Issue #84 | July 2021

In This Issue of Saving Military History One Soldier at a Time

Welcome to the July 2021 Newsletter. Happy Birthday America as we celebrate the 4th of July, Independence Day with our monthly newsletter. In this issue we bring you more highlights of our museums' collections. We relate the story by Robert Capa and his color photography. We bring you the 'file' on Lt. Fred Brewer, 332nd Fighter Group, Missing in Action. Herein is a story of a blimp taking on a German U-Boat and we say farewell to an old friend. We hope you enjoy this issue. Thank you for your support! Artifacts help tell the stories, money makes the engine run, please Donate Now! We tell history! Saving Military History One Soldier at a Time. Remember those that made the #ultimatesacrifice #mia #pow #kia #sonsofliberty. #patriots #army #navy #marines #aircorps #airforce #coastguard #merchantmarine; all those that have worn the cloth. Join us on this journey. In Their Memory, Robert Coalter, Jason Weigler Executive Directors   "Saving Military History One Soldier At A Time".SM  "Saving History One Soldier At A Time"SM

Visit Sons of Liberty Website

Visit Army Air Corps Library and Museum Website

A Memorial For A Friend

Recently, we lost a longtime friend and advisor to the Army Air Corps Museum. We honor him and his patriotic service to this country. June 12, 2021 Reid Waltman Today we mourn the passing of Reid Waltman, age 99. But we also celebrate his full life including his time as a Navigator in the 758th Bomb Squadron, 459th Bombardment Group. Reid was proud of his service. He enjoyed the history and talking to others about their service. I met Reid about 15 years ago. He contacted me via email because he had seen a web page on the Army Air Corps Museum web page that mentioned one of his pilots and he wanted to know how we made that happen.  I visited his home. He had already been doing years of research and was in communication with many veterans of the 459th and was active in their Association. That afternoon, we committed to building the first version of the www.459bg.org website and Reid would be the official webmaster. Reid relished this work adding much material to the website continuing to do so for many years. This is part of his legacy and wish that we should remember as many men of the 459th that we have been able to account for in the squadron rosters. He was a voracious reader and I would take him a dozen books each time I visited; as long as they were primarily about the B-24s and 15th AF in the Mediterranean. I would try to sneak some other interesting stories by him on occasion and we would have some lively discussions on many topics. I shall miss our visits and long telephone conversations.  We will remember you and the men of the 459th. Fair Winds, You Are Right On Course My Friend. Robert Coalter

Reid Walttman 6/10/1921 - 6/12/2021

Missing in Action & Buried Unknowns

There are still thousands classified as Missing in Action or as Buried Unknowns. In our partnership with the MIA Recovery Network we have established data on our websites regarding MIAs. We are in the process of cataloging research materials instrumental to the researcher and families in this search. The quest to account for those of our nation's Missing in Action is one of the most noble of endeavors. There are also a large number of recovered remains that are buried in ABMC cemeteries where the identity is unknown.   The recovery of MIAs pose a number of challenges. For example, Navy or Merchant Marine ships that were sunk in are unrecoverable and thus ship manifests are the primary and often only source of names for those that have perished but are still accounted for as Missing In Action.   Each conflict has had its own challenges. At the end of World War II the military had established more than 360 temporary cemeteries, but the dead were being found continually, in farm fields, forests, small church cemeteries, and isolated graves and the shores of combat zones. These dead were collected and the remains consolidated into the fourteen permanent European, Mediterranean, and North African Cemeteries maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission, and two permanent cemeteries in the Philippines and Hawaii.

Lt Fred Brewer    US Army Air Forces 100th Fighter Squadron 332nd Fighter Group

How do you build a MIA case file? For the Army Air Forces you started with a Missing Air Crew Report known as a MACR. These reports detailed the aircraft and crew, next of kin and eyewitness reports by other members of their group or squadron along with other facts. These reports could be 2 to 70 pages in size depending upon the information that was available and had been obtained. Following are a group of data points that zero in on the high points for the case file for Lt. Fred Brewer. All of this is a good example of document-forensics. Followed up with bodies, artifacts and DNA matching leads to a successful conclusion.

Figure 1.(above). MACR excerpt noting the last known position of 2LT Brewer’s P51C aircraft, the date and time of loss, and the machine gun serial number of the left wing’s second .50 caliber machine gun.

