The 332nd Fighter Group

In March 1945, Toni Frissell took more than 280 photographs of the "Tuskegee Airmen," the elite, all-African American 332nd Fighter Group at Ramitelli, Italy. The group was commanded by Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr, who later became the first three-star general in the Air Corps. The Tuskegee Airmen flew more than 700 missions and never lost a bomber to enemy aircraft. They earned more than 744 Air Medals and Clusters, more than 100 Flying Crosses, 14 Bronze Stars, 8 Purple Hearts, a Silver Star, and a Legion of Merit. This photo records a member of the group is being given an "escape kit" containing cyanide in the event of capture in Yugoslavia.