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Two children taken into protective custody after deplorable house discovered in Plymouth

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Our View: James Harvey is a true American hero

<p>MOUNTAIN TOP &#8212; Veterans and community members at American Legion Post 781 were very eager to meet Lt. Col. James H. Harvey III Tuesday evening.</p><p>Harvey, a Mountain Top native, received a police escort from Wilkes-Barre Township to Post #781 just after 5 p.m. He was greeted by a group of 20 people who posed for photos with him in front of a Vietnam-era tank.</p><p>&#8220;It was very nice,&#8221; said Harvey, 95, a WWII and Korean War veteran of the elite Tuskegee Airmen who served in the all-black 332nd Fighter Group.</p><p>Among his stops during the four-day tour of his childhood home, the WWII and Korea veteran visited the Wyoming Valley Airport in Forty Fort and spoke with students at Crestwood High School prior to Tuesday&#8217;s dinner.</p><p>Harvey currently lives in Lakewood, Colorado near his son-in-law Ron Green, 64, who has become his travel companion. They will return home today.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s received so much more attention than I thought these past few days,&#8221; Green laughed about Harvey&#8217;s overdue return to Mountain Top. &#8220;I thought we were going to eat some good food and meet some great people. It&#8217;s been over the top.&#8221;</p><p>After graduating high school at the top of his class and serving as class president, Harvey was drafted to fight in WWII.</p><p>Like many African Americans, however, he had to fight two foes &#8212; the Axis powers, and discrimination on the homefront.</p><p>&#8220;I never knew racism until I had to sit on the back of the train,&#8221; Harvey said to a crowd of over 100 people who came to meet him. &#8220;I bounced around before I ended up at the Tuskegee flying school.&#8221;</p><p>Harvey cited a published Congress report conducted after WWI that said black soldiers were &#8220;lazy, childish, unfit for battle&#8221; among many other false and degrading adjectives.</p><p>&#8220;They wanted us to fail,&#8221; he said. &#8220;To them, we were just negroes.&#8221;</p><p>Because of racist views among the white members of the Air Force, qualified African American pilots were &#8220;washed out&#8221; for the simplest error &#8212; or perception that they made an error.</p><p>&#8220;We lost a lot of good pilots,&#8221; Harvey noted. &#8220;I was a perfectionist. I wasn&#8217;t going to get washed out. It never crossed my mind.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;When we graduated flying school, I think we were better than our teachers,&#8221; he added.</p><p>Out of 179 escort missions in WWII, 27 Tuskegee Airmen&#8217;s escort bombers were destroyed in seven of those missions. White escort bombers were averaging 63 bombers lost a mission, according to Harvey.</p><p>&#8220;When we went on missions overseas, negro bombers were asked to escort,&#8221; Harvey noted.</p><p>When the Korean War broke out, Harvey was training in Japan. He was tasked with helping evacuating people from Seoul, South Korea.</p><p>&#8220;I saw an enemy plane once,&#8221; Harvey recalled about a close call he had. &#8220;I got behind it and fired at it. But I ran out of bullets.&#8221;</p><p>Harvey also became the first Top Gun winner in 1949, flying a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. He served in the Air Force for 22 years before retiring.</p><p>At 95, Harvey still has his wits about him.</p><p>&#8220;I have hearing aids, but I still can&#8217;t hear,&#8221; he chuckled. &#8220;But then again I lost my hearing because I sat behind loud engines and propellers for a long time.&#8221;</p><p>On March 29, 2007, Harvey &#8212; along with every member of the Tuskegee Airmen &#8212; was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.</p><p>A high school student in the crowd asked Harvey what branch of the armed forces he would recommend joining.</p><p>&#8220;The Air Force of course,&#8221; Harvey responded, drawing an ovation from the crowd.</p><p>Harvey also was presented a lifetime membership to Post #781 by post commander Martine Columbo.</p><p>&#8220;He had a very unique story to tell,&#8221; Columbo said of Harvey&#8217;s appearance. &#8220;Hearing him talk about his experiences and the Tuskegee Airmen is part of our military history. This was better than any movie out there. He&#8217;s a living legend.&#8221;</p><p><strong>* * *</strong></p><p><strong>TIMES LEADER EDITORIAL: </strong> <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/opinion/742828/our-view-james-harvey-is-a-true-american-hero" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">James Harvey is a true American hero</a></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Lt. Col. James H. Harvey, a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, talks with former neighbor and childhood friend Ivan Pettit Tuesday on his final day of traveling through Northeast Pennsylvania. Harvey, who grew up in Nuangola and lived in Wilkes-Barre, was a member of the first wholly African American military pilot team to fight in World War II. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_TTL0508419Harvey2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Lt. Col. James H. Harvey, a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, talks with former neighbor and childhood friend Ivan Pettit Tuesday on his final day of traveling through Northeast Pennsylvania. Harvey, who grew up in Nuangola and lived in Wilkes-Barre, was a member of the first wholly African American military pilot team to fight in World War II. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Subhead here</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dan Stokes</p><p>dstokes@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>VIDEO, EDITORIAL</strong></p><p>&#8226; See footage from Harvey&#8217;s visit at timesleader.com.</p><p>&#8226; Editorial: James Harvey is a true American hero,<strong> 9A.</strong></p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Dan Stokes at 570-991-6389 or on Twitter @ByDanStokes</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> TaCp_Oy-w78</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://youtu.be/TaCp_Oy-w78</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Saluting an American hero