The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian recognition awarded by the U.S. Congress. This medal was presented to the Tuskegee Airmen, African American pilots flying for the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Awarded on March 29, 2007, the medal recognized their “unique military record that inspired revolutionary reform in the Armed Forces.” 


Alfonso L. Harris was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1926, and attended Booker T. Washington High School. He graduated at 15, and moved to Utah where he inspected aircraft engines before enlisting in July 1944. Harris attended the Army Air Corps training program at Tuskegee, graduating in 1945 as a flight officer. 

Aviation Cadet Harris served through June 1946, and was discharged at Camp Beale. He remained in California to study, and received a degree in physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Harris pursued a career in engineering and, on retirement in 1992, tutored students in mathematics. He contributed to the Tuskegee Airmen Archive at UC-Riverside and wrote In Lincoln’s Shadow (2004). Aviation Cadet Alfonso Harris died April 19, 2016.  

Alfonso Harris and other Tuskegee Airmen at San Diego Air Base.

Alfonso Harris with singer/actress Lena Horne.

ALFONSO LAURELL HARRIS

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