Freeman Field Mutiny - Aftermath

Aftermath

As a result of the protest, the 477th was relocated back to Godman Field, and two of its four bomb squadrons (the 616th and 619th) inactivated. An all-black fighter squadron, the 99th FS, was added to the group, which was re-designated the 477th Composite Group on June 22, 1945. Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., was appointed as commanding officer of the group on June 21, 1945, and took command on July 1. Black officers replaced white officers in subordinate command and supervisory positions. Training was to be completed by August 31, but the war ended on August 14 with Japan's surrender.

Never deployed in combat, the 477th Composite Group was downsized when the war ended. In 1946, it was reassigned to Lockbourne Field, now Rickenbacker International Airport, in Ohio. It was completely inactivated in 1947.

In 1948, President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981, racially integrating the United States Armed Services.

When Freeman Field was inactivated in 1948, 2,241 acres (9 km2) of the former base became Freeman Municipal Airport; 240 acres (1.0 km2) went for agricultural training in the Seymour Community Schools; and 60 acres (240,000 m2) became an industrial park.

In 1995, in response to requests from some of the veterans of the 477th, the Air Force officially removed General Hunter's letters of reprimand from the permanent files of 15 of the 104 officers charged in the Freeman Field protest and promised to remove the remaining 89 letters when requests were filed. Roger Terry received a full pardon, restoration of rank and a refund of his fine.

The events at Freeman Field, along with his own experiences in the USAAF, were the basis of the novel Guard of Honor (ISBN 0-679-60305-0), for which James Gould Cozzens won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1949.