Thomas E Simmons to be keynote speaker for the February meeting of the Jackson County Historical and Genealogical Society Tuesday, February 21, 6pm.

Simmons by the bust of Robinson at the Gulfport Airport

Tom Simmons is a local (Gulfport) author whose own life would make a program in itself. For our meeting, he will talk about his book, The Man Called Brown Condor. If you don’t know about John C. Robinson – The Brown Condor, he is our unsung Mississippi hero. What a great true story it is! Regardless, you really must come and learn about John C. Robinson. Growing up in Gulfport during the early 1900’s, Robinson’s skill in mechanics and engines led to a degree from the Tuskegee Institute and then to becoming one of the first black pilots in the United States. If Robinson’s story ended there it would have been impressive, but he went on to help create the flight program at the Tuskegee Institute (Ever hear of the Tuskegee Airmen? Thank John Robinson.), and then trained and led the Ethiopian Air Force in its defense against Mussolini’s Italian invasion. After the war, Robinson rebuilt and reorganized the Ethiopian Air Force and then helped create the national airline, Ethiopian Airlines.

Thomas E. Simmons grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi, attended Marion Military Institute, the U. S. Naval Academy, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the University of Alabama. Tom was once the commercial captain of a seventy-foot sailing vessel, has been a pilot since the age of sixteen, (3000 plus hours in the air), has flown professionally, and participated in air shows flying aerobatics in open-cockpit bi-planes. In the late 1950s, he served as an artillery officer in Korea. He is the author of The Man Called Brown Condor, Forgotten Heroes of World War II: Personal Accounts of Ordinary Soldiers Land, Sea and Air, Escape from Archangel, By Accident of Birth, and The Last Quinn Standing. He has also written numerous magazine articles, an example of which, “Growing Up with Mr. Faulkner,” was published in The Oxford American, a literary magazine founded by John Grisham. He is currently working on the last of the Quinn Trilogy, Yesterday a War, Tomorrow a War, a Family in Between. Thomas E. Simmons Amazon Author Central  Simmons Events Simmons Media Facebook LinkedIn

I am not kidding when I tell you that THIS IS THE ONE PROGRAM YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS THIS YEAR. Mark your calendar right now! See you on the 21st!

• George Sholl