Tuskegee Airmen Invited to Obama Inauguration

And while Warren is proud of his service to his country and proud of what he's accomplished, he's equally proud that he will live to see the inauguration of the first black president of the United States.

"I never thought I'd see the day that someone like me would raise his hand and take his oath of office of the president of the United States," said Warren.

James Warren was born in Gurley, Alabama in 1923. "The social situation there was just something unbelievable to anyone in this present day and age," he said. "My father died when I was 2 and I was raised by mother with my two sisters."

Racism was rampant in the old South. "The Ku Klux Klan used to march down the road," said Warren. "I had to run under the house and crawl under the floor. I was terrorized by them, I was deadly afraid of them because they were vicious."

He endured every kind of racism imaginable. "When a white woman was walking down the road I had to get in a ditch to show deference," said Warren. "I was called all sorts of names and the kids used the throw rocks at me."

Back then, his country was often unkind to him. "Even though it wasn't kind to me, it was still my country," said Warren. "I'm not African-American, I'm an American citizen and this is my country and I thought it has its problems but I say I'll hold her hand until she fixes them."

Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Warren went down to the Naval recruiting station with some of his friends to enlist. "They (Navy officials) thought that was the funniest thing in the world," said Warren. "Needless to say I was rejected."

But in March of 1943 James Warren became one of the original Tuskegee Airmen. "The War Department had done a study that said that blacks could not fly airplanes: their brains were too small and they didn't have the proper reflexes and they didn't have the courage," said Warren. "We could care less about all that. All we wanted was the opportunity to prove that we could do what we knew we could."

The Tuskegee Airmen never lost a bomber to enemy aircraft during 200 escort missions.

Warren spent more than 35 years with the Air Force. His flying career of more than 12,000 hours was highlighted by being selected as the navigator of the first C-141 to fly into North Vietnam to rescue the first group of American POWs and return them to the Philippines. He was also part of the Apollo 14 recovery team.

Warren wrote a book titled "The Tuskegee Airmen Mutiny at Freeman Field" that details the story of racial prejudice as it existed in the military in 1945 and his battle to overcome discrimination and institutionalized segregation.

"It's dreams that keep you going," said Warren. "You got to be able to imagine that things can happen."

He never imagined a black man would become president in his lifetime. He watched Barack Obama's victory speech on election night through tears of joy. "Words can not express my emotions," Warren said.

Last Tuesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, and the chairwoman of the congressional inauguration committee extended an special invitation to the country's Tuskegee Airmen.

"If I get the opportunity to be there to witness this I will have reached the top of the mountain," said Warren.

While he has inauguration tickets for him and his wife waiting for him in Washington, D.C., Warren has yet to finalize the details of his trip. "I'm hoping someone has some resources to help us," he said. "I can't find a place to stay for the nights of (January) the 19th and 20th but I'll be there somehow."