The 7th Annual No Greater Love Memorial Sat Oct 5th

And That's a wrap gang!

$1525 raised!!!

Thanks to all who donated

Now go check my Facebook page No Greater Love...

10/3/24

End Fundraiser

Hello again!

It's Chris Foti back with the 7th Annual 

No Greater Love Memorial!

On Saturday October 5th we will be at the Eagle Crest Golf Club again

from checkin at 8am until after the Memorial Awards Dinner which will begin at approx. 3pm.

This year, thanks to the US Air Force winning last year’s event, we have the distinct privilege to honor Lt. Col. Clarence Dart of the Tuskegee Airmen from WW2 and his family!

After researching about him and talking to his son Warren, a word kept coming to my mind…TRAILBLAZER – someone who is the first to do something, one who marks a new path.

Clarence was born in Elmira NY on December 6th 1920 to Clarence and Catherine Dart. At 9 years old, the Great Depression hit our country. Luckily, his father was able to keep his job with the railroad but times were not easy for anyone. His mother would make clothes out of second hand items from the Salvation Army, and Clarence would hunt the railroad tracks for bits of coal that had fallen off the trains so they could heat their home. As a boy, he attended the Elmira Free Academy and graduated from it in 1932, but nearby, there was another school in construction – the Elmira Aviation Ground School, and young Clarence dreamed of becoming an airplane pilot. And after high school, when jobs were still scarce, he attended the Ground School and set out to learn how to be a mechanic, machinist, and radio operator.

The day after his 21st birthday, Clarence was singing with his church choir at the local radio station when someone came in and told them the news. It was Sunday, December 7th, 1941. Japan had just bombed Pearl Harbor. At the Ground School there were enlistments happening and Clarence’s mother said to him “You’re not going into any Army, Navy, or anything!” You know how moms are. But an assessment team from the new US Army Air Corps came and had everyone interested take tests, and Clarence’s dream started to become something real. But he failed one of the tests. They told him to come back in 8 months and try again. Perhaps, there was another reason. Down in Alabama, beginning in 1940 until 1942, a field was being built and converted into a flight training institute…Moton Field…for the Tuskegee Institute. The first and only flight academy specifically for African Americans thanks to the US Army Air Corps, who had previously been told by the War Dept that blacks don’t have the cranial capacity to be pilots. Why was this happening? Primarily because of Charles Alfred Anderson. A self taught black pilot who earned a pilot’s license and was recruited to teach recruits at the Tuskegee Institute. While there, on April 11, 1941, 1st Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited and took “The Flight That Changed History.” Anderson took her on a 40 minute delightful flight and she told her husband FDR to make it happen!

8 months after failing his medical, Clarence passed his test – BUT was transferred to an Artillery Training Unit in Oklahoma. His dream of becoming a pilot seemed all over. So, he wrote a letter to the Commander of the US Army Air Corps – pleading to be able to join the rest of the black men down in Alabama at the Tuskegee Institute. I would love to see that letter. Disregarding the chain of command…sent right to the top??!!! Amazingly, 6 months later, after he completed Artillery Training, he received orders to go to the Tuskegee Institute to train to become a pilot.

Clarence’s own words…”IT Was the Thrill of My Life!”

He graduated and received his commission in November 1943 and was sent overseas with his fellow graduates. The boat almost sunk in a horrific storm on the 9 day journey…imagine that. They landed in Morocco and joined the other members of the 99th Fighter Squadron – the very 1st all black Fighter Squadron – EVER! They practiced in the desert until it was time to go to Capodichino outside of Naples, Italy. The day after they arrived, on March 18, 1944, Mount Vesuvius erupted. The ash destroyed all their planes. For a couple of months they waited in another town nearby called Cercola for new planes to arrive. And when they did, the first of Clarence’s 95 combat missions began almost immediately.

