Photo courtesy of NBC News

Lt. Col. Harry S. Steward Jr., one of the Tuskegee Airmen who broke the color barrier to fight in WWII, died on February 2 in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, according to the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum in Detroit.

He was 100 years old.

Steward was one of two of the last surviving combat pilots of WWII’s famous 332nd Fighter Group known as the Tuskegee Airmen,

Steward broke the color barrier along with other Tuskegee Airmen combat pilots during the war, who faced prejudice during the Jim Crow-era South as they earned his wings.

After finishing training, the group of Black pilots were assigned to escort U.S. bombers in Europe. The Tuskegee Airmen were said to have lost significantly fewer bombers than other fighter groups.

Stewart, who was born in Virginia in 1924, earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery escorting U.S. bombers during WWII and his heroic actions in combat.

He is only one of four Tuskegee Airmen who shot down three enemy aircraft in a single day.

Steward also was part of the team who won the Air Force’s first Top Gun Aerial Combat competition in 1949.
“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.”