Figure 2. X-File (X-125 Mirandola) excerpt detailing the .50 caliber machine gun serial number. An X-file is the designation of a buried-unknown along containing facts and observations of the recovery of an unidentified body/remains.

Figure 3. Witness testimony of the Mayor of Maggio Udinese, concerning the remains of X-125 Mirandola. Mr. Sanitario states that the date and time of the crash was on 29 October 1944, at 11 A.M, and he believed that it was a fighter plane with one occupant.

Figure 4. Straight line distance from 2LT Brewer’s last known position, 3.5 miles northwest of Dellach, Austria, to Moggio Udinese, Italy, the location of recovery for X-125 Mirandola, is approximately 19 miles.

Excerpted from: "Known But to God; America’s 20th Century Wars and the Search to Recover the Missing" by Kenneth Breaux. Due out in mid-2021.

The New Cinema

In November 2020 we launched our own virtual cinema. Another way to describe it is it's our own Netflix. We have started out with 130 combat films represented by 209 clips and 1436 minutes of footage. We will continue to add to the cinema as we have a lot of material and we will be generating much more for you to see. This is a subscription service of $14.95/month. Take a few minutes and go see what's "Now Showing" and decide if you want to signup and start watching. Go now ! Sons of Liberty Virtual Cinema

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Sons of Liberty Museum The Sons of Liberty has hundreds of uniforms and thousands of other artifacts in our collection from the U.S. Civil War to Present day. Our web presence now numbers in excess of 325,000 pages. We continue to accept new material for education and research programs; a number of these items will make their way on to the website. Our collection includes memorabilia from the front line soldier to the rear echelon clerk. Drivers, infantrymen, pilots, tankers, seaman, medical, artillery, armorers, engineers, quartermasters and much more. Those that were drafted or volunteered; those that did a single tour or made it a career. Those that returned with all types of injuries and those that gave their full measure being killed in action (KIA). All MOS are welcome from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines. We are Saving Military History One Soldier At A Time. We are honoring the service of the Citizen Soldier. #sonsofliberty

Charles Anthony Allen Project Delta. Special Forces Detachment B-51, Vietnam Fatigue Shirt Charles Anthony Allen 2 June 1931 24 April 2003

Chuck Allen and Delta By Jim Tolbert Special Project Delta, Detachment B-52, 5th Special Forces Group, Vietnam, was an intelligence gathering organization with the primary mission of recon. It existed from 1964 to 1970. During that time, it had no less than 17 commanders, ranked Captain thru LTC. The average time these individuals spent in command of Delta was five months. I served under eight of these men. Of these, Charles A. (Chuck) Allen, later LTC retired, and now deceased, was head and shoulders above the rest. His call sign was BRUISER. Allen was a no nonsense individual when it came to operations. The mission came first, and whatever it took, he gave. He required the same of those under him. On an operation out of Khe Sahn, at a time when officers were recon team leaders, a young, newly assigned officer radioed Bruiser in the C&C ship to tell him he had left his weapon on the chopper. He asked for extraction. Bruiser's answer was, "cut a fucking spear and continue the mission". He left that officer on the ground 7 days without a weapon. A team member later said he carried a hand grenade throughout the entire patrol. This same young officer learned a hard lesson, and went on to became an outstanding soldier. Allen later awarded him a Silver Star for an action with the Rangers. Chuck Allen was a big easygoing feller. He weighed in at around 250 pounds, and not an ounce of fat anywhere. He always had that innocent looking almost juvenile expression on his face, as if he was the only one who didn't know what was going on. When he grinned, which was a lot, you could see he had chipped a tooth somewhere along the way, and this made him look even more like a big kid. But Allen knew more than most about all that mattered, and he conducted Delta's recon operations like he had written the book. It's true the SF NCO went on the ground, got down, and did the dirty dancing, but Charles Allen played the music, and he was never out of key. I served under then, Maj Allen, for 17 of the 18 months he was in Delta, and had never seen anyone rattle his cage. I had never really seen him get too excited about anything, until the night they refer to as, "Tears of Joy". The sun had already gone down that day; I was on CQ, and sitting in the orderly room reading. The LLDB were having a staff meeting in the rear of the building. All at once, the front door flew open, and in charged Bruiser. He was bent over holding his sides and crying as he ran by me toward his office. Scared the hell out of me, especially when I got a whiff of the CS Gas cloud that followed him in. Scared hell out of the LLDB too. When he broke into the office heading for the sink, it broke up their meeting. It was a good five minutes before he could talk well enough to tell me what had happened. Someone put a CS grenade in the return air vent at the officer's club. Delta Project achieved its highest level of success under Chuck Allen, who served 18 months there. He was assigned to the project as DCO/S3 when Major James Asente was CO, became the commander in July 1967 at the FOB at Ahn Hoa, and served in that position longer than any other commander. Although Delta was adequately staffed with competent operational personnel, Allen took personal charge of every insertion/extraction, flying over 1500 missions in the Command and Control aircraft. During his time as commander; Project Delta received the Presidential Unit Commendation, Valorous Unit Commendation, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Navy Unit Commendation, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm, Civic Action Medal 1st Class, and Civic Action Honor Medal. Several of these commendations were awarded to the Project twice. And Allen was awarded a Silver Star while he commanded Delta Project. LTC Charles A. Allen (Ret) died at age 71 in 2003 from complications of bone disease. He was recovering from a stroke, following removal of one leg, had a heart attack, and died in Cape Fear Valley Hospital, Fayetteville, North Carolina.

