Lieutenant Colonel Robert J. Friend (USAF – ret.), one of the Tuskegee Airmen. He was the wingman for Col. Benjamin Davis Jr., the commanding officer of the 322nd Fighter Group.
He also had a distinguished post-war career, highlighted by running Project Blue Book from 1958 to 1963.
“Do I believe that we have been visited? No, I don’t believe that,” he said. “And the reason I don’t believe it is because I can’t conceive of any of the ways in which we could overcome some of these things: How much food would you have to take with you on a trip for 22 years through space? How much fuel would you need? How much oxygen or other things to sustain life do you have to have?”
But unlike many of his colleagues, he favored further research.
“I, for one, also believe that the probability of there being life elsewhere in this big cosmos is just absolutely out of this world — I think the probability is there,” he said.
According to the paper of record, there are 11 surviving Tuskegee Airmen. LTC Friend was 99.
Beth Chapman, wife of Dog the Bounty Hunter.
Edited to add: NYT obit for Beth Chapman.
Also, NYT on Etika.