What became known as the Tuskegee Experience began in 1931 with a letter from the head of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People to the War Department asking that blacks be allowed to join the military. The efforts of early African American aviators, the struggle of organizations and individuals against the military's segregation policies, and the hard work of thousands of young men and women, military and civilian, black and white, all combined to make the Tuskegee Airmen an important but often overlooked part of America's military history. Through fascinating interviews with veterans and historical photographs, this is the story of the men and women who served in the training program at Tuskegee Army Air Field from 1941 to 1946. The pilot's stories are here, but so are the experiences of the mechanics, band members, staff officers, nurses, and more that proved that they had courage and perseverance, not only in war, but in peacetime as well.