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MEDIA -- Thirty-two students from Christ Haven Christian Academy huddled around two former airmen at the Pennsylvania Veterans Museum Wednesday as they were bombarded with questions about their future and how they expected to obtain it.

It was some serious grilling from two individuals who helped hasten the end of a war while helping bridge the road to equality for blacks during a divided time.

The museum celebrated Black History Month by inviting Tuskegee Airmen Luther Smith of Villanova and Harry L. Moore of Philadelphia and Vietnam War Marine Dave Fortune, who is also secretary of the National Montford Point Marines Association, to share their experiences with the students.

"Today helps further our mission of remembering World War II through the veterans who served," Media Mayor and museum Executive Secretary Bob McMahon said. "The children want to hear about their experiences."

One of the academy’s teachers, Sister Faye Morse, agreed.

"I like it because it makes everything come to life for the students," she said.

As Smith sat in front of his audience, he shared his involvement with the Tuskegee Airmen and how he found himself at an Alabama training field. The Tuskegee Airmen formed the Black 99th Pursuit Squadron, despite the Army Air Corps exclusion of black pilots.

"What is significant," the retired U.S. Air Force captain who flew 133 combat missions during World War II said, "is we were not wanted by other Americans at that time. There was a feeling that black people like I am were inferior to white people."

But, he held fast to his dream of becoming an aviator.

Flying as a Tuskegee Airman, he destroyed two German enemy aircraft in aerial combat and 10 German aircraft in ground strafing missions.

"We accomplished many things in World War II that benefited the end of the war and made it possible for all Americans to recognize the equality between black people and white people," he said.

Smith himself received many medals including the Purple Heart and the Prisoner of War. He suffered a lifelong leg injury while flying a combat mission over Yugoslavia in October 1944. While unconscious, he parachuted from his burning aircraft and was held as a prisoner for seven months until the end of the war.

Because of their wartime contributions, then-President Harry Truman signed an order in 1948 ending segregation in the military and establishing the U.S. Air Force.

Some advice Smith imparted on his group was the importance of education. "You cannot succeed in life without getting an education," he said. "Education makes it possible for you to do and to be whatever you want to do or to be, but you must be educated."

With that, fourth-grader Jacqui Edwards was pulled out of the crowd.

When she was asked what she wants to be, she answered, "A doctor who comes up with a cure for cancer."

"To be a doctor who cures cancer, you must be educated," Smith said. "Are you prepared for that?"

"Yes," Edwards answered.

Sixth-grader Lova Diakite received the same treatment and chose a scientist who restores the ozone layer for his profession.

"We need that right now," Smith said. "Are you prepared to do that right away?"

Later, she said she took Smith’s lesson seriously.

"It was good advice for the kids around the world and for me," she said. "If you have a dream don’t let anybody or anything like a disease take you away from it."

Diakite appreciated Smith’s wisdom.

"He’s like someone you could look up to and you could learn from him," he said. "I think his works will help me."

Future lawyer and present fifth-grader Amira Taylor agreed.

"I learned that whatever you want to be, you have to stay in school to be it and achieve it," she said. "If you don’t stay in school, you might not achieve it."

©DelcoTimes 2007