Denver-based retired member of All-Black Tuskegee Airmen celebrates 100th birthday
Saturday was a day to celebrate a hero and a birthday at Wings Over the Rockies Exploration of Flight.
Friends and admirers gathered at the Centennial museum to mark Lt. Col. James H. Harvey III’s 100th birthday.
Harvey is a former United States Air Force pilot who flew as part of the 99th Fighter Squadron, best known as the all-Black Tuskegee Airmen “Red Tails.” He is one of 1,007 documented such pilots.
The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of Black military pilots and airmen who were trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Fields in World War II. The 99th Fighter Squadron was their squadron.
Harvey was drafted in 1943 and was part of Tuskegee’s Class 44-4 in October 1944. He completed combat training in April 1945. While he did not see combat in World War II, he was the first Black fighter pilot to engage in combat in the Korean War, flying 140 combat missions while winning the Distinguished Flying Cross and other medals.
His 332nd Fighter Group Weapons pilot team won the USAF’s inaugural “Top Gun” team competition in 1949. Their accomplishment was downplayed for years but was formally recognized on January 11, 2022.
Harvey retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1965, having served 22 years in the United States Army Air Corps and United States Air Force.
In June of that year, Oscar Mayer, an American meat and cold cut production company, hired him as a corporate salesman, moving his family to Denver, where he still lives. He retired from Oscar Mayer in 1980.
Harvey said his life’s motto has always been to do unto others as you’ve had done unto you.
“That’s it,” Harvey said. “That’s carried me through.”
One of Harvey’s favorite accomplishments was graduating flying school, he said. The Tuskegee Airmen weren’t supposed to be better than everyone else, but they were because he and his team used their skills to prove it, Harvey said.
When he first joined the Army Air Corps, which later became the Air Force, Harvey knew nothing about planes, he said. But hard work took him far and he enjoyed the learning process, a process he called “easy.”
“The instructor would demonstrate what he wanted us to do and we’d duplicate it, then I’d practice, practice, practice until I got it down perfect,” Harvey said. “It was easy for me.”
Harvey gave his heart and soul to flying, gearing all of his energy toward airplanes and forgoing other hobbies. Flying airplanes is what he loved and what he was good at, he said. He didn’t have time for much else.
Harvey and the Tuskegee Airmen set a precedent for equality in military, but not through their words, Harvey said. Harvey and his team had to work harder than their White counterparts to prove themselves, he said, making them better pilots in the long run.
“We were head and shoulders above (their White counterparts),” Harvey said. “Everything we did had to be perfect. When we learned to fly, we learned to fly the aircraft and it paid off for us. All they had to do was demonstrate that they could get the aircraft up and down safely.”
Harvey’s actual 100th birthday was July 13, a few days before the celebration.
He spent that morning having a late family breakfast of basted eggs, toast and bacon fixed by his daughter, whom he visits every Sunday, he said.
Harvey’s 100 years of life have taught him that hard work pays off, and his advice to younger people who admired his achievements was to be the best at whatever you do.
“Strive to be the best no matter what you’re doing,” Harvey said. “If you’re a sanitation engineer, strive to be the best one.”
Lt. Col. James H. Harvey III shakes hands with Keziah Thompson, 5, at Wings Over the Rockies in Centennial on Saturday as people gathered to celebrate his 100th birthday. Harvey flew in the Air Force as part of the 99th Fighter Squadron, the all-Black Tuskegee Airmen “Red Tails.”
Roy Ray gives a gift to Lieutenant Colonel James H. Harvey III at Wings Over the Rockies in Centennial, Colorado, Saturday, July, 15, 2023. People gathered to celebrate Lieutenant Colonel James H. Harvey III’s 100th birthday. Lt. Col. Harvey III flew in the United States Air Force as part of the 99th Fighter Squadron, the All-Black Tuskegee Airman. (Rebecca Slezak/Special to the Denver Gazette)
Lieutenant Colonel James H. Harvey III and General Mark Kelly shake hands after Kelly speaks at Wings Over the Rockies in Centennial, Colorado, Saturday, July, 15, 2023. People gathered to celebrate Lieutenant Colonel James H. Harvey III’s 100th birthday. Lt. Col. Harvey III flew in the United States Air Force as part of the 99th Fighter Squadron, the All-Black Tuskegee Airman. (Rebecca Slezak/Special to the Denver Gazette)
Lieutenant Colonel James H. Harvey III waves to the crowd after speaking to his guests at Wings Over the Rockies in Centennial, Colorado, Saturday, July, 15, 2023. People gathered to celebrate Lieutenant Colonel James H. Harvey III’s 100th birthday. Lt. Col. Harvey III flew in the United States Air Force as part of the 99th Fighter Squadron, the All-Black Tuskegee Airman. (Rebecca Slezak/Special to the Denver Gazette)
Lieutenant Colonel James H. Harvey III smiles while chatting with guests at Wings Over the Rockies in Centennial, Colorado, Saturday, July, 15, 2023. People gathered to celebrate Lieutenant Colonel James H. Harvey III’s 100th birthday. Lt. Col. Harvey III flew in the United States Air Force as part of the 99th Fighter Squadron, the All-Black Tuskegee Airman. (Rebecca Slezak/Special to the Denver Gazette)