Dr. William Morgan was a Tuskegee airman

The dentist, who was a pioneering black fighter pilot during World War II, moved from a Pittsburgh practice to Wanamingo, Minn., in the 1960s.

By Ben Cohen, Star Tribune

Last update: January 10, 2007 - 8:21 PM

Dr. William Morgan, one of the last Tuskegee Institute airmen living in Minnesota, died Dec. 30 in Minneapolis. The retired dentist from Fergus Falls, Minn., was 85.

Morgan, who moved to Wanamingo, Minn., in the 1960s to establish a dental practice, told the Star Tribune in 2002 that when he joined the pioneering black aviation unit near the end of World War II many doubted that black men were capable of being pilots.

He signed up for pilot training after watching planes fly overhead while growing up in Yukon, Pa., where he and his widowed mother were the only black residents. It was "just to satisfy a kid's dream to learn to fly," said Morgan.

While training in Tuskegee Ala., he recalled, he and other cadets were bullied by white civilians, and white instructors looked for reasons to wash blacks out of the program. The cadets lived in segregated quarters on the air base.

"I learned a lot in the service," said Morgan, who after several years of being a preaviation cadet, was one of three blacks allowed into the last cadet class before war's end.

"I was a country boy, a black country boy. I must have had hayseeds coming out of my head. The most profound thing was that I got to know my race. Where I came from, I was the only one," he said.

Although Morgan served stateside, his comrades in the unit proved themselves in battle over Europe. Bomber crews asked for the black fighter pilots to protect them because the Tuskegee airmen were so good at their jobs.

After the war and dental school at the University of Pittsburgh, he practiced in the Pittsburgh area for a decade, but he longed for small-town life, said his daughter, Sue Morgan of Chanhassen.

After much consideration, he took a job in Minnesota.

"He was really taking a risk," said his daughter. "He continued to build a community for himself. In doing that, he bridged the racial barriers. He didn't feel uncomfortable being the only African-American in the ham radio club and going fishing."

Sue Morgan said her father also didn't shy away from talking about racial and political issues with his neighbors.

In the early 1980s he moved to Fergus Falls, where he was a dentist at the State Hospital. He retired in 1986.

In February 2006 he was honored with a doctorate in public service from the Tuskegee Institute for his military service.

His wife of 51 years, Martha, died in 2002.

In addition to his daughter, he is survived by his son, William, of Appleton, Wis., and two grandsons.

Services have been held.

Ben Cohen • bcohen@startribune.com

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