Happy Heavenly Birthday to Mitch Higgenbotham

This photo, recently featured in the Dana Point Times, is of Tuskegee Airman Mitch Higgenbotham from his oral history recorded by the Dana Point Historical Society in 2003. Mitch retired to Dana Point and shared his military experience in presentations to the community. He was born, March 2, 1921, and died just shy of his 95th birthday.

On March 29, 2007 the United States honored the Tuskegee Airmen with the presentation of the Congressional Gold Medal. Lt. Mitchell Higgenbotham, one of the Tuskegee Airmen and a Life Member of DPHS, was with his fellow Army Air Corps veterans in the Capitol Rotund to receive the award. The Gold Medal, the highest award bestowed by the federal legislature, is awarded to individuals or groups for singular acts of exceptional service and for lifetime achievement. The first person to receive this medal was George Washington in 1776. Mitch was also among the African American Officers of the 477th Bombardment group who were arrested for the “Freeman Field Mutiny” which was an attempt to enter an officers club reserved for white officers, eventually seen as a key moment in the path toward full integration of the U. S. Armed Services.