Save the best for last

摘要

EARLY THIS YEAR, the U.S. Mint released the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site quarter. This special-issue coin is part of the America the Beautiful Quarters Program, which was launched in 2010 on the basis of the America's Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008. The law called for the Mint to issue 56 quarter-dollar coins with reverse designs depicting national parks and other national sites in each state or territory and the District of Columbia. The Tuskegee Airmen is number 56 and the final coin. The coin commemorates not only the African American pilots who began their flight training in the Army's PT-17 Stearman biplane at Moton Field in Tuskegee, Alabama, but also technicians, radio operators, and other essential and racially diverse personnel around the airfield. "It is fitting that such a significant historic site will complete this successful coin program," said Mint Director David J. Ryder. "The Mint is proud to honor the men and women who overcame segregation and prejudice to become one of the most highly respected fighter groups of World War Ⅱ."