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Volunteers We need volunteers to transcribe award and roster documents. You will place the material into a spreadsheet where it will be added to our database and website. We welcome new dedicated volunteers to work from home and help us with this project! Interesting Links & Resources Researching History: https://www.sonsoflibertymuseum.org/military-history-records.cfm Honor Roll: https://www.sonsoflibertymuseum.org/honor.cfm Donations We welcome donations of papers, books, photos, gear, uniforms, jackets, medals, ribbons, weapons, equipment, scrapbooks, biographies, diaries and more. Please Contact Us Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Cold War, Gulf War and current conflict donations accepted. From small to large multi-item donations, they all tell a story. We need you ! We need your help to further our mission of preserving and bringing this history to you and your families. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit your qualifying donations are tax deductible.

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Army Air Corps Museum The Air Corps Museum online presence encompasses over 225,000 web pages with thousands of photos and other materials. Our artifact collection contains hundreds of uniforms, albums, logs, medals and more from the Army Air Service, Army Air Forces and U.S. Air Force. World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Cold War, Gulf War and current conflict donations welcome! Volunteers We need volunteers to transcribe documents, placing the material into a spreadsheet. We welcome new dedicated volunteers to help us with this project! Work from home. Interesting Links & Resources Trace a Family Members Military Service: https://www.armyaircorpsmuseum.org/veteran-research.cfm Honor Roll: https://www.armyaircorpsmuseum.org/honor_roll.cfm Donations We welcome donations of papers, books, photos, gear, uniforms, jackets, medals, ribbons, weapons, equipment, scrapbooks, biographies, diaries, letters and more. Please Contact Us You can make monetary donations. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit your qualifying donations are tax deductible.

A recent addition to the collection, this painted A-2 jacket patch for the 301st Bombardment Group, 352nd Squadron.

Vega - Lockeed The Vega plant produced approximately 2700 B-17 Flying Fortresses during World War II. This is a beautiful armband patch.

1st Lieutenant Reid Waltman Navigator 459th Bombardment Group World War II James Thomas Weather Officer, 98th Bomb Wing, 9th Air Force 306th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force World War II. Motto: "coelum ad proelium elige" "Choose the Weather For Battle"

Items have a story, what tale do yours tell? 

