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of people waiting anxiously to see what would happen. A few months later news began to trickle out to them. Pictures of Ben and his companions appeared in LIFE and TIME and o their magazines. Some of the talk one overheard said that th the colored boys training at the Tuskegee field were natural born wonders in the air. Other reports were quite different. Ben heard them all, but the mean thought in his mind was that he personally, [[underlined]]had[[/underlined]] to come through. If ever there was a fellow who [[underlined]]couldn't[[/underlined]] fail, he was that fellow. And he didn't.

Ben Davis won his wings with that first class of Uncle Sam's colored fliers, Yes, they put wings on h is shoulders, even though they failed to make an angel of him. Later, having risen to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel young Ben was given command of the first squadron of these dark eagles, [[strikethrough]]known[[/strikethrough]] the now widely known 99th. After a long period of training and waiting he took his outfit to North Africa and remained with them till they had reached a fighting edge and bagged their first [[underlined]]Messerschmitt[[/underlined]]. By that time many of the doubts of those who had hesitated to recommend Negro boys for the Air Corps were cleared away. The colored boys had demonstrated their ability. Young men who had qualified as a commander of men as well as a flying officer. He was ordered home by the Army to organize and prepare for battle an even larger outfit of colored fliers- the 332d Group, consisting of three squadrons.

A few months later, with the 99th running up good scores in the skies over Rome and winning the praise of the very highest generals of the Army for their work, LT. Col. Benjamin Olover Davis, Jr., was off to the wars again. Things were lookinf better for the great cause of democracy- both at home and abroad.

Arna Bontemps