In an interview that hasn’t been posted quite yet, former Air Force fighter pilot Albert Randall talks about learning to fly F-4 Phantoms at Davis-Monthan before being assigned to a base in northern Japan in 1969.
Air Force Capt. Albert Randall poses in the cockpit of his F-4 Phantom while stationed at an airbase in northern Japan in 1969.
Courtesy of Albert Randall
At that time, he said, a number of airmen at the overseas base regularly wore Confederate patches on their sleeves, so the Louisiana native had his own patch made with a Black Power fist superimposed over the flag of the Confederacy.
When his commanding officer ordered him to stop wearing the provocative patch, Randall refused unless the others were forced to remove theirs as well.
Almost immediately, his protest prompted a unit-wide directive: The American flag was the only one they were permitted to wear.
It didn’t stop there, either. In a matter of days, Randall said, the directive spread through the entire Air Force and beyond, until it applied to everyone wearing a uniform for the Department of Defense. And all because of a principled pilot who trained in Tucson.
For historical figures who have passed away, the museum is recording “Legacy Stories” told by their relatives, friends and contemporaries. Two have been posted so far, with more on the way.
In one, Richard and Doreen Davis talk about their mother, Quincie Douglas, namesake of the Quincie Douglas Center at Silverlake Park, who lobbied the city for improvements to their South Park Neighborhood and launched a free shuttle service for low-income residents.
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