Two Tuskegee Airmen friends die on the same day

A pair of Tuskegee Airmen who were friends for more than 70 years died in their homes Jan. 5 in Los Angeles. They were both 91.

Clarence E. Huntley Jr. and Joseph Shambrey enlisted together in 1942, and served as mechanics in Italy during World War II as members of the 100th Fighter Squadron of the Army Air Force's 332nd Fighter Group, The Associated Press reports.

The pair faced racism when they returned home, Shambrey's son, Tim, said. When the squadron members got off a train in Alabama, they had to pay for coffee that was given to white servicemen for free. "The thing about these men is that they were very proud" and did not want to complain, Shambrey told AP. "They were already used to so much discrimination."

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Neither spoke much about the war, relatives say, but Huntley did tell his daughter Sheila McGee one thing: "He said, 'I was doing what I was supposed to do, and that was to serve my country.'"