Local airport receives $7,500 grant for Tuskegee Airman memorial
LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – A local airport will soon have a permanent memorial to a local Tuskegee Airmen.
The city of Columbus received a $7,500 grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council to support the creation of a public exhibit honoring Lt. Col. Alva Temple.
The project will establish a mini-museum inside the Columbus-Lowndes County Airport.
Both the City of Columbus and the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors have agreed to contribute $7,500 each to match the Mississippi Humanities grant.
The total cost of the project is $30,000.
The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American fighter pilots in what was then the Army Air Forces during World War 2. The project will highlight the challenges and impacts that these brave airmen had on American history.
Temple completed more than 120 missions traveling worldwide, serving the US for 20 years. He even won the Top Gun Award in 1949, but was not recognized until years later due to racial bias.
Col. Temple had a special tie to the airport property.
As a long-time resident of Columbus, he also owned land where the airport sits.
In 2023, the airport renamed its terminal in honor of Temple.
The project is expected to be completed by the fall of 2026.