Historical Studies

To Battle in a Blimp:  The K-74 trades blows with a U-Boat By Thomas Laemlein During 1942 and 1943, German U-Boats lurked off the east coast of the United States, and the Florida Straits proved a particularly fertile hunting ground for Nazi submarines. As the United States was caught relatively unprepared for war in December 1941, there were few resources available to defend America’s coastlines and the merchant shipping that hugged the coast. Developed in 1939 for the US Navy, the K-Craft blimp would become an important asset during the Second World War, patrolling for Nazi submarines and providing cover for Allied convoys.    The blimps were equipped with radar (ASG-type) and magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) equipment. The K-ships were armed with four Mk-47 depth bombs (carried in a bomb bay and on external pylons), as well as a .50 caliber Browning M2 machine gun in the front of the gondola car. A crew of 10 was standard, and necessary as the K-Ships would often remain aloft for more than 24 hours on anti-submarine or search and rescue missions. K-Ship patrols were generally long and uneventful, but one remarkable incident brought a blimp into combat with a surfaced U-Boat. On the night of July 18, 1943, the US Navy blimp K-74 (from Blimp Squadron ZP-21 based at NAS Richmond, Florida, Lieutenant Nelson Grills, pilot) was engaged in convoy escort duty over the Florida Straits. During this flight, K-74’s radar located a U-Boat running on the surface. As no American surface units were immediately available to engage the enemy and the U-boat was proceeding directly towards the convoy, K-74 decided to attack. After K-74’s depth bombs failed to release, the crew engaged the sub with their .50 caliber MG as well as small arms fired from the control car’s windows. Return fire from U-134’s 20mm AA guns knocked out one of K-74’s engines, punctured the gasbag in several places and wounded one crewman. In return, K-74’s fire damaged the submarine’s hull, rendering it unable to submerge. U-134 left the area, limping back to its base in France on the surface, crippled by damage to its main ballast tank. U-134 would never make it home. Unable to hide beneath the waves, the submarine was sunk by British bombers as she attempted to enter the Bay of Biscay.   As for K-74, the damaged blimp crashed into the sea. While the crew was in the water waiting for help to arrive, one of the wounded was attacked by sharks and disappeared. The rest of the crew tread water back-to-back with knives drawn, ready to fight off further shark attacks. Thankfully the US Navy destroyer Dahlgren soon arrived and the rest of K-74’s crew was rescued. K-74 was the only Navy blimp to be lost due to enemy action. The unlikely combat aircraft had done her job to the last, protecting the merchantmen that the U-boat was poised to strike, ultimately trading one blimp for one enemy sub.  Photo captions: (L to R)   1) Lighter-than-air convoy escort: US Navy blimp over merchant shipping, July 23, 1942. 2) Escorts in tandem: US Navy blimp seen from the deck of a US Coast Guard convoy escort. 3) The good shepherd: A blimp hovers over a life raft with a smoke marker. 4) OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes and a blimp provide air cover for a convoy near the US east coast. 5) Surfaced U-boat under air attack 6) US Navy blimp base during WWII. 7) Blimp pilots at work. Note the pencil sharpener mounted at the upper left. 8) Victory at sea: On May 14, 1945, U-858 surrendered to the US Navy just off the coast of Cape May, New Jersey. A blimp floats serenely above, quietly celebrating the victory.

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www.32ndbombsquadron.org We have rescued this website. It was available for many years. The creator passed in 2016 and the website disappeared. Fortunately, we had a copy of the site and have recreated it in his and all the other 32nd Squadron members memory. re-launched November 2020. Read one story below and others on the website. Visit the 32ndBombSquadron.org

