For their final Black History Month spotlight, members of the Elyria Black Legacy Connection are honoring Elyria native and Tuskegee Airman 2nd Lt. Ferrier H. White.
Elyria Black Legacy Connection President Ethan West said it is time for Elyria to honor White, a local military hero.
“Although Ferrier spent his last two civilian years in Oberlin, he was born and raised right here in Elyria,” West said. “We also need to memorialize this soldier who never made it back home.
“Oberlin has thankfully recognized and honored his duties, and now it’s time for Elyria to acknowledge, honor and celebrate our WW II patriot.”
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According to Elyria Black Legacy Connection, White joined the U.S. Army and became a member of the Air Corps.
On April 5, 1945, he took off from Ramitelli Air Field in Italy on a routine flight.
While flying over the Adriatic Sea, White's aircraft went down. He did not escape the aircraft before it sank, and his remains have not been recovered or identified.
Today, White is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Florence American Cemetery in Impruneta, Italy.
White's grandparents moved to Elyria before the 1900s.
His grandfather, Perry Meredith, was born Oct. 14, 1874, in Baltimore, Md., one of the first generations born outside of enslavement.
In his early 20s, Meredith migrated to Elyria in 1896 and married Sarah Wilson, who recently had moved to the city.
The two settled on 17th Street where they would live for over three decades and had two children, Fosterena and Ellsworth.
Fosterena married Henry White on Feb. 23, 1921, and their son Ferrier arrived on Oct. 12 of that year.
Ferrier White graduated from Elyria High School in 1939. After his graduation, the family moved to Oberlin and they lived on South Park Street.
On Jan. 29, 1942, Ferrier White enlisted to fight in World War II.
He was accepted into the Air Force and trained to become a Tuskegee Airman and member of the Air Corps.
West said there have been local efforts to commemorate White, such as the renaming of the Black veterans chapter of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars in his honor, but the chapter is no longer in existence.
The other recognition is Oberlin’s Tuskegee Airmen monument on East Vine Street.
