Despite fighting for democracy in WWII, African Americans were denied their rights at home. At Freeman Field, Tuskegee Airmen of the 477th Bombardment Group protested discrimination by trying to enter the white officers' club in April 1945, resulting in their arrest. More than 100 Black officers were then arrested for refusing to sign an order that entrenched segregated facilities. Responding to pressure from the Black press and NAACP, the Army ordered the officers' release and replaced their white commander with decorated African American Col. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. The Tuskegee Airmen's superb combat record and resistance to racism contributed to the 1948 desegregation of the U.S. military and shaped public discourse of the Civil Rights Movement.