Bringing History to Life: An Exhibit of Timeless Photos

Created by Tman with NABSTMC Mile High Chapter of Harvey's 100 birthday escort

Promotion ceremony during halftime at the Air Force - Army football game in Broncos Stadium in Denver, Colorado, on November 4, 2023 

 “I was a perfectionist… that carried me all the way through life really. However, when I got married, I had to knock it off,” joked Lieutenant Colonel James Harvey.  Thursday, July 13 marked Harvey's 100th birthday. When Rocky Mountain PBS met him at his home in Lakewood, he was in a reflective mood. The past 100 years have seen him from a young boy in Montclair, New Jersey, to becoming arguably one of the most skilled aviators of World War II as a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen. After spending the afternoon recounting his time in the service and sharing a lot of laughs, Harvey revealed himself as something of an inspirational jokester.  Growing up in a poor, but proud family, young Harvey adapted quickly to an ever-changing world when his family moved to Nuangola Station, Pennsylvania in 1936. Nuangola Station was a small mountain town and Harvey's family was the only African American family there. But Harvey recounted being treated like everyone else.  “There was not any prejudice whatsoever,” he recalled.   However, that sense of belonging would soon shift for him. Read more at: https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/rocky-mountain-pbs/james-harvey-tuskegee-airmen

The true and untold story of the first Top Gun Winner

 Trained at Tuskegee, James Harvey III would graduate flight school in 1944 and become part of the famed 332nd Fighter Group’s 99th Fighter Squadron, better known as the “Tuskegee Airmen," the African American heroes who became the first combat pilots in American military history.  Following the surrender of Japan, Harvey would find himself stationed at Godman Field, Kentucky. It was there, in 1949, word came down that the USAF was planning on holding its first official weapons meet - a competition that would become famously known as “Top Gun”.  Harvey, along with fellow African-American pilots Capt. Alva Temple and 1st Lt. Harry Stewart, would represent the 332nd Fighter Group and dominate the event. Their victory would not come without controversy, as the results of the meet were not officially recognized until 1995.  James Harvey III would go on to be the first African-American jet fighter pilot to engage in combat during the Korean War. For his actions he would be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. 

AARP of Nevada along with Wish of a Lifetime. Col. James Harvey waited decades for recognition of a Top Gun victory owed the Tuskegee Airmen. This history has finally been acknowledged. 

Harvey returns home to visit his hometown in Pennsylvania and is celebrated