Book Review of Forgotten Souls: the Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen by Cheryl W. Thompson

I would like to thank Netgalley, the author, Cheryl W. Thompson, and Kensington Publishers for a review copy of this fascinating book.

When I saw this book advertised on Netgalley, I was immediately intrigued. It’s no secret what Segregated America was like in the mid-twentieth century, but despite knowing that the armed forces were also segregated, I didn’t know anything about the first African American pilots during the Second World War. I was instantly grabbed by the book’s blurb and requested it. Normally the Second World War is not my time period, but for regular readers, you will have seen some previous posts that within the last year, I have been learning and researching about Battle of Britain pilots. This has been a brand new topic for me in terms of my historical interests. It seemed to be well timed for this book to be advertised, so decided to request it.

Forgotten Souls is a non-fiction book about the pioneering Black pilots, the first in America, during the Second World War, known as the Tuskegee airmen. They were educated at Tuskegee Institute, hence the name. Despite being educated to university level, they were having to fight racial stereotypes that claimed that Black men were not clever enough to become pilots. The twenty seven men mentioned in the book, as well as many others, would go on to prove that statement entirely false. Sadly, that didn’t stop the discrimination they faced, even though they died for their country. Once they and their planes were lost, the military authorities couldn’t care less and have made little attempt, even today, to locate where the wreckages are. These men were just casualties, who were there to protect the white men in the bomber planes, believed to be doing a more ‘important’ job.

Forgotten Souls is quite clearly a dedication to the twenty seven airmen in this book. It’s a personal testimony written in an attempt to counteract the years and decades of blatant racism and colour barring of the United States armed forces at the time, and in how their memories have been treated since. That, even as an English person, makes me feel incredibly ashamed and angry on behalf of those men and their families. Thompson does an incredible job of drawing the reader in on a personal level, as if we ourselves can help fix the historical wrongs and injustices that are constantly being alluded to throughout the book.

This book was written very differently to other history books I am used to reading. That is understandable considering Cheryl W. Thompson has a background as a journalist. From the outset though, the author makes clear that she is the daughter of a Tuskegee airman, making this a personal journey the reader can’t help but get on board with. The other thing to note is that a lot of the information being written about is taken from oral interviews and correspondence from the friends and loved ones who knew the Tuskegee airmen. For me, I am not used to reading history books written in this way.

For that reason, it does read more like a piece of journalism. This writing style took me a while to get used to because of that, but it didn’t stop the importance of the subject matter from coming across. It also doesn’t deter from the sheer bravery of the individual men mentioned (even though, at times, it does flit a little between the individuals), which is in sharp contrast to the authorities reaction to the Black pilots. The outright racism, segregation and discrimination, despite the sacrifices they made to serve their country, is quite disgusting to read. However, this certainly does create a sense of righteous anger and create a personal connection between the reader and the Tuskegee airmen and their families who are being written about.

In America, February is Black History Month, so there is obviously a purposeful, but understandable, decision to release this book in anticipation of that. As I live in the UK, I didn’t even know that America has a different month to celebrate Black History. The UK’s Black History Month is in October, which I regularly contribute posts for. Still, I very much looked forward to learning all about the bravery of these pioneering pilots and the prejudice they had in life, as well as posthumously. I was not let down in this aspect at all. I entirely commend Cheryl W. Thompson for what can only be described as an extraordinary effort to write this book, clearly spending hours of research into the individuals and travelling all over America to conduct the research and interview those who knew the Tuskegee airmen.

For me, it felt fitting for the final chapter to end on the repatriation of Fred Brewer Jr, which the author was able to attend. It rounded the book off positively, because at times, you could feel the frustration of the situation throughout the book. It had taken seventy-nine years, but he could finally get the service and thanks that he deserved. This is an emotional read but I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in World War Two, Black, or aviation history. I certainly learnt a lot from this and I am sure that they would too.

I will end this review with a quote from the book, given by retired military pilot, Andre Pendleton, who at 101, attended the repatriation of Fred Brewer Jr, one of the only Tuskegee airmen to be located and returned home to America, who said “people are live because of his service. There are no words that can say enough about this men”. I completely agree.