OHS Dedication of Memorial to Oklahoma Member of Tuskegee Airmen Set at Oklahoma History Center
September 20, 2007

Contact: Bruce Fisher
(405) 522-5049

Oklahoma City, OK
September 12, 2007
For Immediate Release

The unveiling of a life size statue of Air Force Major Charles B. Hall will be held Sept. 20, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. at the Oklahoma History Center, 2401 North Laird Avenue, Oklahoma City. The public is invited to attend the ceremony.

Among the attendees will be two Tuskegee Airmen: Alexander Jefferson, Lt. Colonel USAFR (Retired), William Holloman III, Lt. Colonel (Retired). Col. Augustus Mays Jr., President of Charles B. Hall Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc. will attend. Also attending will be members of Major Hall's family including his three children Kelli Hall Jones, Sherri Hall Harris, and Charles Hall. Lt. Gov. Jari Askins will represent the State of Oklahoma.

Major Hall was a Tuskegee Airmen who has the distinction of being the first Tuskegee Airman to shoot down an enemy plane; a German Focke-Wulf 190. After the war, Major Hall moved to Oklahoma City, where he served at Tinker Air Force Base, and the Federal Aviation Administration, until his death in 1971. He is buried in Spencer, Oklahoma in the Hillcrest Cemetery.

In 2001, the Charles B. Hall Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc, obtained permission from the Oklahoma Air Logistics Center commander to establish a memorial at Tinker AFB in memory of Major Hall and the Tuskegee Airmen. The Tuskegee Chapter began fundraising, held a design competition, and eventually selected a design. In preparation of the memorial site, a plaque was dedicated in a formal ceremony.

In 2006, the Air Force Association Gerrity Chapter #215, the Tinker Heritage Foundation, and the reconstituted Charles B. Hall Chapter, Tuskegee Airmen Inc, all committed themselves to the completion of this memorial. Since then, a number of organizations have offered their assistance in the form of donations for the bronze and additional funding.

The memorial sculptor, Joel Randell of Edmond, Oklahoma, has completed the Major Hall statue. It will be unveiled at the ceremony at the Oklahoma History Center.

Below is a list of pilots from Oklahoma who graduated from flight trainingi n Tuskegee, Alabama during World War II:

Pilot	Class	Date	Grade	Serial #	City
Harold Howard Brown	44-G-TE	8/4/1944	2nd Lt.	0835405	Weleetka (Clearview)
Joseph D. Elsberry	42-H-SE	9/6/1942	2nd Lt.	0792420	Langston
Samuel J. Foreman	44-E-SE	5/23/1944	Flt. Officer	T63112	Tulsa
James Knighten	42-E-SE	5/20/1942	2nd Lt.	0789449	Tulsa
Faythe McGinnis	42-F-SE	7/3/1942	2nd Lt	0790462	Muskogee
Lincoln Ragsdale	45-H-SE	11/20/45	2nd Lt	0843349	Ardmore
Robert Smith	45-D-SE	6/27/1945	Flt. Officer	T70107	Muskogee
Yancy Williams	44-J-SE	12/28/1944	1st Lt.	0423693	Tulsa
Isaac Woods	45-E-SE	8/4/1945	Flt. Officer	T70229	Tulsa