{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://adams.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/floor-speech-congresswoman-alma-adams-reinternment-tuskegee-airman-2nd", "Floor Speech by Congresswoman Alma Adams on the Reinternment of Tuskegee Airman 2nd Lt. Fred Brewer", "2023-12-06", "2023", "2023-12", "Democrat", "House", "NC", "Alma S. Adams", "A000370", "adams.house.gov", "adams", "https://adams.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. - (December 6, 2023) \u2013 Congresswoman Alma Adams (NC-12) gave the following speech on the floor of the U.S. House today to commemorate the repatriation of Charlotte native 2ndLt. Fred Brewer, a US Army Air Forces commissioned officer who was killed in action on October 29, 1944:\n\nThere are more than 80,000 American military personnel who remain unaccounted for from previous conflicts around the World.\n\nTheir families, non-profit organizations, and the POW/MIA Accounting Agency continue to fight tirelessly, everyday, to bring these patriots home and give them the dignified memorials they deserve.\n\nMr./Madam Speaker,\n\nI rise today to celebrate the homecoming of one of these fallen heroes, 2nd Lt. Fred Lorenzo Brewer Jr., who after nearly 80 years has returned home to Charlotte, North Carolina.\n\nBorn on August 4, 1921, Lt. Brewer was raised in Charlotte\u2019s historic Brooklyn neighborhood, where his family attended the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.\n\nAfter graduating from Shaw University in Raleigh, the segregated-South\u2019s first Black college, Lt. Brewer was commissioned by the United States Army Air Force and entered the Uniformed Service in November of 1942.\n\nHe was soon stationed at Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama and joined the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group.\n\nCompletely segregated from their white peers, he was one of the nearly 1,000 Black pilots trained at Tuskegee who would eventually become known around the world as the Tuskegee Airmen.\n\nKnown for their extreme bravery and distinctive red-tail planes, the Tuskegee Airmen fought tirelessly to defend democracy abroad and to combat racism at home.\n\nOn October 29, 1944, Lt. Brewer\u2019s plane, named Travelin Light after the Billie Holiday song, went missing while on a mission out of Ramitelli Airbase in Italy.\n\nThat day, like so many other young Black men in this elite group, Lt. Brewer gave the ultimate sacrifice for a country that did not yet see him as an equal citizen.\n\nIn serving and in giving his life, Lt. Brewer showed extraordinary faith in his country, and in democracy, that while imperfect in its protection and promotion of his life and livelihood, it could still be worthy of his ultimate sacrifice.\n\nWhile Lt. Brewer did not live to see it, generations of survivors vindicated his sacrifice during the Civil Rights era, bringing our nation closer to the dream of every man and woman being created equal. That\u2019s the promise of democracy, the promise for which he gave his life.\n\nHe was only 23 years old, and left behind his parents, Fred Sr. and Janie Brewer, and younger sister, Gladys.\n\nThanks to the unyielding advocacy of his surviving cousins, Robena Brewer Harrison and Brenda L. Brewer, and the determined work of the POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Lt. Brewer\u2019s remains were identified in August.\n\nLast Thursday, exactly 79 years and 1 month since his death, Lt. Brewer returned to Charlotte, receiving a dignified transfer. The U.S. flag was flown in his honor last Thursday at the US Capitol.\n\nAnd, today, he will finally be laid to rest at Salisbury National Cemetery with full military honors.\n\nWhile we celebrate today, we must never forget the countless Americans, including 25 Tuskegee Airmen, who remain unaccounted for and the families that long to bring their beloved heroes home, and we must never stop perfecting the cause for which they sacrificed.\n\nWelcome home Lt. Brewer. We are forever indebted to your service.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:14:16Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://adams.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/floor-speech-congresswoman-alma-adams-reinternment-tuskegee-airman-2nd"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.495395030360669, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}