Retired U.S. Air Force Major Joseph Gomer served as a fighter
pilot with World War II's famed Tuskegee Airmen. Gomer was born
on June 20, 1920, in Iowa Falls, Iowa. From the time he was a
small boy, he dreamed of flying airplanes. Gomer and his brother
attended school in a town where there were never more than three
black families. The only black in his class, Gomer graduated
from Iowa Falls High School with honors in 1938. He completed
two years of study at Ellsworth College in Iowa Falls, where he
took a class in flight instruction. When he enlisted in the Army
in 1942, Gomer signed up for pilot training. His previous flying
experience at Ellsworth qualified him to be sent to Tuskegee
Army Air Field in Alabama to participate in President Franklin
D. Roosevelt's new program to train black pilots. Gomer received
his wings in May 1943. He was assigned as a second lieutenant to
the segregated 332nd Fighter Group and sent to Ramitrella,
Italy, to join the 301st Fighter Squadron. A P-51C Mustang The
332nd served