Raymond Cassagnol was a veteran of the Haitian Air Corps who trained with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.
- Died: June 24, 2023 (Who else died on June 24?)
- Details of death: Died at his home in Florida at the age of 102.
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Raymond Cassagnol’s legacy
Cassagnol was one of the first recruits to Haiti’s Air Corps when the force was established to make use of six-armed observation planes gifted to the country by the U.S. in 1942. He initially worked as a mechanic before catching the eye of his superior officers for his work ethic. They sent him and two others to the U.S. to train as pilots at the Tuskegee Army Airfield during World War II, joining the ranks of the celebrated Tuskegee Airmen. While training there, Cassagnol noted the segregation and discrimination of the Jim Crow South, to which he had not been accustomed at home in Haiti.
After his training, Cassagnol returned to Haiti, where he was among the crew flying observation planes to spot German submarines in the waters of the Caribbean. Their surveillance of these submarines ended the Nazis’ attempt to approach the U.S. in that way. Cassagnol was honored with a Congressional Gold Medal in 2010, three years after other Tuskegee Airmen received that honor. He was the last of the Haitian Tuskegee Airmen to survive.
After several years in the Air Corps, Cassagnol left the service and became a private commercial pilot. As political turmoil rocked Haiti in the 1950s and ‘60s, he was a revolutionary, passionately opposed to the rule of dictator François Duvalier. As one of Duvalier’s most prominent opponents, he had to flee the country with his family, fearing for their safety. He immigrated to the U.S., where he lived for the rest of his life.
Cassagnol on his Tuskegee training
“It took courage. Other people might have given up. We didn’t. When I went there, I didn’t go to play. I went to fly, so I concentrated on that. Thank God for the results.” —from a 2002 interview for the U.S. Air Force
Tributes to Raymond Cassagnol
Full obituary: Telegraph Herald
