Thomas Hawkins - '42

Thomas L. Hawkins was born in 1923 and moved to Glen Rock when he was a young child. Hawkins was very bright and athletic and had a gift for vocal music. He attended Ridgewood High School (as most Glen Rock students did), graduating as a member of RHS Class of 1942. At RHS, Hawkins was a member of the track and football teams and the Glee Club and A Cappella Choir. He attended the Mt. Bethel Baptist Church where he sang in the Junior Choir. He went on to attend Temple University's School of Chiropody, but it was a time of war and a college degree would have to wait. On March 17, 1943, Hawkins enlisted in the Army Air Forces and began his training to become one of World War II's famed Tuskegee Airmen. The recruits enlisted into a program that was ordered by President Roosevelt over the objections of his top generals. The program's goal was to train African American men to fly and maintain combat aircraft. This was a revolutionary concept for a country that was still deeply segregated, especially in the South where much of the flight training was to take place. In November 1944, Flight Officer Hawkins was assigned to the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, and by January he had 28 missions and three kills to his credit. He was awarded the Air Medal and Oak Leaf Cluster in early 1945 for bombing missions against German trains carrying supplies. Soon after, he was named flight leader of his group and was in command of a squadron of nine pilots. On March 7, 1945, Flight Officer Hawkins was killed in Italy during takeoff when his plane crashed on the runway during a mission. He was only 21 years old. After the war, the veterans of the 332nd Fighter Group returned to a United States still decades away from the enactment of the Civil Rights Act (1964). They came home to continuing discrimination in housing, jobs and education. Their exemplary performance in battle helped convince President Truman to sign Executive Order 9981 to desegregate the U. S. Armed Services in 1948. In March 2007, President George W. Bush presented the Congressional Gold Medal, the most prestigious medal Congress can bestow, to the Tuskegee Airmen for their contributions and sacrifices made decades earlier. Thomas L. Hawkins' name is on the Glen Rock War Memorial on the grounds of the Municipal Building so that we never forget the sacrifice and patriotism of those who have died in the service to our country. Inducted 2020.