Alix Pasquet (November 14, 1919 – July 29, 1958) was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

fighter pilot A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...

, one of only five Haitian members of the

Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Fighter Group, 477th Bombardment Group (Medium) of th ...

, a soccer star, and a political revolutionary. He was killed while leading a coup attempt against Haitian President

François Duvalier François Duvalier (; 14 April 190721 April 1971), also known as Papa Doc, was a Haiti, Haitian politician and Haitian Vodou, Vodouisant who served as the president of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. He was elected president in the 195 ...

in 1958.

Fighter pilot

In 1942, Haitian President

Élie Lescot Antoine Louis Léocardie Élie Lescot (; December 9, 1883 – October 20, 1974) was the President (government title), President of Haiti from May 15, 1941 to January 11, 1946. He was a member of the country's mixed-race elite. He used the politic ...

implemented an aviation corps program and chose 3 men out of 42 corps members to receive pilot training in

Tuskegee, Alabama Tuskegee ( ) is a city in Macon County, Alabama, Macon County, Alabama, United States. General Thomas Simpson Woodward, a Creek War veteran under Andrew Jackson, laid out the city and founded it in 1833. It became the county seat in the same y ...

. Alix Pasquet, a law graduate of École Millitaire d'Haiti and an officer in the Haitian army at the time, was one of these three chosen officers. The U.S. government needed the Haitians to organize a patrol of the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

during

and gave the Haitian government six airplanes. These airplanes could carry bombs and could be used to attack German submarines within that area. In February 1943, Pasquet, along with Raymond Cassagnol and Philippe Célestin, traveled from

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

to begin training at the famed Tuskegee Flight School. The

were renowned for their unmatched record of more than 200 combat missions with few losses. Pasquet's training went through three stages—primary, basic, and advanced—and was extremely rigorous. He was trained by Jimmy Plinton Jr., who was reputed as one of the best trainers in the Tuskegee Air Force program, over the course of a 7-month program. '' The Afro-American Newspaper'', one of the most widely circulated

black newspapers Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

at that time, ran a feature story on Pasquet, Cassagnol, and Célestin in April 1943, and the trio was noted for their aptitude with the English language. Additionally since Pasquet and his compatriots were from Haiti, they were unfamiliar with the pervasive

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

and racism in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...

at that time and were forced to ride on Blacks-Only transportation or sit in the back of trains. As a result, they rarely ventured off-campus. Pasquet had a bad case of the flu and lost a month of his training, but ultimately graduated in August 1943 as a member of class 43G.

Political revolutionary

After the end of his training, Pasquet returned to Haiti. However, he was exiled in 1957 for supporting

Louis Déjoie Pierre Joseph Louis Déjoie (23 February 1896 – 11 July 1969, Port-au-Prince, Haiti) was a wealthy Haitian sugar planter, industrialist, agricultural engineer, landowner and politician. Early years Déjoie was a descendant of a French slave-hol ...

in the May 1957 Haitian Civil War. From exile in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, Pasquet led a political movement to restore stability in his native country and overthrow current ruler

. In 1958, he returned to Haiti with Henri Perpignan and Phillipe Dominique as well as five Americans—Arthur Payne, Dany Jones, Levant Kersten, Robert F. Hickey and Joe D. Walker—with the intention of overpowering the capital's army barracks and capturing the ammunition depot within. He gained entry through the barracks' gate by convincing the sentry that he was an officer delivering prisoners, and then quickly seized control of the barracks. However the plot was foiled when an accomplice, Henri Perpignan, sent a prisoner to acquire Haitian-blend cigarettes, who then revealed crucial details to the incumbent government about Pasquet's position. Pasquet was killed during the attempted coup and buried in Port-au-Prince.

Personal life

Pasquet married Denise Etheart and had three sons: Gilbert Pasquet, Alix Pasquet Jr., and Bernard Pasquet. In 1973 his son, Alix, married

Michèle Bennett Michèle Bennett (born 15 January 1950) is the former First Lady of Haiti and the ex‑wife of former President of Haiti, Jean‑Claude Duvalier. They fled to France together when he resigned in 1986; they divorced in 1990. Early life Michèl ...

, who later married François Duvalier's son, Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasquet, Alix 1919 births 1958 deaths Tuskegee Airmen Haitian revolutionaries 20th-century Haitian people Burials in Port-au-Prince United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II Haitian men's footballers Haitian exiles Men's association football players not categorized by position