Higginbotham, Mitchell, 1921-

Biography

Mitchell Higginbotham was born on March 2, 1921 in Amherst, Virginia. He began active duty in the United States military during the summer of 1942 and graduated at Tuskegee Army Air Field on February 1, 1945 as a member of class TE-44-K. Upon graduation he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and was an original member of the famed 477th Bomber Group. He remained on active duty in the military until 1946 and was a reserve from 1946 to 1962. After his military service ended, Higginbotham served as a registrar at the Pittsburg Airport for the Los Angeles Airport Advisory Committee, and was also a probation officer with the Los Angeles County Probation Department for nearly three decades. In 1996, Mitchell Higginbotham was honored as the "Man of the Year" by the Los Angeles Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.