United States Military Figure. He received recognition as being a member of the ground crew of the Tuskegee Airman, a unit of African-American military pilots and airman of World War II. Born the third of six children of a school teacher, his parents were Galveston Leroy and Frances Arvenia Redmon Shipley. In 1942, at 19 years old, he volunteered to join the all-Black Army Air Corps at a time when many did not believe African Americans should be in the United States Armed Forces. After completing his basic training at Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, he started aircraft mechanic school in Lincoln, Nebraska where he learned how to rebuild and assemble all parts of the airplane such as, rebuilding engines, taking off propellers, working on wings, and learning the whole structure of the plane. Next, he went on to Detroit, Michigan to gain more knowledge operating airplanes and how to get them ready for preflight and postflight. After completing his training, he was deployed to Italy as a crew chief and earned the rank of Staff Sergeant. Following the war, he was a car mechanic. He married Mildred Bruce on December 7, 1949, and the couple had two sons and a daughter. He started his career at Paul Miller Garage before transitioning to Co-Mo Electric Cooperative, where he retired after 29 years of employment. It was not until many years after Shipley's military service in World War II that he received his long overdue honors, accolades, and recognition. In 2007, Shipley received a replica of the Congressional Gold Medal that President George W. Bush presented collectively to the Tuskegee Airmen as a unit for their stellar record in combat. This is the highest honor Congress can give civilians. In 2013, Shipley went on an honor flight organized to take World War II veterans to visit the war memorials in Washington, D.C. In 2017, a biography, "Together As One," the legacy of James Shipley, World War II Tuskegee Airman was written by Jeremy Amick. In 2019, Shipley went to Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington to discuss his life and experience as a Tuskegee Airmen with the Air Force Base. In 2020 he received his honorary high school diploma from Tipton High School, at the age of 97. In 2021, Shipley experienced flying in a PT-17 Steaman biplane, the aircraft the United States Army Air Corps used to train Tuskegee Pilots. He was honored with a military funeral.