GTR Honors Tuskegee Airman Alva Temple
By Pam Brownlee
The Columbus Lowndes County Airport was established in 1952 and is located at 368 Fabritek Drive off Hwy 69 South. A 70th anniversary celebration was held on Friday, April 28. The terminal was named in honor of Lt. Col. Alva Temple.
Lt. Col. Alva Temple was born in Carrollton, Alabama, and studied Agricultural Education at Alabama A&M University. After college, he went into the Army Air Corps and then to Tuskegee for pilot training. He graduated in class 43-G and was subsequently assigned to the 99th Pursuit Squadron. He completed 120 missions during World War II and served in Italy, southern France, and the Balkan nations. He moved to Columbus, Mississippi, in the 1950s and ran a gas station on Hwy 69 South.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the terminal Friday morning to celebrate Lt. Col. Alva Temple. His youngest granddaughter, Angie Billips Washington of Atlanta, said, “He didn’t like the spotlight.” “His famous words were, ‘Good goodness! All this for me?'” she said. “He was so modest he would just be in the background, trying to fade in the woodwork.”
