A plaque installed along Route 21 in Alfred Station honors late Alfred University alumnus Wallace “Wally” Higgins ’52, who taught at his alma mater for nearly 30 years and famously trained with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.
On Oct. 11, the plaque honoring Higgins was unveiled in a ceremony along Route 21 the Maplewood Cemetery. Higgins, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 92, is buried at the cemetery.
Higgins earned a B.F.A. degree from Alfred University in 1952. He worked as a model/mold-maker for Glidden Pottery in Alfred for five years, then became a technical specialist at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He went on to become an associate professor at his alma mater, retiring in 1985 as professor emeritus.
On Dec. 10, 1943, in the midst of World War II and before completing high school, Higgins entered the United States Army and served until March of 1947. He was assigned to the Army Air Corps and trained with the Tuskegee Airmen, the Black military aviators in the U.S. armed forces. They were trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama and included pilots, as well as ground and support personnel, who distinguished themselves in combat, particularly as bomber escorts.
Severe illness prevented Higgins from completing his training at Tuskegee. At the conclusion of the war in Europe, he was transferred to the 1909th Engineers Aviation Battalion, serving as sergeant in an all-Black platoon in Saipan and Okinawa, Japan, building roads, airfields and ammunition storage buildings.
On March 17, 1947, Higgins received his final Honorable Discharge as a Staff Sergeant with Squadron F, 3505th Army Air Force. For his military service, he earned the WW-II Victory Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, and New York State Medal for Merit. In 2015, Wally was presented with a Congressional Gold Medal for his Civil Air Patrol involvement during World War II. That same year, he was inducted into the New York State Senate Veteran’s Hall of Fame.
