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TwitThisGoing Their Separate Ways
During the war, Herb flew 35 combat missions over Europe. "Once, in December 1944, I was flying over Czechoslovakia," he recalls. "Eight hundred and fifty flak guns were aimed at us, and I was hit 89 times. But I made it home because I had great cover from our planes."Those planes were piloted by black airmen. "Though the bases were segregated, we'd meet in the sky," John says. In more than 200 escort missions, only about five bombers were lost to enemy fighters.
After the war, Herb returned to Cincinnati, married and started a family. He rarely thought about his time in battle. But one cold day in 1997, he read in the newspaper that his town was honoring the Tuskegee Airmen. "I just wanted to give them a big hug for keeping those German fighter planes away from me," Herb explains.
He headed over to the reception and began asking the men who'd gathered whether any of them might have flown at the same time he did. They pointed to a distinguished-looking man in the corner. It was John Leahr.
"This lanky, white fellow comes up and puts his arms around me," John recalls. "I didn't know what was going on." But after comparing mission books, John learned that he had actually flown cover for Herb on two missions in 1944. In fact, John's plane was among those that helped Herb make it home on that frightening December day.
"These guys were fighters, but they were told not to be aces -- just protect the bombers at all costs," Herb says. "And they did. It was amazing to be able to thank him."
As John and Herb talked, they realized they'd worked at the same aeronautics plant before the war and at the same Air Force base after. John had gone on to become a stockbroker, but the two men had lived only minutes apart -- a few miles from where they attended elementary school.
Herb went home after the reception and began looking for his old class photos. "I got out my third-grade picture, called John up and said, 'If this little black guy in the third row is you, then this is getting really scary.' " Indeed, it was John, standing almost shoulder to shoulder with Herb.
The men began spending time together. Herb learned about John's homecoming after the war -- so different from his own. While parades were given for white servicemen, John and his fellow airmen went uncelebrated. Sometimes they were even targets for scorn. Once, in Memphis with three fellow officers, John suffered a beating. "A guy came along,"John remembers, "and said, 'I've killed niggers before, but I've never killed no nigger officers.' Two white policemen came up and just drove on. Luckily a sailor passed by and stopped the guy. If it wasn't for him, I'd be dead."
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