Retired Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr, a decorated World War II pilot who broke racial barriers as a member of Tuskegee Airmen and earned honors for his combat heroism, has died. He was 100. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr., one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen, died this week at his home in Michigan. He was 100.

Harry Stewart Jr. would survive World War II as one of only four Tuskegee Airmen with three air-to-air victories in a single day, leading a storied Air Force career before leaving active duty in 1950.

Stewart was one of the few remaining veterans who flew with the all-Black Tuskegee Airmen in World War II, during which troops were segregated by race. Stewart died “peacefully” in his home, the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum said in a Facebook post Monday announcing his death.