2nd Lt. Harry E. Lanauze, M. D. (1925-2017)

(August 11, 1925 – May 7, 2017)

Before he was a doctor, Harry E. Lanauze, M.D., wanted to serve his country in the skies and prove that African-Americans could do anything. The young man from Washington, D.C., was so determined to serve his country that he lied about his age to enlist in the Army Air Forces when he was only 17 years old. The passion that fueled him to blaze trails in his youth never wavered. More than 70 years later, the 90-year-old Dr. Lanauze retired from his private practice.

Before all of that, though, he was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a legendary group of aviation pioneers. The Tuskegee Airmen were among the first African-Americans to fly for the United States Army Air Forces. Dr. Lanauze began flight training as a flight navigator at Hondo Air Force Base in Texas before being transferred to Tuskegee University, where he received his wings as a fighter pilot. Soon after, he found himself flying multiple combat and bomber escort missions over North Africa, Italy, and German-held territory in mainland Europe. The aircraft he flew included the P40 War Hawk and the P51 Mustang, also known by its more famous nickname, the Red Tail.

After his honorable discharge in 1946, Dr. Lanauze returned home to our nation’s capital. Eventually, he enrolled as a student at Howard University, receiving his bachelor’s degree in 1951. In 1962, he moved to Liberty Borough, just outside of McKeesport, Pennsylvania and started his rotating internship at McKeesport Hospital. Later that year, he became a full-time ER physician, a position he would keep until 1997. But Dr. Lanauze didn’t retire from medicine altogether. He still maintained a private practice as a family doctor, and he even continued making house calls until his official retirement in 2012.