ROBERT CAPA'S "A SHORT TRIP TO FRANCE" December 5, 1942 Last night, Flying Fortresses raided the Nazi submarine base at St. Nazaire. These giant bombers are rapidly becoming as well known over here as in America. ROBERT CAPA here tells in words and pictures the story of one such raid by the Forts of the 301st Bomb Group and the 32nd Bomb Squadron from a base somewhere in England. Three and a half years ago, these boys who are now flying the Fortresses knew very little about Europe and crises and Hitler; little about France and nothing about Flying Fortresses. They knew, perhaps, that their fathers had had a good time in France and some of them may have thought that when they had finished their time in college, they would make a short trip there. Then, one day in September, 1939, while listening to the radio, an announcement between a Bob Hope programme and the latest football results told them that war had broken out again. They didn’t pay too much attention to it, however, and spent the next nine months just as they had always done. Then the newspaper headlines and the radio grew frantic again. France had fallen and England was about to go, too; nothing but the Atlantic, it seemed, separated that bad man from America. The boys were still more interested in their football games and their girlfriends, but went and joined the American Army Air Force. They were eager to learn their jobs and did much flying above the high mountains of California and the plains of the Middle West, learning to drop dummy bombs correctly and exactly on dummy targets. Then one day the radio ceased to broadcast football results and their girlfriends were left waiting in vain early that Sunday morning the Japs had attacked Pearl Harbour and on the following day America was at war with the Axis. Many of those young men were already stationed in Pacific bases and were killed on the very first day. Others took off from their bases to patrol Pacific waters, praying for the opportunity of having a crack at enemy submarines. They were still patrolling when they heard the story of Captain Colin P. Kelly, who had been training with them at the same airfield and who had dived his aircraft straight at the Japanese Battleship, becoming the first hero of the new American Army Air Force. They were mad with rage and boiling to get into the battle themselves. Finally, came the order to get ready, but instead of flying west the formation took off towards the east, and two days later they landed on the grey, cold coast of Newfoundland. After a short rest they took off again. And twelve hours later they were having breakfast with the old-timers of the R.A.F. in England. Talking with the boys in the blue uniforms soon made them realise what it meant to have been at war for three years. They heard the names of Kiel, Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Essen, Brest and St. Nazaire. Soon after that, they learned much more; they quickly prepared for operations and went to Abbeville, Lille, and Meaulte. One plane was lost and they shot down ten and probably nine enemy aircraft. It gave them pleasure to look at the photographs of their bombs bursting in the middle of the targets it really seemed then that the American eagle had joined the British Lion. Often they had been called in the middle of the night for briefing, and then bad weather has made flying impossible, and the raid has had to be cancelled. On one occasion their disappointed faces were too much for the colonel. Never mind boys, you get a credit for that mission, said the colonel. How's that, Colonel? Asked one of the sergeants. "It has been laid down that any one that gets briefed gets credit for a mission, even if he doesn't go"; said the colonel. That credit sure hits the hell out of the Germans, don't it colonel? They returned to the mess, picked up the packs of well-used playing cards, re-read for the twentieth time their last letter from home, and put on again the worn-out record of From the Mountains of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli. At the following morning the crews were briefed again. The same colonel got up and said; "Your attention, please," And then went on. "This afternoon when you return you will find an officer standing here by this black-board. You will report your arrival so that we can arrange for interrogating you. You will kindly wait for interrogation in the room where the coffee and Scotch are served." "This is a very important target today...Regarding flak on the way in to the target... As to enemy fighters, you will encounter more than you have yet... The Germans can put ninety-five fighters in the air around the primary target... The fighters will be pretty bad around the secondary target, because they can put ninety-five single-engine fighters and fifty-five twin-engine fighters.. " "You will, of course, have heard about this target before - it is St. Nazaire. The R.A.F. have bombed it many times before, but it is more important now than ever before, since it is from St. Nazaire that the Nazi U-boats go out to attack the convoys to North Africa." For the fraction of a moment the boys' faces were grave and serious. Then, with typical American nonchalance they strolled back to the mess to await the announcement which would send them hurrying to their aircraft. They seemed to be extraordinarily indifferent about it, both by action and word some of them sat down in their flying kit to the bridge games that they had been playing the night before. Then the face of one bombardier suddenly brightened. I have discovered the recompense for getting up early in the morning he declared to the mess at large. We can hear the evening radio programmes from California. Then everybody grew excited, as suddenly and unexpectedly they heard the voice of Bob Hope. For a moment the bridge and the mission ahead of them were forgotten, and they crowded around the small radio set to listen to the programme. Then the announcement: To your planes, drowned the radio programme, and a moment or so later, the voice of Bob Hope was cracking jokes to an empty and silent mess-room. From the control tower I watched them taking off. Beside me was the intelligence officer who, in the war of 1914 - 18, was a flying ace with the famous Lafayette Squadron. We saw the shining Fortresses taking off one by one, with the regularity of soldiers at a parade ground drill. Then he turned to me and said "The way those kids get on with the job, without any gestures or fuss, makes us the adventurers and heroes of the last war very envious, and very proud." They come back, sometimes with one engine turning, or landing in the drink, but they always come back, like the 32nd Bomb Squadron's proverbial "Bad Penny". When the interrogation is over they don't say much about what they have been through. Last time one of the ground crew couldn't hold himself back any longer and stowed away in one of the Fortresses. We never would have found out if the plane hadn't landed in the drink in mid-Channel. He saved half of the crew. We had to punish him a little of course but at the same time we recommended him for a decoration. It was not long before the Fortresses returned from their short trip. There were some holes in the machine, but none was missing. The pilot of the "Bad Penny", climbing out of the plane, recognized me and grinned broadly. He said "After this is over, the longest trip I'll ever take will be from my house to the nearest river on my bicycle, with my fishing gear on my back." Before sailing for Britain Capa made a deal with The Saturday Evening Post, because the Post published both black-and-white and colour photographs, in the hope of luring readers away from the monochrome Life magazine." (He had worked for Life previously, but had fallen out with them about their reluctance to publish colour photographs and their lack of respect for his ability). "During his 1942-1943 stay in Britain - at which time Capa was working for Collier's Weekly Magazine, which also published colour photographs - Capa often carried two 35mm cameras, one of them loaded with colour film. He sometimes switched back and forth so quickly that the only differences between the resulting images is the element of colour." "Once Capa arrived in Sicily to cover the allied invasion, in July 1943, he abandoned his use of colour film for the rest of the war." The photo of Wabash Cannon Ball is one of his many Colour photos taken during the war. Visit the 32ndBombSquadron.org Page And read more stories

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Make a $ Donation to the Army Air Corps Library and Museum Thank You For Your Support ! Make a $ Donation To the Sons of Liberty Museum Thank You For Your Support !