His 5th mission and his first crash landing is one of my favorite stories about his experiences over there. They got a call to help some GI’s that were getting riddled by German machine gun fire from a nest tucked in a tunnel overlooking a field. So they went. The strafing and divebombing runs were from less than 3,000 feet to about 500 feet off the ground. No easy run for sure to hit your target. Clarence’s plane got hit several times on strafing runs and the engine dies, and he can’t bail out because of the low altitude they were flying. So he tries to put it down in a nearby field. After the plane cartwheeled to a stop, wings and tail broken off, Clarence realizes he only has some scrapes and bruises but couldn’t get out of the cockpit. And then he hears running footsteps. Imagine that. Is it the enemy? No. It was the GI’s. With the air support they had taken the nest out and now were coming to help their angel in the sky. And this is where I love this story. I like to imagine the faces and expressions of the GI’s after they pull Clarence out of the cockpit and get him to safer place in the field when they finally see who it is that helped them. How many points of view changed in that moment. You save us, we save you. Race didn’t matter in those moments. Continuing to live on did. I wish I could’ve been there to see that.

Clarence flew 95 combat missions. In July of 1944 they began to fly the P-51 Mustangs (The Red Tails) and escort bombers en route to their targets. They developed a reputation of almost being perfect with very little loss of planes and men. This was a primary reason why President Truman created the US Air Force in 1947 and desegregated the military in 1948.

Because of these men. That were initially told NO…you can’t do it…You’re not the right color…You’re not smart enough…Trailblazer.

For his service, Clarence received several awards: The Air Medal, The American Defense Service Medal, 5 Distinguished Flying Crosses, The National Defense Service Medal, 2 Purple Hearts, The World War 2 Victory medal, The Congressional Gold Medal from President George W Bush in 2007, The NY State Service Star and the NY State Conspicuous Medal, and was inducted into the NY State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame in 2011.

After the war, Clarence taught at the Tuskegee Institute then went to Aero Industries Tech Institute in California. After obtaining a degree in aeronautics, Clarence returned to NY in 1949 and settled down to raise a family with his wife Mildred (of 61 years). He worked for GE Knoll’s Atomic Power Lab from 1950 to 1987 and served in the NY Air National Guard during this time as well. They had 7 daughters and 2 sons. Unfortunately losing a son, Clarence, at age 15 in 1977. His greatest pride was that each of his children attended college. His daughter Ray said, “He taught us that you don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. He put us all through college because education was paramount to him.” 8 kids through college. Impressive.

Clarence was a noted guest speaker at various local schools, colleges, and universities, He performed community service for the Charlton School for Girls Trustee Board, the Salvation Army Board, the Niagra Mohawk Power Corporation Community Relations Board, the NY State Air Museum AIM High Program, and the finance committees of the Troy Conference of the United Methodist Church and the Saratoga Springs United Methodist Church of which he was a devoted member.

In his later years, he and 300 members of the 1007 total ever Tuskegee Airmen, were invited to Washington DC to receive the highest award a civilian could attain – The Congressional Gold Medal. In 2011, his home state of NY also bestowed its gratitude to such a great man by awarding him with its own medals and inducting him into the NY Sate Senate Veterans Hall of Fame. 

At age 91, Clarence passed away on February 17, 2012.

Oddly, he never spoke too long or often about his time in the war with his children. Almost as if the dream of becoming a pilot, when realized, brought such disdainful horror with it.

But the drive, the perseverance, to want something that others said you couldn’t have to me is the key. To prove you can do it. I think his son Warren’s line says it all…”They wanted to show this country they were worthy.”

Bravo, Clarence. Bravo!

 

At this year's No Greater Love, we will remember him and his wife Millie with his children Warren, Rose, Katherine, Gwendolyn, Denise, Dawn, Joyce, and Cynthia. Maybe some of his grandchildren as well.

As we honor them, we will be raising money once again in a 3 way split for the local vets at the Stratton VA Voluntary Services Fund that helps vets get things not usually covered medically, the Schenectady County Auxiliary Police who assist all the local departments and communities on a no pay voluntary basis, and a national law enforcement organization of which I am a member.

If you'd like to participate in the event, or attend the Awards Dinner, or support us in any way, please contact me at 518-380-4702.

I ask that at least 1 member of each 4some have a law enforcement, or fire department, or any level of government agency background.

You can also check out my Facebook page - No Greater Love Memorial for more info.

If you can't make it to the event, please think about donating here to show your support.

Last year we raised over $2400 from wonderfully generous friends and family and other supporters that was added to the total amount raised in the 3 way split.

Thank you so much for your time in reading this, and your support.

Chris Foti

No Greater Love