Tuskegee Airmen trained at Moton Field before serving in World War II in racially segregated military units, where despite skepticism from military leadership they became highly effective combat forces and served with distinction. The men of the 99th Fighter Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group completed over 1,500 missions, destroyed over 260 enemy aircraft, including 112 in the air, sank one enemy destroyer, and demolished many enemy installations. Their wartime performance earned opportunity and respect at home and abroad, helped pave the way for military desegregation and the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and reflected a determination to fight for their country and afterward for their rights.