SARASOTA, Fla., July 18 (UPI) -- Maury Reid, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen who was kept out of combat by a training injury, has died at the age of 81 at his home in Florida.
Reid died July 4 and was honored last week at a memorial service in Sarasota, Fla., attended by many surviving members of the unit, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported. He was the 21st Tuskegee Airman to die this year.
"Because of them, I became successful," said Robert Griffin , a retired
Eastern Airlines pilot who trained at Tuskegee after Reid's era. "I was able to follow my career."
Reid was a high school student in New York City when he signed up for the Tuskegee program. He spent months in the hospital after a test flight just before he was supposed to leave for Europe ended in a crash and suffered spinal pain for the rest of his life.
After the war, he unsuccessfully tried to get a commercial flying job.
Reid went on to become an executive with the New York Transit Authority and to earn Bachelor's and Master's degrees. He was also a leader in the NAACP.
He is survived by his wife and two sons. A daughter died of cancer last year.
