Dania Beach - Retired Lt. Col. Leo Gray learned to fly a plane during World War II, when the U.S. military was segregated and war officials said blacks lacked the brains and courage to be airmen.

As a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, Gray helped prove them wrong. He flew 15 combat missions in P-51 Mustangs over Europe during the war as a pilot with the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, which protected Allied bombers.

“We didn’t lose a single bomber to enemy fire in all the combat missions we flew,” Gray recalled. “And that’s a fact.”

On Thursday Gray and about 300 of his fellow black pilots or their families will receive the Congressional Gold Medal — the highest civilian award given by Congress — because of their exceptional service and lifetime achievement.

Gray, 82, was among the first black pilots in the U.S. military. He was among 994 black men trained at Tuskegee Institute, a historically black university in Alabama founded by Booker T. Washington.

They were forgotten heroes, lost on the pages of history books until about a decade ago, when their feats were highlighted in an HBO movie titled The Tuskegee Airmen, starring Laurence Fishburne.

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