"If I had realized that, I would have kept better notes," Roberts, 81, deadpanned to about 80 audience members during Tuesday's Veterans Day program at The Evergreen State College. "I was just doing a job and plodding along."
That "plodding" by the 450 black airmen, who trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama and saw combat overseas, hurdled the color barrier and established themselves as the nation's first black military airmen.
During his hourlong talk, Roberts regaled the audience with slides of the pilots and planes and his personal experiences serving in the segregated military.
While white aviation cadets were well-traveled during their training, Tuskegee was the sole proving ground for the black airmen, he said.
"We were just glad to have the opportunity," Roberts said.
And they made the most of it. About half of the 992 pilots that graduated between 1942 and 1946 served overseas in either the 99th Pursuit Squadron or the 332nd Fighter Group.
The 332nd became the only four-squadron fighter group to escort bombers in the 15th Air Force and posted the unprecedented record of flying all of its 200 bomber escort missions without the loss of a single bomber to enemy aircraft.
"We either shot them down or drove them off or whatever," Roberts said. "They knew better than to mess with us."
Roberts flew 42 missions with the 332nd during World War II. As a flight commander in Korea, he led 106 missions as part of the United Nations force.
Roberts has earned the Distinguished Flying Cross with one cluster, the Air Medal with 11 clusters and the Air Force Commendation Medal with one cluster.
He retired in 1965, but has continued to serve his country by providing officer training at McChord Air Force Base.
The Veterans Day program was held during wartime at a campus not known for pro-military sentiment. Evergreen students have participated in a number of anti-war demonstrations before and during the war in Iraq.
Paul Gallegos, special assistant to President Les Purce, organized the program. He said he ensures the Veterans Day presentations focus on the people who served and not White House policy, which has angered many.
"I've never had anyone on this campus say that's a bad idea" to honor veterans, he said.
Evergreen students who've served in the military say they've occasionally endured barbed comments thrown their way by fellow students.
Micah Jackson, a 22-year-old liberal arts student, spent three years in active-duty service at Fort Lewis.
Citizens can support the troops without backing the war in Iraq, he said. He knows many soldiers who don't agree with White House policy on Iraq.
"But that's what they're told to do," he said. "That's what their job is."
Kelly Knox, a 27-year-old Lacey resident, recalled that a yellow ribbon was removed from a tree on campus shortly after the war broke out. She served with the 513th Transportation Company at Fort Lewis until 2001. She is now a member of the Washington Army National Guard with the 951st Maintenance Company.
She has occasionally engaged in heated debates with students about military service.
"It's not all about war," Knox said. "There are good things in the military, and whether you want to pick and choose, that's up to you."
Evergreen has 71 veterans among its faculty and staff and 118 veterans among its students.
The Olympian Online
Holiday 2003: http://www.theolympian.com/home/specialsections/Holidays2003/"