RICHMOND, Ky. — For decades, the Tuskegee Airmen have been lauded for their valiant efforts abroad during World War II and later at home during the civil rights movement. Remembered and celebrated this month, five pilots of the pioneering World War II Air Force faction shared their common ties to a central Kentucky high school.

The late Frank D. Walker may be the best known, but at least four other alums of Richmond High School in Richmond, Kentucky, trained as pilots with the distinguished Tuskegee Airmen. Of the almost 1,000 pilots trained at Tuskegee, less than a dozen called Kentucky home.

The other pilots with Kentucky roots included Frank Walker’s older brother, William Walker, Donald Dillingham, John S. Harris and Louis Runyon Sr.

Walker’s son Charles, a heritage member of the Tuskegee Airmen Inc., shared some of their stories last week with the Madison County, Kentucky, Historical Society as it commemorated Black History Month.

The U.S. military was not racially integrated until after WWII, and the effort to train black pilots, crews and support personnel was considered a bold experiment by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. According to Airmen history, civil rights organizations and the black press exerted pressure that resulted in the formation of an all African-American pursuit squadron based in Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1941.

While the Tuskegee Airmen often are thought of as fighter pilots, they also included bombers pilots and crews, along with ground-support personnel.

Their valor and success during the war helped pave the way for President Harry Truman to end racial segregation in the military. One of them, Roscoe Brown was the first American pilot to down a German Messerschmitt, the world’s first jet-powered fighter.

The Tuskegee veterans also were leaders during the civil rights movement that followed the war.

The broader public was largely unaware of the Tuskegee Airmen and their accomplishments until the HBO cable TV network produced a movie about them in 1995.

At least two of the Richmond High School alums who were Tuskegee pilots, Louis Runyon and William Walker, were living in Ohio when they joined the military. Frank Walker and Donald Dillingham are the only two who are documented to have settled in Madison County, Kentucky, after the war, Charles Walker said.

Following World War II, Frank Walker worked as a home builder and U.S. Mail carrier. He and his wife, Mary Turner Walker, raised three sons and a daughter.

In 2007, Frank Walker was among 300 surviving Tuskegee Airmen invited to the White House where they received the Congressional Gold Medal and a salute from President George W. Bush. The president noted that white officers sometimes refused to return the salutes of Tuskegee pilots, and he wanted to atone for that by saluting them for their service.

The Tuskegee Airmen received even more focus in 2012, when George Lucas, who produced the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” movies, produced another film about the Tuskegee Airmen called “Red Tails.” The title was based on the red-painted tails of the fighter planes they flew.

Frank Walker, who died in April 2013 at age 93, was a modest man who did not seek attention, his son said. When he joined the military, his father felt he was just doing his patriotic duty.

In addition to its traditional name, the Richmond City Commission designated East Main Street, as the Frank D. Walker Parkway.

Walker tired of the attention, and stopped granting interviews the last decade of his life, his son said.

But in addition to attending the 2007 White House ceremony, he accepted a Kentucky Colonel’s Commission from Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher during the 2006 Kentucky Veterans Welcome Home Celebration at Madison County’s Battlefield Park. That same year, the Tuskegee Institute awarded honorary doctoral degrees to the WWII airmen who trained on its campus.

The Tuskegee Airmen’s legacy continues through the non-profit association Tuskegee Airmen Inc. Charles Walker is vice president and education co-chair of its Kentucky Chapter named for Brig. Gen. Noel Parrish — another Kentucky native who served as commandant of cadet training at Tuskegee.

Robinson writes for the Richmond, Kentucky Register.