06/25/2024
๐๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ซ๐๐๐จ ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐
๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ข๐๐๐ง๐ญ, ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ค๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐
The Colorado Veterans Community Living Centers (VCLCs) have been home to thousands of military heroes for over 136 years. On June 21, 2024, Major General Laura Clellan, the Adjutant General of Colorado, and Michelle Barnes, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Human Services, visited the VCLC at Fitzsimons in Aurora to celebrate one such hero and resident: Col. James "Harvey" Harvey III, one of the last remaining Tuskegee Airmen.
The almost 101-year-old former fighter pilot championed an extraordinary career within the U.S. Air Force, flying thousands of missions prior to his retirement in 1965.
Raised in a small Pennsylvania town, Harvey was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He went on to complete pilot training at Tuskegee, Ala.
In 1949, Harvey, alongside the 332nd Fighter Group from Lockbourne Air Force Base in Ohio, won the U.S. Air Forceโs inaugural Fighter Gunnery Meet โTop Gunโ at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. However, the 332nd Fighter Group didnโt receive first-place recognition until January 2022.
Harvey went on to become the first Black jet pilot to fly into North Korea during his 126 missions in the Korean War.
He will celebrate his 101st birthday on July 13.
Pictured (left to right): Raenell Simmons, nursing home administrator at the VCLC at Fitzsimons; Michelle Barnes, executive director of the Colorado Department of Human Services; Yolanda Webb, director of the Office of Adult, Aging and Disability Services; Major General Laura Clellan, adjutant general of Colorado; Jesse Cowan, VCLC deputy director; and Angela Knoth, VCLC division social services director.
Bottom center: Col. James "Harvey" Harvey III
