In his early twenties, he met the woman of his dreams, Margaret Lewis. Later, President Harry Truman formally integrated the military in 1948, the first government institution to take this step.įollowing his military service, Reggie returned home to Los Angeles, beginning his civilian career as a mail carrier then a worker in an ice cream factory. These airmen dominated the enemy so thoroughly in their sorties, bomber pilots specifically requested Tuskegee pilots as their preferred escorts. Reggie lent his talents to this all-Black flying corps, now celebrated as the famed Tuskegee Airmen. After passing the test and enlisting, he was sent to pilot training at an airfield in Alabama designated for a new, segregated program considered by bureaucrats to be a doomed experiment at best. At the time, Black men in the Army and Navy were relegated to nothing more than cooks or other support/service roles. A friend encouraged Reggie to take a placement test for the Army Air Corps. school system attending Foshay and Berendo Junior High Schools, and Los Angeles Polytechnic High School, graduating in the midst of World War II. Reginald, affectionately known as Reggie, matriculated through the L.A. Claudius, grandfather William, and great-grandfather John Ballard, the first Black landowner in the east Santa Monica mountains. He was a fourth generation Angeleno following father Dr. Reginald Ballard Sr., the youngest of two sons, was born in Los Angeles, California to Dr.
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