Charlotte, North Carolina
To honor our fallen heroes, this story highlights the experiences of two World War II veterans. One soldier continues to live at the age of 101, a testament to the sacrifice of another who, at the age of 23, gave his life. While the two never had the chance to meet in person while enlisted, their paths intersected amidst heavily clouded skies over enemy territory in Regensburg, Germany, on a fateful day on October 29, 1944.
Seventy-nine years later, the two finally crossed paths again on December 6, 2023, in a final and honorable farewell. The 23 year old, 2nd Lt. Fred Brewer, was being interred in at the National Cemetery in Salisbury, NC while the centenarian, Mr. Andrew Pendleton, was able to pay his respects to the young man in the flag covered casket.
Fred L. Brewer, Jr.
The family of Tuskegee Airman Fred Brewer never saw him return after he left home to fly and fight in Europe during World War II. Not much is known about his life, but we honor his accomplishments, service, and ultimate sacrifice.
Fred Lorenzo Brewer Jr. was born in Charlotte, NC, on August 4, 1921. He was the first-born child of Fred L. Sr. and Janie Dunlap Brewer and big brother to his only sibling, Gladys. Fred Jr. was deeply committed to his family, church, and was a regular attendee at Ebenezer Baptist Church throughout his youth. He was an accomplished, driven young man, and overcame challenging social and political obstacles of his time.
In 1938, he graduated from the racially segregated Second Ward High School in Charlotte, NC. He then enrolled at Shaw University in Raleigh, NC. During 1940 and worked as an assistant in a local chemistry laboratory. His academic and leadership achievements were recognized in the 1941-42 edition of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. During his junior and senior years, he served as Editor of the Shaw Journal and Bear. In 1941, he was a student representative at the National Intercollegiate Christian Council at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Prior to his graduation from Shaw University in 1942, Fred Brewer Jr. was a delegate to the National Conference of Negro Youth.
In November 1943, Fred Brewer enlisted in the U.S. Army. He then trained to become a single engine fighter pilot at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Alabama. Upon completing advanced flight training with class 44-C-SE on March 12, 1944, he underwent combat training in April at Selfridge Air Field and in May at Walterboro Army AirField. Soon after, he was deployed to the European Theater of the War. Notably, Brewer was the sole Tuskegee Airman pilot from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. 1
He hadn’t been a fighter pilot long, before flying his last flight on October 29, 1944, causing him to remain buried as an unknown for almost 80 years. His last mission was to Regensburg, Germany, while escorting Andrew Pendleton’s 451st Bomb Group over aggressive enemy territory.
The Red Tails
Prior to the formation of the Tuskegee Airmen, Jim Crow laws prevented previous attempts by African American soldiers to become pilots. They were formed in 1941 and initiated into the Armed Forces on February 19, 1942, blazing their way into history as the first African-American aviators who fought in World War II. They served bravely and with distinction in every theater of the war, despite struggling for their own civil rights.
From 1941 to 1946, approximately 1,000 black pilots were trained at a segregated air base in Tuskegee, AL. They were part of the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group that included pilots, navigators, bombardiers, maintenance and support staff, instructors, nurses, cooks, and all the personnel who kept the planes in the air. Initially flying P-40 and P-39 airplanes for the 12th Air Force, the Tuskegee Airmen conducted numerous patrol and attack missions before transitioning to the 15th Air Force. Flying P-47 and P-51 aircraft, they were tasked with escorting B-17 and B-24 bombers and protecting them from enemy fighter planes.
Between May 1943 and June 1945, the Tuskegee Airmen completed more than 15,000 sorties. Their distinctive deep red tail markings made them easily identifiable in the sky, and earned them the nickname “Red Tails”. They had one of the lowest loss records of any escort fighter group, with 66 pilots losing their lives in combat.2
Andrew L. Pendleton, III
Andrew was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina on December 6, 1922. He was the third child and only boy in a family of girls, born to Andrew and Hazel Pendleton. From a young age, Andrew loved planes and built his first radio controlled plane as a little boy in the building behind their home on Main Street.
When the war broke out, he was a 20 year old college student at North Carolina State University, as a Junior working towards an Engineering degree. In May 1942, he went to the recruiter’s office with a few of his buddies to enlist, but was sent home because the classes were full. While waiting to hear back from the Officer’s Training School, he was drafted in the United States Army Air Force.
Hoping to be selected for pilot training, he was disqualified from consideration for that assignment due to his vision. He completed training in Biloxi, Mississippi and Denver, Colorado, where he was selected by the commanding officer for duty as a bombardier with the 451st. Bomb Group. He then boarded a ship and spent the next 43 days at sea before arriving in Castellucia in April of 1944. As a Norden bombsight instructor aboard the Liberator B-24s, he personally flew 27 of the 245 successful combat missions his Bomb Group engaged in.
