It was a different kind of movie premier.

Yes, there were film stars, movie producers, dignitaries and honored guests.

But replace the red carpet with a Navy color guard and rock stars with Navy Band Northwest and you get a feel for the preview of the new George Lucas film “Red Tails” held Tuesday at the Skywarrior Theater on Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. And the true stars of the day were two of the Tuskegee Airmen upon which the movie is based.

A rough cut of the film, which is not scheduled to be released until Jan. 20, 2012, was presented to a nearly full house. Many of those present were students.

“This is an important part of history,” said Seattle resident Synthia Franklin, who changed her work schedule to bring a group of 15 students to tour the base and see the film. “What you read in history books is not always the whole story. This is a valid piece of history.”

NAS Whidbey Commanding Officer, Capt. Jay Johnston welcomed the crowd.

“It’s obvious to me, based on the number of people sitting here today, that the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen — who trained and fought with distinction during World War II, despite the racial discrimination that was so prevalent in this country at that time — is alive and well here today,” he said.

“I’m honored to be standing on the stage with two fellow aviators,” Johnston said. “Please help we welcome Lt. Col. Ed Drummond and Capt. George Hickman.”

“Red Tails”

The film “Red Tails” tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African American Aviators in the U.S. Armed Forces in WWII, a challenging time in our nation’s history in many ways.

Tommy Lamb, president of the Sam Bruce Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. in Seattle, set the tone for the presentation.

“It’s so nice to be able to look out into the audience and see all these many different colors in dress and also in skin, because the Tuskegee Airmen did exactly what we have done thus far — that is make America one people, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” Lamb said.

Seattle television weathercaster Steve Pool served as master of ceremonies. Pool said he wanted to explain to the audience, the young people in particular, why the film they were about to see is so important.

“We’re going to show you a movie, obviously, but that movie has to be put in a context so you understand why this is so significant,” he said.

Pool went on to share his family’s military connection, beginning with his great-grandfather, who fought in the last battle of the Civil War; to his grandfather, who fought in World War I; and to his father, who landed at Utah Beach in Normandy in World War II, taking a bullet in 1944.

Pool said he had discussed many times with his father the difficulties African Americans faced during WWII and had concluded that African Americans fought not because of what America was at the time, but because of the promise of what it could be.

“This is the only nation in the world that was founded on the principle — not territory — on the principle of freedom, justice and equality,” Pool said. “Today we honor the Tuskegee Airmen. These are the brave men who fought for their country not just at the time, but for the future.”

A difficult history

It was the Tuskegee Airmen themselves who painted an eloquent picture of what it was like for them during their time of service.

“The simple answer as to why I fought was because this is my country,” said Drummond. “I was interested in our being able to stay free, and stay free of being subjugated by other countries.”

Growing up in Philadelphia, Drummond said he never really got a sense of segregation until he joined the military and had to travel to Wichita Falls, Texas for basic training.

“I guess somebody thought that I had some leadership ability and I was put in charge of the tickets on the train for six other black soldiers,” he said. “We were put in the observation car — the tail end car. I guess they must have thought that it was appropriate for blacks, but for us, it seemed like even though we had to eat, sleep, do everything in that car, we had the best show on the road because we had an open view of all the territory that we were passing through on our way from Pennsylvania to Texas.”

Hickman recalled the days of his youth, growing up in St. Louis. There was segregation, but nothing like what he encountered when he went to Tuskegee. Ala.

“When I went to the South, it was worse,” he said. “Labels on steps of ‘colored,’ ‘black.’ Going into the toilet facilities and it was run down, everything rusty, no warm water … and it looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in a year.”

But he says his experiences with segregation taught him a valuable life lesson.

“I’ve learned that there’s no need in keeping a chip on your shoulder and being angry,” he said. “You make yourself angry by hating. … If you want to do anything at all, have a little faith and say some prayers.”

Project to fight for

Producer Rick McCallum described learning about the Tuskegee Airmen 23 years earlier and the difficulty in getting the film made.

“It has been an absolute nightmare and a struggle for that long to actually get this film going,” McCallum said. “Partly because nobody wanted to make it. We couldn’t convince anybody … it was more the studios just didn’t think that a film about black pilots was going to be in any way successful and we’ve kind of battled that.”

Boiling the whole story of the Tuskegee Airmen down into a marketable movie was also a challenge. They couldn’t get the right script, couldn’t bring the right elements together, until a few years ago.

“As we finished ’Star Wars’ in 2005 we thought, ‘now we know what the story is, really,’” McCallum continued. “We have to tell the story of the action adventure part, the dogfight part, the heroic part.”

Two young actors from the film shared with the audience how the story of the Tuskegee Airmen impacted them.

“We had the spirit of change while we were doing the film,” said Elijah Kelley, speaking to Drummond and Hickman in particular and the audience at large. “We wanted to stand on the shoulders of what you guys did, the legacy of what you guys built because you were all about change.

“Before there was a Martin Luther King… before there was the Rosa Parks, it was these guys,” he continued. “It was them who fought for us to be able to sit in this room together in harmony with no judgements, with no separation, with everyone equal and with everyone on the same plane.”

“It was a blessing to be a part of this film and play these great men,” said Marcus T. Paulk, who plays David “Deke” Watkins in the film. “These were the real rock stars before we had Lil Wayne and Jay-Z and before we had Obama, these were the rock stars. These were the people they were writing about, so respect your elders and listen to the information that they have to give you. … That’s what I get out of it — respect.”