did not spot the jeep. He still had to bring his plane down. Without the benefit of the jeep showing the end of the runway, Moret hit the soft ground after the paved runway ended. It was like the brakes locked and the plane nosed up [Annotator’s Note: Moret gestures to show that the nose went down and the tail elevated.]. Moret threw off the switches and jumped out. The jeep showed up and Moret called the tower to get a redirection of the subsequent landings. A different runway was used for the following planes. Otherwise, there was a potential for damage. Another instance occurred when Moret was taking off. He spotted a truck near the runway. After lifting off, his engine died while he was about 15 feet off the ground. Luckily, he had not pulled up his landing gear. The plane came back to the ground quickly. While applying brakes on the aircraft, he noticed that he was losing his right brake. He also saw that the truck he observed was moving very quickly to get out of his way. With a 50 foot ravine full of pine trees at the end of the runway, Moret had to apply heavy pressure to the left brake so that the plane spun around and avoided the disaster. He shook for two minutes before he called the tower to report his near miss. After the end of the war, older planes were being taken to the scrap heap by ferry pilots. Those pilots had to be assured that the aircraft had been flown in the prior month. Moret volunteered to take some of the planes up and fly them to validate their flight worthiness. He took a P-47 [Annotator’s Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bomber] up that had only one hour flight time on its engine. He discovered that the radio and hydraulics were not working well. When ready to land, Moret received a blinking message from the tower that his landing gear was not deployed. He used centrifugal force during a dive to help deploy the gear. He received word that the gear was down so he landed. He saw a fire engine following him. The plane had residual oil that had collected in the rear of the aircraft that overheated and began to smoke. A fire did not occur, but the incident was typical of everyday experiences that could have been fatal. They were close calls that got the adrenaline flowing. The prospect of going down into that ravine with its pine trees was not attractive.

Calvin Moret was still a 19 year old teenager when his mother pinned his wings on him. The war in the Pacific ended about the time of his 20th birthday. Even though he was well trained and had the mental attitude and qualifications to go fight, he did not get to shoot at anybody. In retrospect, it worked out alright because no one shot at him. He has grown wiser with age. While in advance training, he was flying at low altitude at only 200 feet going cross country. He spotted a lake with a wagon near it. The wagon was loaded with loose hay. Moret felt the devil made him buzz the wagon with his 600 horsepower AT-6 [Annotator’s Note: North American AT-6 Texan trainer]. He looked back to see the horses going down the road with the loose hay flying all over the place. He was glad he could not hear what the wagon driver was saying. Moret was feeling the exuberance of youth. He certainly would not repeat that today. After the war the flyers were restricted to only four hours of flight time per month. There was an economic logic behind that decision because the takeoff requirement for a P-47 [Annotator’s Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bomber] requires 100 gallons per hour. With thousands of pilots around the world, the cost of increasing the hours would be high. During the war, the economic concern was not as significant as it was afterward. The restriction resulted in a reduction in flyer capability and a rise in accidents. The incident with the crossover was about that time [Annotator’s Note: the subject incident involved a collision of two aircraft in which one pilot and plane was lost.]. Moret left the service about five months after the war ended. Some men stayed in the military. Moret did not want a career in the military and there was work back at his father’s printing shop in New Orleans. He worked there until Hurricane Katrina hit [Annotator’s Note: August 2005]. Had that hurricane not struck New Orleans, Moret would still be going to the shop every morning. He enjoyed the creativity in the printing business. He brought his son, two daughters, grandson, and other relatives into the family business. Many people have commented that they miss his services. One university had a surprise birthday party for Moret. Every department head was there expressing their gratitude to him. In turn, it was gratifying to Moret to hear their praise for his service. After the war, commercial airlines were not hiring black pilots so a number of them who wanted to continue flying stayed in the service in order to do so. From an economic standpoint, many of the guys who had gotten into that position did not have an easy out. The military is a steady job so a lot of guys stayed in and retired as colonels and so forth. One such man stayed in and retired as a major but he suffered a stroke and could not do much with his life. That individual had the highest aerial gunnery score at Walterboro, South Carolina. Moret paid a visit to him after the war.

Calvin Moret and other Tuskegee Airmen were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007 in Washington by President Bush [Annotator’s Note: President George W. Bush]. It was a momentous experience. He has retained his personalized invitation from Nancy Pelosi [Annotator’s Note: Democratic Congressional member from California]. Moret obtained a replica of the medal. The inscription on the reverse side of the medal speaks of the outstanding record in combat that inspired a revolutionary reform in the military. In 1948, President Truman ordered the integration of the military. Before that, military installations were segregated. The Tuskegee Airman had performed a service that was recognized and appreciated. Moret is proud to be a part of a group to have that kind of acknowledgement. It is very satisfying even though the medal came out 60 years after the war ended. Moret’s brother died a year before the medal was presented [Annotator’s Note: Moret’s brother Adolph Moret, Jr. was a flight instructor for the Tuskegee Airmen.]. The Moret brothers knew ahead of the award that the medal was coming. At the event, Moret handed a personal note to Nancy Pelosi concerning his brother who had passed and his widow who had stuck by his side through everything. Pelosi told Moret that she would take care of it. Shortly thereafter, Moret’s sister in law received her copy of the Congressional Gold Medal. Moret felt very good about that because of her commitment to his brother. Moret maintained close contact with his sister in law through the years.

Calvin Moret did not keep track of his comrades in Europe during his training. Each class was a standalone class. The earlier graduates had no way of communicating back to those in training stateside. The Stars and Stripes [Annotator’s Note: the US Army military newspaper] was available overseas but not in the States. Things were learned after the fact. White bomber and fighter pilots who had returned from Europe trained the black airman at Walterboro, South Carolina. The bomber pilots in particular told the black airmen how comfortable they felt when they saw the Red Tails come up to escort them [Annotator’s Note: the Tuskegee Airmen distinguished their fighter aircraft by painting the tail of their plane with red paint.]. The word had filtered through about the success of the black fighter pilots in reducing bomber losses. Colonel Benjamin Davis was base commander at Godman Field. Moret had no direct contact with him. He only heard of him from others. He complied with orders given by him, but his first contact of that type would have been at Godman Field while he was flying P-47s [Annotator’s Note: Godman Field is near Fort Knox, Kentucky. Moret was being trained in the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bomber to serve in the final invasion of Japan. Davis was leading the training at Godman.]. It probably would have been approximately June 1945 [Annotator’s Note: the war in Europe ended in May 1945 and resources were being mobilized to attack the Japanese homeland beginning in November 1945.]. Moret’s log books would define the date specifically. Moret still has his log books from that period. Colonel Davis went through the barrier to push for his men to get ahead [Annotator’s Note: Moret previously has referred to the barrier of discrimination and segregation. Moret’s philosophy was to go over the barrier or go around it.]. The Tuskegee Airmen movie shows the 99th Fighter Squadron [Annotator’s Note: also known as the Tuskegee Airmen or Red Tails] being assigned to ground targets. They did not have the opportunity to engage the German Messerschmitts or Focke-Wulf aircraft in order to get fighter kills in Africa or Italy. The people in Washington thought the Squadron had poor performance because they were not shooting down enemy aircraft. When the change was made for the Squadron to escort bombers, 66 pilots died while protecting the American bombers and shooting down German fighters.