His Life Mattered

Malcolm Nettingham died on Monday, September 14, 2020.  He was one hundred and one years old, having lived in Scotch Plains, New Jersey since he was five. On October 1, he would have celebrated his 102nd birthday. Although the length of Malcolm Nettingham's life was extraordinary, his life's length is not what made him extraordinary. Instead, the breadth and the depth with which he lived it did. 

Malcolm Nettingham

His life mattered. 

In World War II, Mr. Nettingham served this nation as a member of the United States Army's 477th Fighter Group, which was home to the Tuskegee Airmen. The Airmen, of course, were the African-American fighter pilots who embraced the mission of protecting bombers on their missions and who proved to be better at it than any of their Caucasian counterparts.  In 1944, Mr. Nettingham was selected to be one of five African-American soldiers to be part of the Army Air Corps' first integrated radio communications class. This quintet made certain to excel in all facets of the course because, as Mr. Nettingham put it, "They're going to think all black people are dumb, so we decided we're going to be smart."  They were indeed.  

As unfathomable as it might seem now, in the final third of the final year of the 21st century's second decade, this nation's armed forces were not integrated until 1948 when President Truman enacted Executive Order 9981.  Then again, given the present state of affairs in this country, imagining that might not seem particularly hard at all.  

A Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to Mr. Nettingham in 2007.  The late United States Senator Frank Lautenberg presented Mr. Nettingham - and three of his fellow original Airmen - with their medals during a ceremony at the Newark Public Library.  The Congressional Gold Medal is one of this nation's two highest civilian honors.  The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the other.  It is given to honor those, whether an individual or group, "who have performed an achievement that has an impact on American history and culture that is likely to be recognized as a major achievement in the recipient's field long after the achievement."  

Mr. Nettingham was the great grandson of a slave.  He was born in 1918 while this nation was fighting in World War I and Woodrow Wilson was in the White House.  He grew up during the Great Depression.  He lived to see this nation elect our first African-American President in 2008. He attended President Obama's inaugurations in 2009 and, again, in 2013.  Upon his honorable discharge from the United States Army in 1946, he worked for an industrial electronics company for thirty-two years until his retirement. 

He and his late wife Lorena, to whom he was married for seventy years, raised two children, Deborah and Malcolm, and were blessed as grandparents six times.  

Two years ago, as he was preparing to turn one hundred, he spent several hours with Barry Carter for this piece Mr. Carter wrote for The Star-Ledger. I cannot recommend it to you enthusiastically enough.  When asked by Mr. Carter if he had advice to share with the rest of us about how to live life, Mr. Nettingham responded, "Treat your neighbor as you would treat yourself." 

When her dad died earlier this week, Deborah confirmed that her father never failed to heed his own advice.  He treated everyone with whom he interacted like they mattered, because they did.  He lifted everyone up. 

In so doing, he demonstrated unequivocally how much his life mattered...  

-AK