Robert Searcy

Robert J. Searcy (1921 – September 17, 2009) was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American military personnel who served with distinction during World War II as the 332nd Fighter Group of the US Army Air Corps. After the war, Searcy lived in Los Angeles, California. He died of colorectal cancer in September 2009 at age 88.

Tuskegee Airmen Searcy was born in Mount Pleasant, Texas, and attended Prairie View A&M University before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942 following the United States' entry into World War II. Searcy received basic training at Ft. Hood, Texas, and was assigned to lead a group of airmen to Tuskegee, Alabama. He received commendations for supporting combat missions over Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, and was honorably discharged in 1945.

Post-war years

Searcy later recalled that he tried for years "to forget serving as a Tuskegee Airman" and thought of his service in the segregated U.S. military "as two years, 10 months and 27 days lost." He had enlisted hoping to become a pilot, but he was assigned to work in a support position as a clerk in military intelligence. Searcy married, but had no children. His wife died in an automobile accident in 1990. In video footage from the Chicago Tribune, Searcy says of Obama's inauguration, "When I leave this earth, I leave it with a smile on my face."

Death Searcy died of colorectal cancer in September 2009 at age 88 while visiting his granddaughter in Atlanta, Georgia.