Black Pilot Honored for His 50-Year Fight

You could call it the bump that lasted 50 years.

In 1945, Lt. Roger C. Terry, a B-25 bomber pilot, defied a whites-only rule at an officer’s club in Indiana. As he entered the club, he bumped into a white officer. For this he was convicted of “jostling” an officer. Last year, Terry, 74, received a presidential pardon, and now the Los Angeles City Council has honored him with a resolution.

Councilwoman Rita Waters praised Terry for “his dignity and endurance in preserving a very long struggle with justice.”

Terry was a member of the 447th Bomber Group, the first unit of black military pilots, who became known as the Tuskegee Airmen. They were trained in Tuskegee, Ala., and transferred from a base in Kentucky to Freeman Field, Ind., where the incident took place.

The conviction for jostling cost Terry his bomber command and ended a military career. But his challenge brought to public attention the military’s long-simmering segregation problems.

Terry, who grew up in Willowbrook, received a standing ovation Friday from the City Council and those attending.

“It was well worth it,” he said, “because, in the long run, I was proven right.”