AUSTIN, Texas— Today, Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dawn Buckingham, M.D., invites the media to attend the new Tuskegee Airmen Texas State Veterans Home's (TSVH) reception of its first resident Sergeant Robert Emmett O'Malley, the first U.S. Marine Corps recipient of the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War. The Tarrant County Sheriff's Office will provide Sergeant O'Malley with a police escort to the new Tuskegee Airmen TSVH in Fort Worth on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
Commissioner Buckingham at the Tuskegee Airmen TSVH Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting on March 22, 2025
WHO: VLB, Tarrant County Sheriff's Department, and the Tuskegee Airmen TSVH
WHAT: Reception of Police Escort for Tuskegee Airmen TSVH's First Resident
WHEN: Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Police escort will arrive at approximately 3:00 p.m.
- Media planning to attend the event, please RSVP to media@glo.texas.gov and arrive at the home around 2:30 p.m.
WHERE: Tuskegee Airmen Texas State Veterans Home
2200 Joe B. Rushing Road
Fort Worth, Texas, 76119
Sergeant O'Malley was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions as a Corporal during the Vietnam War. On August 18, 1965, as a part of Operation Starlite, Sergeant O'Malley single-handedly attacked a Viet Cong trench after his battalion came under mortar and small arms fire. He helped evacuate wounded Marines, and when he was hit in the legs, chest, and arm with mortar fragmentation while leading his men to a helicopter, he did not stop fighting. He provided suppressive fire until every Marine boarded the helicopter.
The Tuskegee Airmen TSVH is the VLB's 10th long-term care home for eligible Veterans, spouses, and Gold Star Parents in Texas. The Fort Worth Veterans home is named after the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American combat flying support program in the United States Armed Forces. These pilots served during World War II and completed over 15,000 missions across North Africa and Europe. These brave men also received over 150 Distinguished Flying Cross awards, 60 Purple Hearts, and the Congressional Gold Medal.
This brand-new Veterans home is 100,000 square feet and can serve 120 Veterans. The Tuskegee Airmen TSVH has 72 comfortable rooms, 24 of which are private. Like the VLB’s other Veterans homes, this facility boasts a specialized memory support neighborhood. This Veterans home can support 30 residents with memory-care needs. Also, like VLB’s nine other Veterans homes, eligible Veterans with a 70% or more service-connected disability rating will live in the home at no cost.