An Asian American woman who became a World War II Army pilot and a physicist.

A World War II Army veteran who became the first openly gay man to run for public office in the United States.

A Tuskegee Airman and Olympic 400 meters champion who went on to enjoy a long and successful career as an educator.

A World War II Navy veteran who became the most beloved sports announcer of all time.

Veterans of the United States Armed Forces are well represented among this year’s inductees at the 16^th class of the California Hall of Fame. In fact, four of the seven inductees served. They will be enshrined during a virtual ceremony at 6 p.m., August 22, on the Governor’s Office Twitter and the California Museum’s YouTube.

“We are thrilled to announce the newest class of inductees joining some of our state’s most revolutionary, innovative, and brightest in the California Hall of Fame,” Governor Gavin Newsom said in a press release. “The outstanding legacy of this group has and will continue to embody what it means to be a Californian. There is no doubt their legacies will continue to live on and inspire millions across our state for generations to come.”

These are this year’s inductees.

MARGARET “MAGGIE” GEE, Women’s Airforce Service Pilots

Born Gee Mei Gue in 1923 in Berkeley, Maggie Gee developed her desire to fly at a young age. As World War II ramped up in Europe, and it became inevitable the United States would soon be at war, she left her studies at UC Berkeley in 1941 to work at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo.

Inspired by Amelia Earhart, Gee used her shipyard earnings to pay for flying lessons and needed only six months to get her pilot’s license.

When the military established the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) training program, Gee became one of only two Asian Americans accepted into the program that totaled 1,074 female pilots nationwide. She trained male pilots and participated in mock dogfights as a co-pilot.

After the war, Gee returned to Cal to earn her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, the latter in physics.

Gee was among the nearly 300 surviving WASPs who received Congressional Gold Medals from President Obama in 2009, three years before her death at 89 in 2013.

In recent years the granddaughter of one of Gee’s former WASP program mates proposed renaming Oakland International Airport in Gee’s honor, an idea that airport officials declined to consider, according to a CNN story posted in 2019.

Source: Asian American News

ARCHIE FRANKLIN WILLIAMS, U.S. Air Force

The 400-meter world record holder and gold medalist at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Archie Williams, was among the Black athletes Adolf Hitler refused to congratulate—Jesse Owens being the most notable—during those Games.

Williams returned to study mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley, where an injury ended his running career. He later earned his civilian pilot’s license. When the United States entered World War II, he became an instructor at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute, where America’s first Black combat pilots trained—the famed Tuskegee Airmen. Deemed too old to be a combat pilot at 27, he trained the other pilots and then was sent to UCLA to study meteorology. Williams returned to Tuskegee to teach cadets in both instrument flying and meteorology. His cousin, Les Williams of San Mateo, also was a Tuskegee Airman at the time.

Archie Williams flew four combat missions in B-29s over North Korea during the Korean War. He served as a forecaster at Yokota Air Base, Japan, where he prepared forecasts and briefings for all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces at 115 installations in the Pacific theater. He retired in 1964, ending his 21-year career. He became an educator in Marin County. He died in 1993.

In 2021, St. Francis High in San Anselmo was renamed Archie Williams High School in his honor.

Sources: Commemorative Air Force Rise Above, College of San Mateo

JOSE JULIO SARRIA, U.S. Army

This native San Franciscan, who fought in World War II, became the first openly gay candidate to run for public office in the entire nation when he announced his candidacy for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1961.

He lost big, but began building political clout for the LGBTQ community that culminated with the election of Harvey Milk as supervisor in 1977.

Sarria became one of San Francisco’s strongest LGBTQ rights proponents. He co-founded the League for Civil Education, a nonprofit organization that worked to overturn the prohibition of serving alcohol to gays. He helped create a gay advocacy group called Society for Individual Rights.

Sarria also was a drag performer who, in 1965, declared he was “Empress Jose I,” the first empress of San Francisco, which led to the founding of the International Imperial Courts System of America. The nonprofit now has 70 city chapters worldwide and raises money for charities. It also led to the drive to have a Navy ship named in Milk’s honor and the creation of a postage stamp bearing his likeness. The organization also helped build the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor at New York’s Stonewall Inn, considered the birthplace of the gay rights movement in the United States.

Sarria died in 2013.

Source: Legacy Project

VIN SCULLY, U.S. Navy

The golden-voiced broadcaster of the Dodgers for 67 years described some of baseball’s most dramatic moments, from Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series, to Sandy Koufax’s no-hitters, to Kirk Gibson’s game-winning home run against Oakland in the 1988 World Series—and many, many more.

Throughout his career he rarely spoke of his short time in the U.S. Navy, spent stateside as World War II came to an end.

No matter: His broadcasts frequently included tributes to, and stories about, veterans. He took the time each June 6 to remind listeners about the bravery and sacrifices made by those in the D-Day invasion that changed the course of World War II in Europe.

“I was in the Navy for a year,” he said while explaining his frustration with NFL players who knelt during the playing of the national anthem. “Didn’t go anywhere. Didn’t do anything. But I have overwhelming respect and admiration for anyone who puts on a uniform and goes to war.”

Upon his retirement in 2016, Scully recorded public service announcements for the Gold Coast Veterans Foundation of Ventura County, which assists homeless veterans.

Scully, a national treasure, died in 2022.

Other inductees will include actress and screenwriter Carrie Fisher, singer Etta James, and actress and diplomat Shirley Temple Black.

“The Governor and I are delighted to honor the contributions of this remarkable group of visionaries,” First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom said. “Each one of these pioneers has uniquely impacted California through their boundless creativity, perseverance, and courage—encapsulating the California dream through their lives and legacies.”

Source: Military.com