Following swift backlash from legislators, retired military personnel, and others, the U.S. Air Force confirmed to USA TODAY Monday it will resume teaching its recruits about the first Black airmen in the nation’s military.
The move comes on the heels of the Air Force confirming Saturday that course instruction about the Tuskegee Airmen − the more than 15,000 Black pilots, mechanics and cooks in the segregated Army of World War II − had been pulled from basic training curriculum.
In addition, military officials confirmed the Air Force had pulled training about the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) − a paramilitary aviation organization of female pilots employed to fly during World War II. The story was first reported by the San Antonio Express-News.
