by Karla Ciaglo
ROCKY HILL — Gov. Ned Lamont joined veterans and state officials Tuesday to mark Black History Month with a ceremony honoring the Tuskegee Airmen, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion and generations of Black Americans who served in segregated military units while fighting for a country that did not yet grant them full rights.
The event at the Connecticut Veterans Home in Rocky Hill blended tribute with reflection on the inequities Black service members faced.
“We know that the experience of service has not been the same for everyone,” Deputy Secretary of the State Jennifer Barahona said. “Black service members have stepped forward generation after generation, often in the face of discrimination at home and within the ranks, and they still answer the call. They have defended freedoms overseas while working to secure those same freedoms here at home, and that’s a powerful and uniquely American story.”
Barahona added that the legacy carries modern relevance.
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz highlighted the wartime record of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps, noting they flew more than 1,500 missions during World War II. She also shared a personal connection, recalling that her father served as a bombardier and flew 53 missions.
“He said they always knew they would get home safely if they had the Red Tails as escorts. Those, ladies and gentlemen, were the Tuskegee Airmen. They flew some of the most dangerous flights in World War II,” she said.
Bysiewicz recognized two Black women honored by the Connecticut Veterans Hall of Fame who were present, Adele Hodges and Carly Decotton.
The ceremony also recognized the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, known as the Six Triple Eight, the only all-Black, all-female unit deployed overseas during World War II. The battalion cleared a backlog of roughly 17 million pieces of mail for U.S. troops in Europe.
“There weren’t emails and there weren’t cell phones,” Bysiewicz said. “Mail from home was the thing that boosted morale, and it was the women of the Six Triple Eight that made it happen.”
The unit received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2022, decades after its service.
Stephanie Abrams, president and CEO of the New England Air Museum, highlighted Connecticut’s ties to the Tuskegee Airmen, including Neville Custis, Hartford’s first Black police officer, who flew more than 90 missions with the 99th Fighter Squadron and later served in state government.
Abrams also described the discrimination recruits faced before reaching combat. As trains carrying the airmen crossed into the South, they were forced into segregated railcars. One airman recalled being seated behind a curtain in a dining car so white passengers would not have to see him.
“They fought to get in because it was their country too,” Abrams said.
She also pointed to Connecticut’s connection to the Freeman Field protest, where Connie Napier — father of former state Treasurer Denise Nappier — was among Black officers who challenged segregated facilities at an Indiana air base during World War II. Many were arrested.
“That stand against injustice helped encourage the full integration of the armed forces,” Abrams said.
President Harry Truman formally desegregated the military in 1948.
Lamont tied the ceremony to the nation’s approaching 250th anniversary, saying the country’s founding ideals have required continual expansion.
“In order for us to live up to our founding principles, you have to fight for a more perfect union,” Lamont said.