Special Guest Bios

Special Guest Bios

Robert L. Peeples

Mr. Robert L. Peeples

Robert L. Peeples is a native of Georgia and served in World War II as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen. Once stationed at Lockbourne Air Force Base, Mr. Peeples currently lives in Columbus, Ohio and is the President of the Ohio Memorial Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. Unable to make the trip to Washington, D.C., Mr. Peeples was part of a group of former Tuskegee Airmen who watched the inauguration of President Barack Obama at the Ohio Statehouse.

The “Tuskegee Airmen” is the popular name of a group of African American pilots who flew with distinction during World War II as the 332nd FighterGroup of the US Army Air Corps.

Prior to the Tuskegee Airmen, there had been no black U.S. military pilots. A series of legislative moves by the United States Congress in 1941 forced the Army Air Corps to form an all-black combat unit, despite the War Department's reluctance. In an effort to eliminate the unit before it could begin, the War Department set up a system to accept only those with a certain level of flight experience or higher education that they expected would be hard to fill. This policy backfired when the Air Corps received an abundance of applications from men who qualified even under these restrictive specifications. Many of the applicants had received their training from the Civilian Pilot Training Program, in which the historically-black Tuskegee Institute had participated in since 1939.

Flying escort for heavy bombers, the 332nd earned an impressive combat record. Reportedly, the Luftwaffe awarded the Airmen the nickname, "Schwarze Vogelmenschen," or "Black Birdmen." The Allies called the Airmen "Redtails" or "Redtail Angels," because of the distinctive crimson paint on the vertical stabilizers of the unit's aircraft. The squadrons of the 332nd FG flew more than 15,000 sorties on 1,500 missions. The Tuskegee Airmen were awarded several Silver Stars, 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 8 Purple Hearts, 14 Bronze Stars and 744 Air Medals. In all, 992 pilots were trained in Tuskegee from 1940 to 1946, about 445 deployed overseas, and 150 Airmen lost their lives in accidents or combat.

The remaining Tuskegee Airmen were invited to attend the inauguration of President Barack Obama and more than 180 attended this historic event on January 20, 2009.

The Tuskegee Airmen Memorial was erected at Walterboro Army Airfield, South Carolina, in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen, their instructors and ground support personnel who trained at the Walterboro Army Airfield during the World War II.

Angela An

Angela An co-anchors 10TV News HD's weekend morning newscasts with Live Doppler 10 meteorologist Carlos Gonzales.

Angela joined 10TV in August 2000. Along with her anchoring duties, An is the lead reporter for 10TV's CrimeTracker 10 series. In 2007, she was awarded Best Reporter in Ohio from the Society of Professional Journalists, as well as Best Coverage of Minority Issues in Ohio.

An has won numerous other awards, including Best Spot News Coverage from the Associated Press, Award for Excellence from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Media Person of the Year from CrimeStoppers of Central Ohio, and most Supportive Civilian of the Year from the Ohio State University Army ROTC Program. Angela has also received several Emmy nominations in the past several years.

An said that the most memorable story she has covered was the deadly tsunami in southeast Asia in 2004. She and a photographer spent 10 days reporting on Sri Lanka's road to recovery and brought back a weeklong series of stories about survival, loss and determination to rebuild.

Prior to joining 10TV, An worked at KSL-TV in Salt Lake City as a reporter/fill-in anchor. She was one of the first journalists in the market to certify as a county wild land firefighter. Angela also co-founded a news magazine program, "China Near and Far," based out of New York City. Her journalism career began behind the scenes at KCAL-TV in Los Angeles.

Angela is a strong supporter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the Franklin County Dog Shelter and Capital Area Humane Society and the Columbus Coalition Against Domestic Violence. She is a native of Holmdel, N.J., but has lived in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Taiwan. Angela graduated from the University of Southern California with a dual major in Broadcast Journalism and East Asian Area Studies.