HARLEM, NY — A long-time Harlem resident who served with the Tuskegee Airmen in World War died at the age of 100, police said.
Wilfred DeFour was found Saturday morning unconsciouss and unresponsive in his apartment at the Riverton Square complex on Fifth Avenue, police said. EMS pronounced DeFour dead at the scene and an autoposy will be conducted to determine his exact cause of death.
DeFour had lived in the Riverton Square complex since the 1940s, neighbors told the Daily News. Despite his old age, DeFour was still “sharp as a whip” a neighbor told the newspaper.
“You would never know he was 100,” Joanne Wells told the Daily News. “He had a little cane but he walked. He had all his faculties. His mind was as sharp as a whip.”
DeFour was recently honored in November when local officials held a ceremony to rename the United States Post Office at 99 Macombs Place the “Tuskegee Airmen Post Office Building.” During the event, DeFour spoke on his experience serving with the famed aviation unit.
“I regret so many of my comrades are no longer here with us. It was a great experience. We didn’t know that we were making history at the time, we were just doing our jobs. That’s about the size of it,” DeFour said at the ceremony.
“After looking back at it, everyone was pleased with what we did. What we did, we did our best and our best was the greatest.”
DeFour served with the unit as an aircraft technician, the Daily News reported. After the war, he worked for the postal service for more than 30 years, according to the report.
The Tuskegee Airmen were formed in the 1940s following pressure from civil rights groups to integrate the United States military, according to Tuskegee Airmen Inc., a group that chronicles the history of the unit.
The unit was based in Tuskegee, Alabama and made up of pilots, navigators, bombardiers, maintenance staff and flight instructors, according to Tuskegee Airmen Inc. The unit flew missions in North Africa, Sicily and Italy during the war.
Photo of Wilfred DeFour with Congressman Adriano Espaillat courtesy of Espaillat’s office
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