GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
HONORING TUSKEGEE AIRMEN FROM WESTERN PA
HONOR THE HEROES WHO CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY.
The Tuskegee Airman Memorial (TAM) Greater Pittsburgh Region, a non-profit organization is dedicated to preserving the memory of the largest contingent of Tuskegee Airmen. Western Pennsylvania was home to more than 100 brave men and one trailblazing woman who helped defeat our enemies during World War II and challenged segregation and Jim Crow Laws upon their return to the United States.
We were founded by Regis Bobonis, Sr in the early 2000s and since then, we have been a leader in preserving the legacy of the Western Pennsylvania Tuskegee Airmen. Through initiatives such as fundraising, education, community outreach, scholarships, and visibility, We strive to bring global recognition and awareness to their heroic actions. We were the driving force behind the creation of a one-of-a-kind museum room at the Pittsburgh International Airport (Concourse A) and the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial located at Sewickley Cemetery, the largest outdoor memorial for Tuskegee Airmen in the country.
core values are the preservation of history, education, outreach and awareness, honor, dignity, collaboration and integrity. Today, we continue to work in the Western Pennsylvania region to build awareness about the extraordinary history and trailblazing heroics
of Tuskegee Airmen.
Women’s History Heroine
MRS. ROSA MAE WILLIS ALFORD
Rosa Mae Willis Alford was born in 1912 in Clarksdale, Mississippi to Carrie and Hezekiah Willis. When she ventured out to college to Tuskegee University,
Booker T. Washington was its president and George Washington Carver, the great scientist and inventor, was a professor. In order to work her way through college, Rosa became a repairwoman of the airplanes flown by the famed Tuskegee Airmen.
Rosa was honored by the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial organization as the only woman on the marker at the Sewickley Cemetery, where the memorial is the only one of its kind in America. Mr. Regis Bobonis, the founder of TAM, spent his life teaching the history of these famed young men, of which 100 were from Western Pennsylvania. Because of their skill and prowess, the United States Air Force was able to win the air war in World War II.
In 2020, the engineering students of Carnegie University created cleaning robots for the Pittsburgh International Airport. The staff decided to name the robots after persons who were aviators, so one was named Amelia Earhart and one, Orville Wright. The third robot was named for Rosa because she was a regional Tuskegee Airman repairwoman and the staff wanted to recognize a person of color. The airport has an exhibit that honors the Tuskegee Airmen and Rosa is also included in that space.
Rosa was a life-long member of the National NAACP, The Schomburg Society for the Preservation of Black Culture, New York and the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama, and has received numerous honorary awards for her service throughout the years. She traveled extensively to Africa, Israel, Europe, China and throughout the United States, and frequently attended Chautauqua Institute, New York, to participate in their lecture and concert series. In 2011, at the age of 98, Rosa Mae Willis Alford made her transition and left behind a legacy of love, spirituality, education and service to the African American and larger community of Beaver County Pennsylvania.
WE HONOR OUR AIRMEN
by increasing awareness of their contribution, empowering airmen of today, and keeping their memories alive.
