By Wayne R. Lusardi, Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Eric Bryant’s eyes fixed intently on the monitor. “That’s my uncle’s airplane,” he said in almost a whisper.
Bryant’s uncle was Lieutenant Frank H. Moody, one of only a thousand African American pilots trained by the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II.
Lt. Moody earned his wings at Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama in February 1944, and was later transferred to Selfridge Field at Mt. Clemens, for advanced training.
Seventy-seven years later, Lt. Moody’s nephew Eric Bryant flew with his family from Los Angeles to Detroit. They rented a car and drove to the resort village of Lexington on the southern shore of Lake Huron.
Their journey was a pilgrimage of sorts, filled with anticipation of learning about their own heritage and perhaps bringing a sense of closure to a family tragedy that occurred so long ago.
 From left to right, Lauren Bryant, Tonja Anderson-Dell, Wayne Lusardi, Eric Bryant and Dr. Brian Smith at the Tuskegee Airmen’s memorial in Port Huron. (Photo by Nicholas Lusardi)Yesterday and today Frank Heman Moody was born in Castle, Oklahoma, Dec. 18, 1921. He was the only son of Willie Moody of Lamar County, Texas, and Savannah Nelson of Arkansas Cherokee descent. Following the birth of his first sister, Flossie, in 1923, the Moody family moved to Los Angeles. In December 1925, Frank’s youngest sister Annie Mae was born in California. Annie Mae Moody married Clayton Bryant July 3, 1950, and four years later their son, Frank’s nephew, Eric Rodney Bryant, was born. Although he is a recreational scuba diver and underwater explorer, Eric Bryant had never experienced the Great Lakes. I met him and his family when they arrived in Lexington. As the state maritime archaeologist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, I serve as the principal investigator for many shipwreck archaeological projects. Bryant did not travel to Michigan to see a shipwreck, however. He was here to see a wrecked airplane, specifically a P-39Q Air |
To read more: https://thesuntimesnews.com/g/chelsea-mi/n/45725/honoring-tuskegee-airmen-michigan