---- What is Liberty ? ---- "definition. the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views."  Merriam-Webster defines it as " the power to do as one pleases, the freedom from physical restraint and freedom from arbitrary or despotic control. ---- So what is a Son of Liberty? ---- In our context and beginning these were the men and women in America who wanted the freedom from the King of England. They desired a right of self-determination for their lives.  They fought for this liberty and codified it in the Constitution of a new country.  To keep this liberty they created a military to ward off the any would-be belligerent. For 244 years the men and women who have worn the cloth of our nation's military are the Sons of Liberty.  They have fought enemies in other nations, they have fought each other and they have stood as sentinels of the watch.   We celebrate the service of these individuals, we tell the historical story of these selfless patriots. ---- The Sons of Liberty Museum ---- Over a decade ago we chose a name for this organization and our sister the Army Air Corps Library and Museum. We believe these names accurately describe these men and women who serve. We will not change any name to satisfy a radical viewpoint or computer algorithm, we don't allow for any revisionist history, we tell the factual stories. We are Saving Military History One Soldier at a Time.

Need a Good Book? Check out these titles.

I was a navigator in the 459 Bomb Group 758 Bomb Squadron flying B-24's from Torre Giulia Field, tower named 'Coffee Tower', a gravel airfield near Cerignola, on the Foggia Plains of Southeastern Italy during the period August 4, 1944 to May 16, 1945. I flew 50 combat missions over targets in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia and Northern Italy. Project Option: 6×9 in, 15×23 cm # of Pages: 386 IsbnSoftcover: 9781714032860 Publish Date: Dec 12, 2019 Buy It $24.99 Most aircraft of World War II had pictures of sexy girls, tributes to sweethearts, songs and home. The planes were fondly referred to in a feminine manor. That was not the case with this B-17 tail number 42-25233. He was Rigor Mortis. This is the story of Rigor Mortis and his men who flew over 120 missions from North Africa and Italy in 1943 and 1944. Project Option: 8×10 in, 20×25 cm # of Pages: 382 IsbnSoftcover: 9781714727803 Publish Date: Apr 20, 2020 Buy It $29.95

A Novel of MACVSOG in Vietnam. By Gene Pugh a Special Forces Recon Team Member. Get Your Copy From Amazon for $21.95. Surrender Not an Option Survivors guilt is not the only thing that is bothering Allen Purvis. He has to relive in his mind the battles in a denied area when he was assigned to MACVSOG the ultimate secret organization during the Viet Nam war. He is put to the test when he commands his friends to sacrifice themselves to save the others of the unit. Wendy Salas, nurse at the 95th Evacuation Hospital sees the horrors of the war everyday. Her pain is personal. A chance meeting on R&R in Hong Kong brings these two people together as soul mates in a hope that one of them can save the other. Purvis like the others wondered why they were saved and the answer was there all the time. Paperback : 312 pages ISBN-10 : 1539108333 ISBN-13 : 978-1539108337 Dimensions : 6 x 0.71 x 9 inches Gene is a member of our advisory board.

