Thurston Lynwood Gaines was born in New York, on March 20, 1922. He joined the Army Air Corps during World War II, graduated from the Tuskegee pilot training program in August 1944, and served with the 99th Fighter Group in Europe. Photographer Toni Frissell recorded the Tuskegee Airmen stationed at Ramitelli in 1945. Second Lieutenant Gaines appears in several photographs. In April, Gaines’ aircraft was shot down and he was imprisoned at Moosburg until Allied forces arrived to liberate the camp. He received the Purple Heart. After the war ended, Gaines returned to school. He graduated from New York University in 1948 and from Meharry Medical College in 1953. He was a surgeon for many years before pursuing administrative medicine. At the end of his medical career, Dr. Gaines was the medical director for a veterans hospital in Massachusetts. He died December 31, 2016.  

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.” 

THURSTON L GAINES JR

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