voc ep: 43 LeRoy “Boots” Battle

Billie Holiday and “Mister” (Lib. of Congress photo)

Congressional Gold Medal

LeROY A. BATTLE, SR. "Boots" Tuskegee Airman, Musician, Educator, Author, and Civil Rights Pioneer

December 31, 1921 – March 27, 2015
Unit 616th Squadron of the 477th Bombardment Group

Battle was born in Harlem to Walter Battle and Margie Goldwire Battle (later Margie Battle-Smith). He showed his early proclivity and passion for music by beating on pots & pans in his childhood kitchen, and then went on to become a great jazz drummer in multiple Harlem jazz clubs like '3 Deuces' & the Downbeat' Club at the birth of jazz as a house drummer supporting acts such as (Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Nat "King" Cole, Pearl Bailey, and Billie Holiday.  He was nicknamed 'Boots' by climbing into his father's large rubber fishing boots as a child.

LeRoy A. Battle, Sr. was inducted into the service on 23 August 1943 at Camp Upton, Long Island, New York. He went to Keesler Field, Mississippi for Basic Training, then Tuskegee Institute for Air Cadet Training, then to several other camps and air fields for Gunnery and Bombardier Training before returning to Tuskegee for Pilot Training. After the WWII he went  into education as a music instructor, marching band conductor and administrator. He also broke the ‘Color Barrier’ in Civil Rights issues, and was the 1st drummer of color for the Washington Football Team.