Lu Gregg, Jr. Similar Story To Part Of Sullavou Academy Experience

My Dad, Lu Gregg, Jr., (3rd African American Naval
Academy graduate) has a story when he was an Air Force
pilot during the Korean conflict of the then Governor
of Georgia and an aide getting on his plane at a
military base (not uncommon for country officials
to fly this way at the time) and finding out the pilot
was black. They made a stink that they would not be
flown by a black pilot and demanded they get another
white one for them. They all sat together on the
ground for 2-3 hours until it eventually went high
enough in the Pentagon and my Dad was surprised they
told the Governor to get off the plane. The reasoning
was crew integrity. If we punish someone for an
arbitrary reason not related to performance that would
send the wrong signal to the unit I believe is what
was articulated at the time. Reminds me of the below
description, the part describing the it is either he
or us scenario:

http://www.exeter.edu/publications/exeter/fall_01/past.html

Account from Lu Gregg, Jr. 12-27-2004:

"On the Air Force -- at age of 25, as part of the Air Force's
Military Air Command, I was promoted to the rank of "Aircraft
Commander", -- I had my own crew flying weekly to Europe from
McGuire Air Force Base near Trenton.

Each day our base would dispatch a plane and crew to Washington
(Andrews AFB) as the VIP Flight to Paris. After 1-2 days on the
ground in Paris, the crew would then bring a return flight of VIP's
back to Washington. This was a daily scheduled flight our Base
did for government officials.

Because of my flying ability, I was one of the 25-30 pilots at the
Base selected to fly the daily run. I [...] was the youngest to
fly the VIP run. I only did it once a month for about a year before
being sent to MIT.

It was on one VIP return flight from Paris when we stopped to refuel
in the Azores that the aide traveling with the Governor of Georgia
told the Azores duty officer that one of us would not get back on the
plane to complete the leg to Washington. After their calls to the
Pentagon, the Governor was put on the next plane coming through."

Perry Gregg
VP Communications, Board of Directors
Harvard Club of San Francisco
Nob Hill
800 Powell Street
San Francisco, California 94108

bengt@post.harvard.edu