AUSTIN — Today, Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dawn Buckingham, M.D., is proud to introduce the next installment of the series highlighting the VLB's Voices of Veterans oral history program. This week, we highlight the service of Tuskegee Airman Captain Claude Platte, who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II.
Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, Platte grew up in a time of segregation and recalled as a child what that was like and what went through his curious young mind.
"One of the main things I remember that encouraged me was in a situation where there were colored signs and white signs and black fountains and white fountains and I had been taught that when I saw a colored sign that is where I was supposed to be or drink water," he explained. "One day I saw a little white boy drinking out of the
colored fountain-the black fountain, his father scolded him, but doing so, I became
curious. Why couldn’t I drink out of the white fountain? And what was wrong? When no one was looking, I decided that I would drink out of the white fountain. And when I did, my biggest shock and surprise was — the water was the same, there was no difference."
Platte said he decided he wanted to learn how to fly when he was young and never forgot the moment that influenced him the most, standing out front of his boyhood home as an aircraft flew by.
"I saw an airplane hovering very low and I could see the pilot flying over and it dawned on me that I could go and see the other side of the area, outside the segregated area, or even go all over the world if I wanted to see what it looked like so I decided this is what I wanted to do, is fly," he explained.
It was the moment that changed the course of Platte's life, sending him in a direction that allowed him to be a teacher of men, to pilots that too had that dream of flying for their country. After graduating from I.M. Terrell High School in Fort Worth, Platte left Texas for Tuskegee, Alabama.
"When I arrived at Tuskegee my biggest shock when I got there was, Tuskegee had
the only VA hospital for Negroes in the country; they were all manned by black doctors and white nurses and so forth. The other thing that was very interesting was Dr. George Washington Carver was there. Because of George Washington Carver and the peanut, I got an opportunity to see people like President Roosevelt, Lena Horn, Joe Lewis and all these VIP people that come through Tuskegee on tour so to speak," he recalled, adding meeting those people encouraged him to go farther than he had ever imagined.
Platte said even though he was still interested in flying he enrolled in, what was known at the time, as Mechanical Industries because he wanted to be an engineer. It wasn't until about 1939 when President Roosevelt enlisted the Army Air Corps and the War Department to organize better security for the United States.
"They in return got six black colleges to take part in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) and Tuskegee was one of them," Platte recalled. "In that program that’s where I was able to earn my private license, a commercial license, and a flight instructor’s license."
Platte would, as an instructor, go on to train more than 300 black pilots. When asked why he would decide to train others than live out his boyhood dream of flying, he said he didn't look at it as a decision, rather a chance to do something incredible.
"It wasn’t a decision. I felt that I had an opportunity to be an instructor.
But the same thing may happen to me, I might decide to be a cadet and I may not make it…so I better take what I got and enjoy that while I could," Platte said.
Platte also formed the DFW Tuskegee Airmen Chapter in May 2005 to help educate people at home. In 2007, he, along with his fellow surviving airmen, received the Congressional Gold Medal from President George W. Bush.
To listen to Captain Platte tell his story, click the button below:
Captain Platte's Story of Service
RELATED: Voices of Veterans: Lt. Eldon Bielss Shares His Story of Service in the U.S. Army, Air Corps During WWII
RELATED: Voices of Veterans: Colonel Jack Oliver Shares His Story of Service in the U.S. Army Air Corps and U.S. Air Force
Veterans can email VoicesofVeterans@glo.texas.gov to tell their stories. Please note that the Veteran must be a resident of Texas at the time of their interview.
Voices of Veterans is a state agency's first Veteran oral history program. It records the stories of Texas Veterans through their time in service and after returning home from combat.
The VLB records interviews with Veterans over the phone or in person. Their interviews are then permanently archived in the Office of Veterans Records at the GLO, where they join the historical documents of other Texas heroes such as Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis.
Veterans' interviews are also available to researchers, historians, genealogists, and the public. These precious records inspire future generations and remind us of our Veterans' sacrifices.
To listen to the over 500 archived stories of Veterans documented through the GLO's Voices of Veterans oral history program, click the button below: