Retired Lt. Col. Lee Archer Jr. musters a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eyes before making a calm but confident assertion.

"Never forget and never forgive," Archer said.

Even in 2001, the World War II veteran has reason to feel anything but nostalgic about his career as a fighter pilot in a segregated U.S. Army Air Corps. Archer led one of the first flights of the celebrated Tuskegee Airman in 1941.

Don't get him wrong. Archer, 79, is proud to have served his country at a pivotal time for America. But, speaking to a youth-oriented audience at UC Riverside on Saturday, Archer said young folks can be glad that the U.S. military is more accepting of blacks today.

"Americans have selective memory," he said. "We've done some terrible things in the military. I tell young people every time not to let other people define you, tell you who you are. That has been the system of American history from slavery on."

Archer came from his home in New York to be a part of the reception being held in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first group of black aviators who fought during World War II. Archer came mostly because of the event's guest of honor, Lt. Col. Stayce Harris, who in February became the first black woman to command an Air Force Reserve flying squadron. Harris was appointed to the command of the 729th Airlift Squadron at March Air Reserve Base.

For Harris, it is clearly a different time for blacks in the military, a time far removed from the days of the Tuskegee Airmen, who faced harsh racism and segregation.

"It's a tribute to how America has emerged," Harris said. "And it has emerged because of men and women who were Tuskegee Airmen, and the example that they set and the barriers they tore through in order for people like me to be able to achieve the type of goals that I have in the military."

Archer said Harris' appointment is a result of decades worth of slow progress, started when he and others served some 60 years ago.

"Ten years ago, this would not have been possible," Archer said. "She had then about as much of a chance at being the commander of a flying squadron as a snowball has of surviving in hell. But things have changed."

As he prepared to give his speech, Archer couldn't resist imagining what things would have been like had he served today.

"Right now, I would love to be a young man now coming along after other old guys like myself," he said. "But, we're turning it over to young people now."

Harris has always been an admirer of the Tuskegee Airmen. Listening to Archer's presentation made her even more so, Harris said.

"I'm very amazed still at how courageous the Tuskegee Airmen were at that time," Harris said. "They were set up to fail. But they succeeded against all odds."

Realizing the theme of the day, third-grader Lorenzo Weiss said he can appreciate what the Tuskegee Airmen accomplished. The Sugar Hill Elementary School student even sounded a bit like Archer during a speech of his own.

"Stick to your principles and morals and don't quit," Lorenzo, 9, said.

Harris, noticing the link bonding three generations in the same room, said America and the military have learned from mistakes of the past.

"This is a reminder of our past and our culture and our history that is so important," Harris said.