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By Tom Laemlein Read More & Order Your Copy Tom is a member of our advisory board. Many of the photos and illustrations in this book, some of them in color, are strong enough to be displayed in full page format. The images deliver the gritty details of USAAF armaments’ use down to their nuts and rivets, and the high-velocity rounds they fired. This is a unique photo-study, with many of the photos never-before published. U.S.A.A.F. Aircraft Weapons of WWII This book focuses on the war-winning weaponry of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. With 144 pages containing more than 250 photos it offers stunning visual details of the machine guns, cannons, bombs, and rockets carried into battle by USAAF bombers, fighters, and attack aircraft.Many of the photos and illustrations in this book, some of them in color, are strong enough to be displayed in full page format. The images deliver the gritty details of USAAF armaments’ use down to their nuts and rivets, and the high-velocity rounds they fired. This is the first photo-history of its kind, with many of the photos never-before published. Combat conditions dictated that many aircraft were adapted into roles for which they were not designed. As necessity is the mother of invention, aircraft were modified in both their roles and their armament. B-25s became ground attackers, A-20s became night fighters, and every wartime USAAF fighter was adapted to carry bombs. 301st Bombardment Group DVD Enjoy this history of the 301st Bombardment Group in World War II with this discovered archival film footage. The first footage is in North Africa where the 301st moved after a short beginning in England. From Maison Blanche to Biskra, Algeria in 1942-1943 then Lucera, Italy in 1944 and many missions in between. Watch the men on the ground and in the air with both black and white and color footage. There are also some scenes with sound. Listen to the commanders recap the North African Campaign and a crew interview. Watch the mission to bring back repatriated POWs. View the destruction of war on the enemy at the various targets of the 12th and 15th AF heavy bomber units. View some great color footage of General Spaatz and General Eaker in the desert of North Africa. Listen to Generals Eisenhower, Spaatz and Doolittle talk about the Tunisian Campaign. Watch the bombs drop on missions including the oil fields and production facilities at Ploesti, Romania. View destruction on the ground. Watch as liberated POWs of the 15th AF are brought back to Italy. This DVD contains a mixture of black and white and color film footage. There are a number of minutes that contain sound. Runtime: 218 Minutes (3 hours, 38 minutes). Price: $39.99 Read More and Order

Museum Projects

MIAs - Missing in Action We have information on over 90,000 MIAs. This includes most all the World War II MIAs and some from World War I, Korea, Vietnam and the Cold War. With our strategic partners, the MIA Recovery Network, we want to tell the last chapter in the life of these Citizen Soldiers. We would also like your help in telling the first chapters of the lives of those still Missing in Action. Do you have service photos of a family member that is or was MIA? News articles? Service related material? Material on Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines MIAs: https://www.sonsoflibertymuseum.org/missing-in-action/ Air Corps: https://www.armyaircorpsmuseum.org/missing-in-action/ X-Files - Buried Unknowns There are many citizen soldiers whose body was recovered, but they are unidentified. There are thousands of these unknowns buried in American Battle Monument Cemeteries around the world. They are also known as X-Files. Material on Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines X-Files can be found: https://www.sonsoflibertymuseum.org/buried-unknowns/ https://www.armyaircorpsmuseum.org/buried-unknowns/

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Awards, Rosters Unit Documents We need you ! A continued big thanks to our fantastic army of volunteers. We have much more so if you can type and have a couple hours each week we can use you ! Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force We have received material on many units and are hoping to compile much more. Unit Citations, Awards, Transfers, Rosters Many groups received unit citations during their particular conflict. The paperwork, in triplicate, would include a roster of all assigned and attached personnel. We are seeking and requesting copies of those roster documents. Please search your papers, talk to your association and help us out with this information and get them to us pronto! Attention Website Owners & Veteran Associations Many WWII veterans organizations have shut. Many these organizations had developed some type of website, some with enormous amounts of data and history. Sadly, many had/have not made provisions for their website to be continued and thus when the bill stops being paid, the website disappears and all the work and information is lost. We want to help and we need you to help us. If you know of a disbanding group, please have them get in contact with us; we would like to bring their website and information under our wing. If they want to continue to maintain it we can give them access to continue that as well. One of our top goals for this and every year is to preserve this history not lose it! Not a WW2 unit? That's ok. We are also interested in your history and want to help preserve it. Korea, Vietnam and all other conflicts. If your organization has physical materials such as uniforms, patches, photos and other memorabilia do you have plans for them when you cease operations? We would be honored to be the custodian of your group's history. .

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Contact Sons of Liberty Museum www.SonsOfLibertyMuseum.org history@sonsoflibertymuseum.org   Army Air Corps Library and Museum   www.ArmyAirCorpsMuseum.org history@armyaircorpsmuseum.org   Directors' Line: 214.957.1393 We Need Your Permission If you wish to continue to receive our newsletters, do nothing; however, please help spread the word and share and like this with your friends and family and on social media. You can help us to preserve this history. If you DO NOT wish to continue to receive our newsletters, please use the 'Unsubscribe' links at the top or bottom of this newsletter. Thanks!