WASHINGTON -- The Tuskegee Airmen are being honored at the highest levels today.

Sixty years ago, they came home from World War II to a country that discriminated against them because they were black.

Images: Local Tuskegee Airmen

The legendary black aviators will receive a Congressional Gold Medal during a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda.

Roy Richardson will be one of several northeast Ohio Tuskegee Airmen to receive special citations from Congress and the President in Washington.

The Tuskegee Airmen were recruited into an Army Air Corps program on orders from President Franklin D. Roosevelt but were met with skepticism and racism. They amassed an impressive record of success escorting bombers on missions in Europe.

The medal for the airmen was made possible through legislation co-sponsored by U.S. Senator Carl Levin of Michigan.

It will go to the Smithsonian Institution for display. Individual airmen will get bronze replicas.

NewsChannel5's Leon Bibb is in Washington to provide special coverage of the Congressional Medal Ceremony.