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Tuskegee Airman honored 73 years after being lynched in Austria

Manning was beaten and hung from a light pole outside, with a wooden tablet around his neck that read "We help ourselves! The Werewolf," according to information gathered by the Austrian government.
Credit: Detroit Free Press

Harry Stewart Jr. still remembers the last bombing run he flew with his friend, fellow Tuskegee Airman Walter Manning.

It was April 1, 1945 — Easter Sunday, the day Christians celebrate Christ's resurrection, and the pair were on an escort mission over Austria.

Stewart finished his runs and got out. Manning was shot down.

The atrocity that followed is forever seared into Stewart's memory.

Manning, 24, of Philadelphia was lynched.

An angry mob of partisan German and Austrian soldiers known as the "Werewolf" broke into the jailhouse. Manning was beaten and hung from a light pole outside, with a wooden tablet around his neck that read "We help ourselves! The Werewolf," according to information gathered by the Austrian government.

Manning, who served his country with courage and dignity, should have been afforded the benefits of the League of Nations as a prisoner of war. Instead, his service ended at the end of a rope.

Credit: Photo: Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press
Tuskegee Airman Harry Stewart with a model of the P51 Mustang that he flew in World War II, in his Bloomfield Township home on Thursday, May 3, 2018.

"The last memory of him, as far as living memory, was when we went on the bombing escort mission to Austria," said Stewart. "We flew rather frequent missions and I was flying along with him and at times maybe flying his wing."

Last month on Easter Sunday, Stewart was on hand as a guest of the Austrian government to commemorate Manning, exactly 73 years after his capture.

"For Easter Sunday 2018, they decided they'd give a memorial event for Walter Manning and have a national parade. A very high-level demonstration with the highest dignitaries of the government represented." Stewart said. "As far as the Austrian government is concerned, it shows contrition on their part in recognizing the terrible thing that was done to Walter. I also have to credit them in saying it shows moral courage for them to stand up and say 'Yeah, we did it. We're sorry.' "

Stewart, 93, of Bloomfield Hills is the last surviving member of the squadron of the famed Tuskegee Airmen. The atrocity that took more than 60 years to come to light: the lynching of one of their own is not well-known. And Stewart is on a mission to make sure his friend's story is told.

"My whole feeling is that this is something that the American people know nothing about," Stewart said. "Even more so, the African-American community knows nothing about this. And not only that, what's left of the Tuskegee Airmen knows nothing about this. What I did was I brought this information back to the United States with me ... and I said, 'I don't think this is something that should just stay in Austria.' "

Stewart brought back a collection of information and wants the American people to know about it as well, especially the African-American community.

"It is the only documented history of an atrocity taking place against a black airman," Stewart said. "It's a part of our history."

"The Austrian Government, had rumors of what had happened, not only as far as Manning is concerned here but some other American pilots who were, at times, captured in their missions over Austria," Stewart said. "They wanted to make some documentation or at least an investigation as to how many pilots had been lynched or terrorized by mobs. ... Manning being one and about the most documented case that they have."

The formation of the elite Tuskegee Airmen came about because of the pressure civil rights organizations and the black news media put on the United States to desegregate the military. That lead to the birth of an all African-American Army Air Corps pursuit squadron based in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1941.

Manning was born in Maryland but moved to Philadelphia. He attended Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama, where he was described as easygoing, athletic, and friendly.

Stewart also remembers their time training together at Tuskegee University.

"I remember he was a good swimmer," Stewart said. "I remember we were taking a swimming lifeguard training course together and I remember how well he swam. He passed the course with flying colors. ... I remember a dance that we had. It was a cadet dance. I remember Walter and his girlfriend at the dance."

Manning graduated from Tuskegee in 1944 and was deployed to Italy, where he was assigned to the 301st fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group. Soon, he was flying combat missions, escorting the 15th Air Force bombers. He rose to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.

Tuskegee Airman Harry Stewart salutes at a memorial of his friend and fellow pilot Walter Manning on Sunday, April 1, 2018, at the US Embassy in Vienna, Austria. Stewart attended the event to honor Manning who was shot down in Austria and later lynched by a mob during World War II. (Photo: US Embassy Vienna)

On April 1, 1945, Manning was flying combat over Italy with the Tuskegee Airmen, during World War II, when he and his squadron were given an assignment to protect the bombers on a run in St. Polten, Austria.

Manning was one of a seven-combat-plane squadron that remained in Austria after "targets of opportunity." Their operation ran along the Danube River. However, they ran into a horde of enemy planes and a fight ensued.

Approximately 10 to 12 of the enemy airplanes were shot down, Stewart said.

Two of the Tuskegee Airmen fighter planes were shot down — one was Manning.

Manning bailed out of his plane but was captured by German pilots and placed in a local jailhouse. He was lynched two days later.

Walter Manning, pictured in the upper right-hand corner, dancing with girlfriend (Dicey) Thomas, who is in an all-white dress. Circa 1944. (Photo: Tuskegee University)

Decades after the war, when rumors of war crimes reached the Austrian government, officials sought documentation and to make amends as part of a project called the "Downed Allied Air Crew Database Austria." The aim of the project was to retrace the fate of more than 9,000 American and British pilots downed during World War II over the Central European Alpine Region.

The investigation into Manning's fate was launched in 2012, according to an Austrian pamphlet dedicated to him.

The April memorial took place at Linz-Hörsching Airbase, where Manning's body was recovered after the war. Manning is buried in an American military cemetery in Saint-Avold, France.

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Dr. Brian Smith, president of the Tuskegee Museum board in Detroit, said that rumors circulated for decades not only about Manning's death, but the deaths of other U.S. pilots.

"I've been talking to Tuskegee Airmen for more than 30 years and you hear stories like that," Smith said. "So-and-so was shot down, captured and they lynched him. It not only happened to black pilots but it happened to white pilots also. The citizens were just angry ... so that's a consequence of war."

Nonetheless, Smith credits the Austrian government for recognizing Manning.

"That was very magnanimous of them to acknowledge the wrong that was done," Smith said.

"It also brought recognition to the Tuskegee Airmen for what they did for the United States during World War II. They were a major part in helping to win the war, especially in the air ... and it was done under duress. They were considered inferior, less intelligent, unable to manipulate the controls of an airplane — that's what the army thought of the Tuskegee Airmen at the beginning of the war. They fought bravely, for a country that didn't treat them as equals."

Tuskegee Airman Walter Manning, center, with several other pilots looking over model P51 Mustangs in Alabama before fighting in World War II. Manning was shot down in Austria during the war and later lynched by a mob. He was honored in a commemoration in Austria on Easter Sunday of this year. (Photo: Harry Stewart)

Stewart feels that Manning should be memorialized in World War II museums across the country and especially in Philadelphia, where he grew up.

"They've got Rocky Balboa sitting up there at city hall, who, I guess, was part of a movie ... but you have a son of Philadelphia, who certainly has left a great legacy," Stewart said. "If they follow on the tale of the memorial and they had a permanent memorial in downtown Philadelphia that our kids can see and they look at and say 'we were part of this.' "

Contact Brandon Patterson: BPatterson2@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @iAmBrandonPatt

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