DETAILED BIOGRAPHY

Hank Hervey's father, Henry P. Hervey, Sr., was born on November 22, 1899 to Octave and Rita Hervey in New Orleans, Louisiana. He attended both Catholic and public schools.  He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in World War I and served as a seaman 3^rd class aboard troop-transport ships. He made eight crossings to France during his service.

After the war he worked for the U.S. Postal Service as a letter carrier. He married Georgianna Tiche and a son, Henry Peter Hervey, Jr., was born on September 3, 1922 in Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

Henry Sr., left New Orleans to transfer to the U.S. Post Office in Chicago, Illionis, and Georgianna (Georgia) and Henry, Jr. (Hank) joined him in 1923. A sister, Geraldine Marian, was born in January 1924 and a brother, Raymond (Ramon) was born in April 1926.

The Herveys lived in various neighborhoods on Chicago’s Southside always within two blocks of a school. Hank attended Carter School from 1928 to 1932 when the family moved to Morgan Park, a bungalow area on the far Southside of Chicago. During the Depression years, he attended Shoop School until 1936, then entered Morgan Park High School. He carried a morning newspaper route throughout high school and also worked in a grocery store after school. After playing the violin in the school orchestra for four years, he was awarded a letter in music at graduation. In 1939 he enrolled at Wilson Junior College where he earned an Associate Degree, majoring in accounting.

In 1941, he became the manager of the Morgan Park Co-Op Grocery Store, the first self-service store in the neighborhood. He also became interested in flying and joined the Civil Air Patrol. Later he joined the Civilian Pilot Training Program and was licensed by Willa Brown and Cornelius Coffey to operate from the Coffey School of Aeronautics at Harlem Airport in Chicago. Together with schoolmates, Clarence Finley and Charlie Jackson, he earned his civilian pilot’s license and volunteered to take the entrance exam for U.S. Army Corps' pilot training program. He was sworn into the Air Corps Reserves to await assignment to Tuskegee Army Air Base, the only segregated base for training African Americans to fly in the military.

While waiting to be called to active duty, Hervey accepted a job as a chauffer for a salesman at Charm-Tred Mills, in Chicago. For thirteen weeks they traveled west to Corpus Christi, Texas; east, throughout the south to Tampa, Florida, north along the Atlantic coast to New York and back to Chicago. The trip was his introduction to the Jim Crow system of the South and taught him an attitude adjustment process which would help him to survive when he was finally called to active duty at Tuskegee, Alabama in March 1943.

Class 43-K was the first class to train pilots to fly twin-engine aircraft, and graduated the most pilots since the first class in 1942. On December 5, 1943 , 2^nd Lt. Henry P. Hervey returned to Chicago to marry his fiancée, Gwendolyn Norman on December 7, 1943. He already had orders to report to the B-25 Combat Training School at Mather Field, CA , where he, along with 800 other newly trained pilots would learn to fly the Mitchell bomber. This was the first time Black and White pilots had trained and flown together in the military. 

Having become proficient in the B-25 bomber, his next assignment was to the 477^th Bomb Group (M) at Selfridge Field near Detroit MI. When he arrived at Selfridge Field, the weather was storming and pouring rain. As he entered the headquarters building to report his arrival, he accidentally bumped the only Black General in the Army, BG B.O. Davis. The general suggested that a new 2^nd Lt. should be more careful of how he treats generals, especially if he expects to be promoted to 1^st Lt. The suggestion was given considerable attention for many years to come. Meanwhile, the civil unrest in Detroit was felt on the base which led to unstable relationships between Blacks and Whites at all levels.

When he arrived at Selfridge Field in March 1944, the 477^th Bomb Group consisted of five B-25s, seven White instructors, and 20 pilots including several single engine transferees. From this beginning, the training program had to develop four squadrons of 16 planes per squadron, two crew per plane, which included a pilot, co-pilot, navigator, engine-gunner, radio-gunner, and tail gunner. The development process, which was constantly being sabotaged by high level generals who did not want to see it accomplished, finally was completed and the 477^th Bomb Group was due to embark for the European Theatre of Operations on June 1, 1945. 

When the war in Europe ended with Germany's surrender in May 1945, a completely different operational procedure was given to the 477^th.  The redirection eliminated medium altitude bombing and stressed low-level strafing and skip-bombing of enemy targets. The 477^th needed training in celestial navigation to enable the bombers to fly across the Pacific Ocean from California to Pearl Harbor and then onto Guam or Okinawa.  September 1, 1945 was selected as the date for embarkation, but the atomic bomb brought the War to a close in August.

After separation from the U.S. Corps, Hank Hervey applied to several commercial airlines for employment as a pilot. The answers were always the same: 'there are no positions open for Negro pilots.' So, his next option was to use the veteran's benefits under the G.I. Bill to enroll in college.

Hank Hervey's wife, Gwen, was expecting a child soon, so finding employment became essential. He became employed in the accounting department at Spiegel’s and immediately enrolled at Northwestern University School of Business at the Chicago Campus in evening classes. Their daughter, Dianne Marie was born on July 17, 1946. While working at Spiegel’s and continuing to be active in the Air Reserves at O’Hare Field, he graduated in 1949 with B.A. Degrees in accounting and business administration.

In June 1950, Hank Hervey was serving a two week active duty at O’Hare Airport. His troop carrier squadron was activated for duty in Korea. He was assigned as a co-pilot on a C-119 transport plane, however, two days before leaving, he received a telegram announcing his promotion to Captain. Since there was no position open for that rank, he was deleted from the unit and transferred to another position at O’Hare. 

A group of community business and professional people, led by Dr. T. K. Lawless, had received approval to organize the Service Federal Savings and Loan Association and needed a managing officer. Hank Hervey applied and was accepted. He served until 1964, when the opportunity to organize the Independence Bank of Chicago was presented. The bank opened in December 1964, and he progressed from cashier to president, leaving when a new ownership took over in 1970. For four years, Hank Hervey was a consultant to the National Bankers Association.  Then he was asked to join Chicago Metropolitan Mutual Assurance Company.

Hank Hervey retired when the insurance company was sold to Atlanta Life Insurance in 1996. He was a strong supporter of the need to provide employment opportunities in the Black community as well as preparing young people to enter the mainstream of commerce and industry. During the many years of service to the Black business community, he was active in other social and civic organizations.

Chicago "DODO" Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.

South End Jaycees

Dearborn Real Estate Board

National Bankers Association

Metropolitan Planning & Housing Council

Chicago Urban League

Chicago NAACP

Joint Negro Appeal

Frogs Club