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For Wick News Service
NOGALES — Nothing much fazes George Washington Biggs.
When he heard that the World War II Tuskegee Airmen, and he, the only Nogalian in the bunch, were to receive the Congressional Gold Medal at a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda before members of Congress and the president of the United States on March 31, he mentioned it only to his immediate family.
But the word soon got out anyway.
 George Washington Briggs of Nogales recently received the Congressional Gold Medal for his service with the Tuskegee Airmen. (Wick News Service) |
Biggs neither boasts nor conceals, so when a Tucson newspaper requested an interview, he consented. But when he read himself described as “a hero” and that “he will be honored in Washington, D.C., for his part in teaching America that blacks are not inferior to whites,” his dander was up.
“That’s not true,” he protests, “As a youngster, I learned if you want to do something, you can do it, and that’s what I did.”
Biggs’ story needs no pretenses. His life story quietly and dramatically entwines in the great movements and moments in U.S history.
Biggs is named for his Missouri grandfather. His father, Levi Biggs, was born in Missouri in 1892. Joining the U.S. Cavalry in 1914, Levi Biggs was sent to Hawaii and later transferred to the 25th Infantry.
In 1918, he was ordered to Camp Stephen D. Little in Nogales during tensions of the Mexican Revolution and preparations for World War I.
In 1924, he met and married Dolores Rivas, daughter of a Cananea newspaper publisher. They had five children, sons George (1925), Levi (1927), Johnny (1929), Richard (1931) and daughter Bertha (1935) — all born in Nogales.
George won’t even embellish a little. Recently, a program bought on e-Bay of the 1930 Christmas Dinner of the 25th Infantry at Camp Little, and on it is the name Levi Biggs. His Dad’s name is listed as “Chef.”
“My Dad was the cook,” he quickly corrected.
Levi Biggs was tough.
“He wouldn’t take any crap from anyone, but he was fair,” George said.
Levi’s main ambition for his five children was that they do what he did not do — graduate from high school. The black children of Nogales attended a separate elementary school, the Grand Avenue School, later named for Frank Reed who died early in World War II.
“I knew Frank Reed,” George said. “Not well, as he was two classes ahead of me.”
By 1952, two years before the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education, Nogales teacher and principal Doris McGuire single-handedly integrated Nogales’ schools.
Sgt. Levi Biggs and his wife, Dolores, and their family remained at Camp Little until it was closed by the War Department in 1933. They then moved to Fort Huachuca until the 25th Infantry was dissolved in 1939.
Thereupon Biggs was sent to an artillery post in North Carolina and next to an anti-aircraft post in Michigan, his duty station at the time of Pearl Harbor.
After being stationed in Georgia and Arkansas, Levi Biggs was discharged in 1944, returning immediately to Nogales to make it his permanent home.
By 1944, young George Biggs wanted to join the Army. Questioned at the recruiting office, he said he just wanted to fight.
He was sent to Fort McArthur, Calif., for testing. Those who passed could apply for the aviation cadet corps. Soon George’s parents received a letter from George postmarked “Tuskegee, Alabama,” and they learned their eldest son was at the all-black flight training school at the Tuskegee Institute. He was one of two Arizonans that graduated from Tuskegee.
The Army Air Forces divided the unit into four fighter squadrons as the 332nd Fighter Group and four bomber squadrons as the 477th Bombardment Wing, which saw no combat. The 332nd, however, served in Europe and shot down 109 German aircraft.
History in the war effort happened daily as George Biggs completed navigation training in April 1945.
He then completed bombardment training in October 1945 after the war ended. After a brief separation, George Biggs re-enlisted in the Army Air Forces as a non-commissioned officer. In time, he would receive a direct commission as an officer and a career in the newly formed U.S. Air Force, where he earned the rank of major. He then served as navigator on B-47 and B-52 bombers at the height of the Cold War.
In addition, George Biggs set a precedent for his brothers, who all later joined the U.S. Air Force and all three became navigators. John was an NCO. Levi would become a major, later retiring to be an engineer for Lockheed. And Richard was a colonel and vice wing commander at Minot Air Force Base, N.D.
But only George was a Tuskegee Airman.
Levi Biggs’ quiet demeanor belied the certain pride he felt in the accomplishments of his four sons in the U.S. Air Force, although George said he once remarked, “The only way I’ll get in an airplane is if I can keep one foot on the ground.”
George retired from the Air Force and returned to live in Nogales, where he joined the U.S. Customs Service. He lost his first wife in a tragic accident in the late 1960s, and had to raise their children alone. Seventeen years ago he married his present wife, Olga, and is now retired.
In character with his father, George won’t say much about the ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda before President George Bush, former Secretary of State Colin Powel and members of Congress.
“I didn’t see any Tuskegee Airman I recognized,” he said after returning April 1. “The ones I knew are gone. I understood it was one medal for everyone, and there is one gold medal for all the Tuskegee Airmen, but as we filed out, we each received a copy of the medal in a velvet case, which was a nice surprise.”
George Biggs won’t let you call him a hero, and he’ll tell you he did what he was told, and just acted on principles his parents taught him.
Bill Stein wrote on Nov 22, 2008 7:45 PM: