Often overlooked in the history of World War II are the 27 Tuskegee airmen who disappeared in combat over Europe.

Jeff Bennett recently sat down with Cheryl W. Thompson.

Her father was also an airman, and she chronicles the lives of those missing men

and the racism they endured while serving their country in her new book,

Forgotten Souls,

The Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen.

Cheryl Thompson, welcome to the NewsHour.

Thank you for having me.

This book centers on 27 Tuskegee Airmen who vanished during World War II.

Why have their disappearances remained unresolved for nearly eight decades now?

You know, Jeff, I think there's a lot of reasons why, but I think they just were forgotten,

right?

The war ended in 45.

People went on with their lives.

And it wasn't really until, like, 2011, when a research analyst, it was his job to sort of find the missing

World War II veterans. And he decided to focus on the 27 missing airmen. But I just think

they were forgotten, right? There were so many people who disappeared in that war and others

that I think they just were forgotten. And the families, as you point out in the book, left with no remains, no answers, no

official acknowledgement.

How did that official silence really compound the sense of loss they felt?

Well, you know, it's funny because when I first reached out to the families and there was

one, the first one I reached out to,

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