Lt. Col. Haldane King (1921-2013) was a Tuskegee Airman who served in WWII. Born in Brooklyn, he was the sixth of seven children of Charles and Estelle (Stansberry) King. King earned a basketball scholarship to Long Island University, where he played on championship teams under Coach Clair Bee. In early 1942, he volunteered for military service in World War II and entered pilot training in Tuskegee, Alabama. He became part of the first class (43J) of African-American bomber pilots in the Army Air Corps. Trained at Tuskegee in 1943, King flew U.S. planes over Europe and North Africa. He recalled that military service presented significant obstacles for Black men. "The whole idea at the time was that you weren’t qualified to be an officer of the United States Air Force," King stated. "You were a Tuskegee Airman, which didn’t mean anything to them. You couldn’t get into the officers’ club." While white officers enjoyed refreshments between flights, King had to remain in his plane or bring his own food. After the war, King returned to New York and became one of the first African Americans to join the New York Fire Department. In 1950, he was recalled into the newly integrated Air Force and served in Germany as part of the Army of Occupation following WWII. His military career then took him and his family to Maine, Germany, California, and eventually the Pentagon, where he retired from active service. He later moved to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and frequently shared his military experiences at local schools and community events.

Samuel Lynn (1920-2000) was a military pilot who served with the famed Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American flying unit in the U.S. military who fought in World War II. He also flew fighter jets in the Korean War and, for his service, he received the Bronze Star. He later retired from the Air Force after a 24-year career, having achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The youngest of seven siblings, Lynn was born in Lynbrook, Long Island, to Nellie and Joseph Lynn. His father ran a landscaping business. When his parents died while he was still in grade school, he moved in with an aunt in Far Rockaway. Lynn was drafted into the service in World War II, and he joined the 99th Pursuit Squadron, the first unit of the Tuskegee Airmen, where he volunteered to fly. He finished in the top of his class in the Tuskegee Training Program, going on to fly both bombers and fighters in the Army Air Forces. Following the war, he left the service in 1947. He married Elaine Pollard on August 12, 1948, and re-enlisted soon after, serving in the U.S. Air Force as a fighter jet pilot during the Korean War. In 1960, he moved to Lakeview, Long Island, and worked at Mitchel Air Force Base near Garden City, both as a pilot and later as an air traffic controller. Ultimately in his military career, he worked as a base commander at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, being named Commander of the Year in 1965. Lynn retired from the Air Force in 1966 and then worked for a period at the Department of Labor in Manhattan as a regional director for anti-discrimination contract compliance. On October 17, 2000, he died of respiratory failure in Denver, Colorado, and he was survived at the time by his wife and two daughters. The northwest corner of Tuskegee Airmen Way and 148th Street in Jamaica was named in his honor as 2nd Lt. Samuel Lynn Corner.

Harry A. Sheppard (1917-2003) was an Air Force colonel, World War II fighter pilot, and one of the first African Americans accepted for aircraft maintenance training in the Army Air Corps, assigned to the 99th Pursuit Squadron. He served as a pilot with the famed Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American flying unit in the U.S. military who fought in World War II. Sheppard flew 123 combat missions, and he was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Service Medal, and the Air Medal with 13 oak leaf clusters for his service. The son of immigrant parents from the West Indies, Col. Sheppard was born in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens on October 24, 1917. He studied electrical engineering at the City College of New York for three years, and he enlisted in the Army Air Corps on April 1, 1941. After being trained as an engine and aircraft mechanic, he completed flight training at the Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama and eventually flew combat missions over North Africa and Europe. After returning from the war, he was married in 1947. Together with his wife, Amy, the couple raised four daughters. Continuing his 33-year military career, he was later assigned to air traffic control and communications, and he directed flight facilities at bases in Alaska and Oklahoma, attending both the University of Alaska and the University of Oklahoma. He also served as a liaison to the Federal Aviation Administration, eventually retiring in 1974. He then served as a manager and consultant for Evaluation Technologies, Inc., and he volunteered for Arlington-Alexandria Coalition for the Homeless and the Arlington Community Center. Sheppard was a frequent lecturer on the history of the Tuskegee Airmen, also speaking on behalf of the Tuskegee Airmen’s Association to help raise scholarship funds for young people aspiring to aerospace and aviation careers. He was a charter member of the East Coast Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, where he served as Chapter President and also as Eastern Region President. Sheppard died of cancer at his home in Arlington, Virginia, on January 22, 2003. He was survived at the time by his wife, his daughters and their husbands, and six grandchildren. He is buried with his wife, Amy, in Arlington National Cemetery. The southeast corner of Tuskegee Airmen Way and 150th Street in Jamaica was named in his honor in 2014 as 2nd Lt. Harry A. Sheppard Corner.