Remembering Nebraska’s Last Tuskegee Airmen, Robert Holts
by: Elle love
The last known member of the Tuskegee Airmen from Nebraska, Robert Holts died on February 12th. He was 96 when he passed in an assisted living center in Bellevue. Holts was part of a group of World War II pilots and support personnel who not only served our country but broke color barriers in the 1940s.
A young photo of Robert Holts. Photo credit: Omaha World Herald archives
Holts’ close friend, Robert Rose, who helped care for Holts near the end of his life spoke to NOISE after the passing of his fellow airman. Rose said there were 16 men along with Holts born and raised in Nebraska who enlisted in the United States Air Corp, to later be known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Those men were later honored with the Congressional Gold Medal and inducted into the Nebraska Aviation Hall of Fame as the Tuskegee Airmen of Nebraska.
“At the time, they weren’t called the Tuskegee Airmen,” Rose explained the name came as a way to recognize “the pilots because they were successful in protecting the fighter pilots who were approaching enemy territory.”
US Army Air Corps Corporal Robert Holts served the country following his father’s footsteps in the military. “My dad was in World War I and I thought it was a normal experience for me to follow in his steps and join the service,” Holts told KMTV in a 2019 interview.
Holts first enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps on November 21, 1942 while attending Central High School. He was sent to train in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where white and Black recruits were segregated. However, he found solidarity with the many recruits from his hometown.
“The only hard part was having to endure the cold weather (December) while being outside for long hours at a time,” Holts said in a personal letter published online of his time serving in the US Army as a Tuskegee Airman.
Holts was assigned to Goodman Field, Kentucky in July 1945, where he and thousands of Air Corp personnel made graphs and maps for the 332nd Fighter Group in July 1945. He was assigned to the 188th Base Unit, Squadron D.
Dawaune Lamont Hayes took this photo of the Tuskegee Airmen mural in North Omaha just south of 24th and Lake.
“My specific duties were with the Base Statistical Control section under the leadership of Lieutenant William T. Coleman Jr. and Lt. Emmet J. Rice. Our responsibilities included amassing all detailed recurring reports vital to the Operations and Training and Logistics of the activities at the Airbase and transmitting required information to proper sources on a timely basis,” Holts said, in his account.
Holts continued serving until he was discharged in February 1946. Afterwhich, He moved to Detroit and worked for the United States Postal Services before eventually moving back to Nebraska.
Holts’ guardian and close friend Robert Rose who knew Holts for 30 years, described him as a dear friend and a mentor. He is also president of the Alfonza Davis Tuskegee Airmen Nebraska Chapter, one of the 56 chapters nationwide.
“The Alfonzo Davis Tuskegee Airmen Nebraska Chapter’s mission is to perpetuate the legacy and memory of the Tuskegee Airmen,” Rose said. “Mr. Holts was one of them and he is the last survivor of the Tuskegee Airmen of Nebraska and I was very proud to have been associated with him and to evolve the organization.”
After the airmen were officially recognized for their services and given the title ‘Tuskegee Airmen’, five of them worked at Offutt Air Force Base, Rose said.
Holts is survived by his sister, Evelyn Myles of Washington D.C., and his niece, Linda McRuffin of Harker Heights, Texas.