Henry Cabot Lodge Bohler, former Tuskegee Airman, dies at 82

<p>Henry Cabot Lodge Bohler, a former Tuskegee Airman who went on to battle racial barriers in postwar Florida, has died. He was 82.</p><p>Bohler died Friday as the result of brain injuries sustained in a fall nearly two years ago, his wife said.</p><p>Born in Augusta, Ga., Bohler dreamed of flying and joined the Army Air Forces at age 17. He learned to fly the P-51 Mustang at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama with the elite unit of black airmen.</p><p>He wanted to fight in World War II, but by the time he earned his wings in 1944, the military didn't need more pilots. He served until 1947, then went on to college at Hampton University in Virginia.</p><p>Bohler moved to Tampa and went on to become the first licensed black electrician in the city and opened a successful business.</p><p>Told he couldn't take his children to Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo because his family was black, he sued the city. That resulted in a 1962 federal order to desegregate Tampa's parks and recreational facilities, according to The Tampa Tribune.</p><p>"My husband was the type of person who, when he said he was going to do something, that was it," said Clifford Marie Bohler, his wife of 59 years. "He did it."</p><p>Until he became ill, Bohler never missed the annual reunions of the Tuskegee Airmen. He'd fly his own Piper Archer to the events, held in various cities throughout the country. In later years, Bohler and other area Tuskegee Airmen spoke at Tampa-area schools.</p><p>Besides his wife, survivors include two sons, a daughter, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.</p><p>A memorial service is planned for Saturday in Tampa.</p><p>Nearly 1,000 men earned their wings as members of the Tuskegee Airmen and 200 to 300 are still living, said Alexander Jefferson, a Tuskegee Airman who flew 19 combat missions.</p><p>"We're losing them every day," Jefferson said Tuesday from the Tuskegee Airmen National Museum in Detroit.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x2dec0f0)</p>

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