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Tuskegee Airman Wilfred DeFour (far right) died of apparent natural causes out of 100. (Photo AP / Kathy Willens, File)
One of the first African American military aviators, having served with Tuskegee airmen, died Saturday in World War II from apparent natural causes in his New York apartment. He was 100 years old.
Wilfred DeFour was found unconscious and unconscious in his apartment in Harlem around 9 am, police said.
Employees of the Emergency Medical Service declared him dead on the scene. Officials say the cause of his death seems to be a natural cause, but they will make an official autopsy report.
DeFour, who served as an aircraft technician with Tuskegee Airmen, joined the Air Force in 1942 and was posted to the 366th Air Service. Squadron in Italy, after a basic training in Tuskegee, Alabama.
Tuskegee airmen are the first African-American military aviators of the US armed forces to be racially separated after the war.
DeFour, who worked. As a post office employee for over 30 years after his military service, he was honored last month at a ceremony intended to rename a post office in Manhattan after the Tuskegee airmen.
At the event, Defour said that his fellow airmen had not done so. They realize that they "were doing history at the time".
"We were only doing our job."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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