In 2007, President Georeg W. Bush presented Tuskegee Airman and Bro. Earl Middleton the Congressional Gold Medal. Bro. Middleton pledged Sigma at Claflin University.
Aboard Air Force One
By WENDY JEFFCOAT CRIDER, Time & Democrat Features Editor Monday, August 13, 2007Few people have had the same opportunities as Earl Middleton.
The founder and owner of Coldwell Banker Middleton and Associates has seen and done much in his 88 years — flown fighters as part of the elite Tuskegee Airmen, owned a successful business and, most recently, met the President of the United States and toured Air Force One.
“They let me walk right into it (Air Force One),” said Middleton, wearing a broad smile. “They did all but say, ‘Make yourselves at home.'”
Middleton didn’t have to travel very far from his Orangeburg home for the experience of a lifetime, as he was invited to Charleston Air Force Base on July 24 to meet President George W. Bush and be presented a bronze replica of the Congressional Gold Medal awarded to the Tuskegee Airmen.
Trained in Tuskegee, Ala., the Airmen were the first group of black fighter pilots allowed into the U.S. Army Air Corps. Upon graduating from Claflin University in 1942, Middleton trained as a Tuskegee airman cadet and served with the U.S. Army Air Corps until 1946.
While many of the Airmen received replicas during a special White House ceremony in March, Middleton was unable to make the trip. The original Congressional Gold Medal presented to the group is housed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.