One of the last surviving combat pilots in the Tuskegee Airmen has died Sunday in Bloomfield Hills.
Lt. Col. Harry T. Stewart Jr. was one of two of the last surviving combat pilots in World War II’s 332nd Fighter Group known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
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He earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery escorting U.S. bombers during WWII and his heroic actions in combat.
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According to the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum, he was only one of four Tuskegee Airmen who shot down three enemy aircraft in a single day. He also was part of the team that won the Air Force’s first Top Gun Aerial Combat competition in 1949.
After the war, Stewart went to college and graduated from New York University with a degree in mechanical engineering. He then became a vice president at Detroit’s ANR Pipeline Co., where he retired.
“Harry Stewart was a kind man of profound character and accomplishment with a distinguished career of service he continued long after fighting for our country in World War II,” said Brian Smith, President and CEO of the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum. “We are deeply saddened by his passing and extend our condolences to his family and friends around the world.”
Stewart, born on July 4, 1924, in Newport News, Virginia, died peacefully in his Bloomfield Hills home on Feb. 2, 2025. He was 100 years old.
No service arrangements have not yet been announced.