451st Bomb Group
The 451st Bomb Group was a strategic bombardment organization that operated with the 15th Air Force during World War II. Activated on May 1, 1943, the group prepared for combat with B-24 Liberators and moved to the Mediterranean theater in November 1943. It operated primarily in Italy and was involved in missions targeting oil refineries, marshaling yards, aircraft factories, bridges, and airfields in Italy, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Greece. The group was awarded three Presidential Unit Citations for its exceptional performance in combat, including missions to an aircraft factory in Regensburg, oil refineries and marshalling yards in Ploesti, and an airdrome in Vienna. It also supported the invasion of Southern France in August 1944 and transported supplies to troops in Italy during September 1944. The group returned to the US in June 1945 and was inactivated on September 26, 1945.
Unearthing History
I met Mr. Pendleton several years ago, and after developing a close friendship with him, became his self appointed genealogist. One of the first projects I volunteered for was to reorganize his binder full of black and white photos taken during the war. For the sake of better preserving them for his family, they needed to be transferred onto acid free pages. As we went through the photos, I asked him lots of questions and was always amazed at how well he recalled details from so long ago. I’d studied the photos, recorded his stories, and became familiar with the missions he flew and countries he bombed.
On one of my visits last fall, I’d heard a story about a Tuskegee Airmen that had recently been identified and was finally coming back home to North Carolina to be buried. As I shared the good news with Mr. Pendleton, I searched the name of the Airmen online, curious to put a name to a face, and found several articles about Lt. Brewer that detailed his final mission that fateful day. The name of the town his P-51 went down over, Regensburg, Germany, stood out to me as one I was familiar with from Mr. Pendleton’s album.
Intrigued, I retrieved the album, flipped to the page with the list of combat missions, and scanned the chronological dates until my finger landed on Mission #140, dated October 29, 1944, Regensburg, Germany. I flipped through some more pages, and found the photo of Mr. Pendleton standing in front of a P-51. Under it, it’s captioned, “That plane won the war for us.” I checked some more military records online, and soon realized it was Lt. Brewer’s squadron that was escorting Mr. Pendleton’s bomb group on the same mission on the same day.
Missing air Crew Report
On October 29, 1944, 2nd Lt. Fred Brewer was part of a group that departed from the American Air Base at Ramitelli, Italy. Their mission was to provide fighter escorts to the bombers of the 15th Army Air Force, supporting a mission to bomb targets in Germany. Due to the thick cloud cover, some pilots had to return to base. Lt. Brewer and the remaining pilots continued their mission. Another fighter pilot observed that Lt. Brewer’s aircraft, “Travelin’ Lite,” had climbed too steeply in an attempt to escape the clouds, causing the engine to stall. The pilot lost sight of Lt. Brewer immediately. Neither Lt. Brewer nor “Travelin’ Lite” were seen again and was declared Missing in Action (MIA).
Later, remains were discovered near the site, but insufficient evidence was found to identify them as belonging to Brewer. They were marked as unknown and were interred at the Florence American Cemetery, south of Florence, Italy. In November 1945, 2nd Lt. Fred L. Brewer was officially declared dead. In recognition of his service, a memorial service was held at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Charlotte in December 1945. Brewer was memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing, which included 1,409 inscribed names and is located atop a hill overlooking the graves of American soldiers who were recovered and laid to rest.
In 1953, an investigation was conducted to determine if an unknown American buried in an American cemetery in Florence, Italy could be identified as Lt. Brewer, but it was unsuccessful. However, in August 2023, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency at Offutt AFB Nebraska finally and successfully identified the remains of 2nd Lt. Fred L. Brewer, Jr., with the help of a cheek swab from a family member. 3
A Historic Connection
I did a bit more digging to see if what I had discovered was accurate. After confirming my suspicions, I made every attempt possible to get in touch with the Brewer family to let them know of the special connection between Mr. Pendleton and Lt. Brewer. After several phone calls, I was able to make contact with a news agency that was in contact with one of Lt. Brewer’s surviving family members, a cousin named Brenda.
The funeral was set for December 6, 2023, which happened to be the same day as Mr. Pendleton’s 101st. birthday. To my surprise, I got a call from a representative from the Tuskegee Airmen, extending a special invitation on behalf of the Brewer family to not only attend the service where he would be interred at the National Cemetery in Salisbury, NC but to ride with the family in the funeral procession from the church service held in Charlotte, NC. Additionally, we were invited to attend dinner with the family and the Tuskegee Airmen afterwards.
Mr. Pendleton asked for permission to stand and speak a few moments at the cemetery service, and the words he offered about Lt. Brewer were beautiful and touching. It was a historic moment to see a WWIi veteran be able to pay his highest respects to the young man that gave his life for him so long ago. It was such a joy to meet his family, and be seated with two Tuskegee Generals at dinner, General Enoch Woodhouse and General Hardy. Mr. Pendleton and I were both given Tuskegee Airmen challenge coins as well.
A handful of news channels were there to record the historic event (click the link below). I’m so thankful to have witnessed such patriotism first hand of one of our great American hero, Andrew Pendleton, honoring the life of another great American hero, 2nd Lt. Fred Lorenzo Brewer, Jr.
https://www.wbtv.com/2023/12/07/101-year-old-wwii-veteran-spends-birthday-honoring-tuskegee-airman/
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