Photo Provided Carl Johnson, Bellaire native and one of the last of the Tuskegee Airmen, is remembered by local residents.

BELLAIRE — Col. Carl Johnson, a Bellaire native and one of the last known living Tuskegee Airmen, died in late August, and now local residents are remembering a hometown son who did the area proud and blazed a trail for the integration of African Americans into the armed forces. He was 97.

Johnson visited his hometown several years ago when he was honored as the Johnson Class of 1944 Distinguished Alumnus in 2017.

According to a 2015 report by the Washington Post, he was the last graduate of the Tuskegee Airman Academy. Completion of his studies had been delayed due to appendicitis.

Bob Wallace, a member of the Belmont County Veterans Service Commission and a Bellaire High School alumnus, met Johnson at the 2017 event and said the impression stayed with him.

“As a graduate of Bellaire High School and a veteran, I’m greatly proud of what Col. Johnson represents and epitomized in his service. He was a leader. He was a pathmaker,” Wallace said. “I wasn’t aware that we had a Tuskegee Airman from Bellaire. When I found out that, I wrote a nomination for him to be considered our distinguished or outstanding alumnus.”

He recalled the 2017 alumni event when Johnson was selected and traveled to Bellaire.

“We had a pretty large turnout for his remarks,” Wallace said. “What a gentleman he was. To be present and listen to his remarks.”

He added that although Johnson was not able to see combat during World War II since his appendicitis surgery meant he would graduate late, he went on to serve in Korea and Vietnam before retiring as a lieutenant colonel in charge of the 210th Combat Aviation Brigade.

“I’m looking back at the times and it’s kind of hard to understand the segregated system that we had,” Wallace said.

He added that at the time, African Americans were not believed capable of complex tasks, so the experimental program was created.

“In order to represent the people who would be sent for this training, only the best of the best were selected,” Wallace said. “I look at it both as a veteran and as a graduate of Bellaire High School that one of our own excelled academically and physically to be able to make the selection for this elite program.”

Wallace compared this to Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play Major League Baseball.

“It’s kind of hard to overstate the pressure and importance of Carl Johnson and others who were selected for this experimental program. It was after this success — they never lost a bomber — that later on, (President) Harry Truman integrated the U.S. military,” Wallace said.

He said Johnson and his fellow airmen made lasting history.

“In a coincidence, the day after the dinner honoring Col. Johnson for the alumni association, I started on vacation and ended up in New Orleans at the World War II Museum located there. As I walked in, the first thing I noticed a display of a P-51 Mustang with the red tail designating it as one of the Tuskegee Airmen so-called red-tail units. I couldn’t believe the coincidence of that after having just seen Col. Johnson right before that,” he said.

“Certainly there’s a proud history. He resided on Franklin Street in Bellaire,” Wallace said. “The house is still there.”

Johnson’s cousin, Bill Ellsworth, a native of Bellaire now living in Bridgeport, recalled Johnson’s skill in athletics and his dedication to the tasks he set for himself.

“Carl, he was just a good person,” Ellsworth said. “He was a pilot clean up into Vietnam.”

Ellsworth, a U.S. Air Force veteran who served 1966-70, said he spoke with Johnson often after the alumni dinner about Johnson’s time as a Tuskegee Airman.

“I’m a lot younger than Carl. Him and my dad were good friends,” he said. “He was dynamite. He was just so down-to-earth. He was just a good person.”

He added that the changes in society were touched on during Johnson’s speech to the alumni.

Ellsworth also said at the time of Johnson’s graduation segregation was a fact of life, with swimming pools and skating rinks segregated and African American children only allowed to use them on certain days.

“He spoke on that. Half the people there never even knew that,” he said.

Ellsworth also recalled his own inability to enter a plumber’s union in several states.

“People just don’t understand. It’s like what Carl said about the pool being segregated. People who weren’t subjected to that, they don’t understand what it’s all about,” he said.

“I’m good friends with a lot of people from Bellaire, because that’s where I’m from. I’ve got a lot of friends. I never did color my friends. My friends were my friends. I didn’t care what color they were. That’s the way I was raised,” he said. “I never cared what color they was. I didn’t care what color I was.”

Mead Township Trustee Ed Good, another alumnus and then-president of the alumni association, also said Johnson made an impression.

“When Mr. Johnson was nominated to us, we never realized that we had an alum that was so accomplished. When you look at his record, it’s just unbelievable,” Good said. “The thing that struck me most about his comments – and he gave a tremendous speech about growing up in Bellaire — what really struck me was the youth in the room who were seniors graduating, how they hung on to his words. He discussed in a very positive way the challenges of growing up in Bellaire, being a minority. The kids really didn’t realize some of the history. He was unbelievable.”

Johnson died on Aug. 28 and was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. He had been residing in Virginia. He is survived by his two children Karen (Richard) and Michael (Debbie); four grandchildren and six great grandchildren.