William Jefferson Blythe Jr. lost control of his 1942 Buick on U.S. Route 60 outside of Sikeston, Missouri, after one of his car's tires blew out. He survived the accident after being thrown from the car, but drowned in a drainage ditch as he tried to pull his way out of the three feet (1 meter) of water in the ditch. Three months later, Blythe's widow, Virginia, gave birth to their son, whom she named William Jefferson Blythe III in honor of his father and grandfather. In 1950, Blythe's widow married Roger Clinton Sr.; 12 years later, Blythe's posthumous son legally adopted his stepfather's
Alexander Jefferson Alexander Jefferson Lt. Col. Alexander Jefferson (born November 15, 1921 in Detroit, Michigan), a retired US Air Force officer, famous as one of the Tuskegee Airmen, the 332nd Fighter Group. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. His book, "Red Tail Captured, Red Tail Free: Memoirs of a Tuskegee Airman and POW", is a personal memoir of those who served America in World War II and after. Jefferson was born in Detroit, Michigan, the eldest child of Alexander Jefferson and Jane White Jefferson. His maternal great-grandfather William Jefferson White was born to a slave woman