SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - One of the last surviving members of the Tuskegee Airmen, also a Sarasota resident, George Hardy , has died at the age of 100.
Getson Grimes, a Sarasota business owner and barber, said he was good friends with Hardy, meeting him and 16 other retired Tuskegee Airmen who moved to Sarasota nearly 30 years ago.
“I got a chance to meet him by him coming through my business getting haircuts. And I do a golf tournament every year. And he played in my golf tournament, and I played golf with him, too. So we had a pretty good relationship during that period,” Grimes said.
More than half a century later, Grimes said Hardy and the Tuskegee Airmen’s legacy continues in Sarasota.
“They were able to change the landscape of Sarasota when they came because probably 95 or 100%