President Obama Honors Tuskegee Airmen at Family Reunion

The Brewer Family Reunion was held recently at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, in Washington, DC.

At the reunion, two Brewer descendants who were members of the Tuskegee Airmen USA were honored posthumously at a special ceremony attended by government dignitaries, the U. S. Air Force Honor Guard, and Tuskegee Airmen from the East Coast Chapter.

A Congressional Gold Medal and other plaques, including one from President Barack Obama, the mayor of Asheville, North Carolina, and the Brewer family, were presented by Mr. Vernon Robinson of Winston-Salem, who played a significant role in researching much of Lieutenant Robert C. Robinson Jr.’s Air Force history. The awards were accepted by Lt. Robinson’s sisters, Mrs. Gwendolyn Robinson Atkinson and Mrs. Genevieve Robinson Brown, of Charlotte, NC.

Lieutenant Robinson grew up in Asheville, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Robinson. The senior Robinson served for many years as Manager of the Asheville and Charlotte District of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Lieutenant Robinson was reported missing in action during the March, 1945 “Raid on Berlin” near the end of World War II. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The Black American Legion Building in Asheville was named in his honor.

Lt. Robinson was a member of Hopkins Chapel A.M. E. Zion Church where he participated in Sunday School. He attended Asheville city schools, and was graduated from Stephens-Lee High School. His hobby of building model airplanes led him to Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, AL, from which he graduated in 1944. Following his college career, he was commissioned a second Lieutenant from the Tuskegee Airmen USA, with whom he served as a fighter pilot with the 332nd Airborne Division.

Another Brewer descendent, Dr. Charles Flowers, a Tuskegee Flight Instructor who taught countless outstanding Tuskegee pilots during WW II, has also been honored for his military service: the Charles Herbert Flowers High School in Prince Georges County, MD is named in his honor.

Mrs. Beatryce Nivens of Guttenberg, New Jersey chaired the reunion, which drew approximately two hundred relatives and friends, including relatives from Sweden.