WASHINGTON — Growing up in segregated times, Charles “A-Train” Dryden never thought he would fly war planes for the U.S. military, much less win an award for doing so.

But there he was in the Capitol on Thursday, sitting at the feet of Abraham Lincoln’s statue, being honored alongside other Tuskegee Airmen for defending an America that hardly honored the black aviators when they came home from World War II.

“For all the unreturned salutes and unforgivable indignities ... I salute you for your service to the United States of America,” President Bush said as he bestowed the Congressional Gold Medal.

Before a crowd packed into the sun-filled Capitol Rotunda, the president raised his right hand to his forehead in salute.

Some 300 of the retired aviators — most of them well into their 80s — stood and saluted back.

“We are so overjoyed,” said retired Capt. Roscoe Brown Jr., one of the six Tuskegee Airmen who accepted the medal on behalf of the entire group. “We are so proud today, and I think America is proud today.”

Nearly 1,000 fighter pilots trained as a segregated Army Air Corps unit at the Tuskegee, Ala., air base. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had overruled his top generals and ordered that such a program be created.

Even after they were admitted, many commanders continued to believe the black airmen didn’t have the intelligence, courage and patriotism to do what was being asked of them.

Not allowed to practice or fight with their white counterparts, the Tuskegee Airmen distinguished themselves by painting the tails of their airplanes red, which led to them becoming known as the “Red Tails.”

Hundreds saw combat throughout Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, escorting bomber aircraft on missions and protecting them from the enemy. Dozens died in the fighting; others were held prisoners of war.

“You caused America to look in the mirror of its soul and you showed America that there was nothing a black person couldn’t do,” said Colin Powell, a retired Army general and Bush’s former secretary of state. Powell, who is black, thanked the airmen for paving the way for his career.

Dryden, 86, a retired lieutenant colonel from Atlanta, expressed mixed feelings that the honor came so long after the war and that many of his colleagues died without knowing that Americans appreciate their service.

Just a couple of days ago, he said, a fellow pilot was hospitalized in Atlanta and couldn’t be at the ceremony.

“So many of the guys have passed on,” he said.

Dryden recalled his pride in returning from Africa and Europe after serving in Tuskegee’s original 99th Fighter Squadron, only to be stationed in Walterboro, S.C., where he saw German prisoners of war get privileges in theaters and cafeterias that were denied to black soldiers.

“That was the low point of my career,” said Dryden, who uses a wheelchair.

Thursday’s medal has helped convince him that the country recognizes the airmen’s contributions.

“It’s really something,” he said at an honorary breakfast before heading off to the ceremony.

Congress has awarded gold medals to more than 300 individuals and groups since giving the first one to George Washington in 1776. Originally, they went only to military leaders, but Congress broadened the scope to include authors, entertainers, notables in science and medicine, athletes, humanitarians, public servants and foreign officials.

The medal for the airmen, made possible through legislation by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and signed last year by Bush, will go to the Smithsonian Institution for display. Individual airmen will receive bronze replicas.

“It means a lot to a lot of people,” said Ret. Maj. George M. Boyd, 80, of Wichita, Kan., a Tuskegee pilot and adjutant who served 28 years in the military, including in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam. “There was so much resting on our success or failure.”