Henry Cabot Lodge Bohler Henry Cabot Lodge Bohler ( June 8 , 1925 – August 10 , 2007 ) was a member of the prestigious Tuskegee Airmen during World War II who would later aid the advancement of civil rights for African - Americans living in the rural Southern United States . Early life . Born in Augusta , Georgia in 1925 , Bohler would spend much of his life being told what he couldn ' t do . He dreamed of flying one day , but was told he couldn ' t become a pilot because he was black . Instead of accepting that decision , he enlisted in the Army Air Forces at the age of 17 . At enlistment , he weighed 109 pounds , which was one pound under the minimum weight for airmen ; through persuasion , he was able to join anyway . Bohler would train at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama , the home base of the Tuskegee Airmen , the first African - American air corps in the United States . He learned to fly the P - 51 Mustang fighter , and earned his wings in 1944 . At that point , the air forces did not need any more pilots . Bohler would nonetheless remain with the air forces until 1947 , earning the rank of second lieutenant . He then attended and graduated from Hampton University in Hampton , Virginia . Returning to Augusta , he met and married his wife , the future Clifford Marie Bohler , at an ice cream shop her aunt owned . " He came in , and the rest is history , " Mrs . Bohler would later recount . She would add how persistent he was , and that " he wouldn ' t take no for an answer . " The civil - rights era . Bohler ' s persistence would be challenged again after he and his family moved to Tampa , Florida in 1950 . This time , he was told that he could not own his own business . His persistence again paid off as he became Tampa ' s first African - American licensed electrician and operated his own business enterprise . In 1960 , Bohler , his wife and their three children went to the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa . The family was denied entry to the zoo because of their race . Bohler sued the city for discrimination . During the two years it took to hear the case , Bohler was routinely harassed by city police who would pull his car over and demand to check his driver ' s license . On the day he was ordered to appear in federal court , he was pulled over five times . As before , Bohler ultimately prevailed , with the result being a 1962 federal order requiring Tampa to integrate its public recreation facilities . Later life . Throughout his life , Bohler never forgot his heritage . He and other former Tuskegee Airmen would often speak to school groups . He would attend yearly reunions of the Airmen , flying his own Piper Archer airplane to the events . He was forced to stop flying at the age of 80 after being diagnosed with a brain tumor . Some time later , he fell in his garage and hit his head , which apparently caused bleeding on the brain that was undetected at the time . He was later admitted to a local hospital and spent the next two years in various care facilities . Henry Bohler died on August 10 , 2007 in Tampa , Florida from complications from his injuries . He is survived by his wife Clifford Bohler , three children Henry Jr . Pamela and George , seven grandchildren Shauntae , Victoria , Alexander , Morgan , Taylor , Madeline and Olivia and three great - grandchildren Aaron , Joshua and Sophia