In This Issue of
Saving Military History One Soldier at a Time
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Welcome to the October 2021 Newsletter.
From trainees to Admirals, this issue has it all. This son or daughter in-service banner hangs in the window of many a proud parent, this one was from the Huber's window. Each blue star seen denoted the number of children serving as mother and father awaited their return.
We've added quite a bit to the websites in the past month, look at the artifact sections and then check the photo albums. We will be having quite a few more additions between now and the end of the year so stay tuned and share with your friends and family.
Thank you for your support!
Artifacts help tell the stories, money makes the engine run, please
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
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Missing in Action & Buried Unknowns |
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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.
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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 !
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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. Revolutionary 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
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Admiral William James Crowe, Jr.
US Navy
Served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under two presidents and Ambassador to the United Kingdom under a third.
Graduate of the United States Naval Academy in 1947.
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Warren Buhl
101st Airborne, Support Command
Vietnam
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Lt. Colonel Zebulon L. Strickland
Commanding Officer
552nd AAA Gun Battalion
World War II, Europe
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Daniel Koffler
8th Cav, 1st Cavalry Division
World War II
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Captain Wilbur Harvey
Chaplain. Vietnam
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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
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
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.
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John Huber
Bombardier 44th Bombardment Group, 506th Bomb Squadron, 8th Air Force,
World War II.
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Patches of various commands of the Army Air Forces. The four along the bottom both black and blue background were aviation cadet patches. |
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Patches of all of the Army Air Forces commands during World War Ii. |
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Ray Hayes
13th Air Force
Souveniers of World War II.
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Warren Reifsteck
Tech Rep training, World War II.
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James Scritchfield
307th Bombardment Group, 13th Air Force, World War II.
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William Lee
Gunnery and Air Crew Training
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A pair of Distinguishing Unit Insignia of the 2nd Bombardment Group made by H.S. Meyer of New York. |
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Top: A pair of Distinguishing Unit Insignia from the 1st Fighter Group. Officers would wear them on the middle of the epaulets of their dress uniform and Enlisted and NCO personnel would wear on the lower lapels of their uniform jacket. |
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Top: Distinguishing Insignia of the 5th Bombardment Group.
The Bomber Barons.
Bottom: Enamel Army Air Corps insignia.
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Top to Bottom:
Sweetheart Bombardier Pin, Pilot Instructors wing that is sewn on the lower sleeve / cuff of uniform. (3) smaller Gunner wings to be worn on the shirt. Service Pilots Wings for the uniform jacket.
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Items have a story, what tale do yours tell?
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The Curtiss Hawk 75: Born in America and flown around the world
By Thomas Laemlein
The Curtiss Hawk 75 (also called the P-36 in the USAAF) heralded a new generation of American fighters. An all-metal monoplane design, the Hawk was powered with a 950 horsepower Wright Cyclone radial engine. The Hawk was light on the controls and its low wing-loading made it very maneuverable.
Even so, the Curtiss P-36 is not well known for its service in America. While it was quickly accepted into service in 1937, it was also quickly replaced by Curtiss’ subsequent design: the P-40 Warhawk.
On the morning of December 7, 1941, in the skies above Pearl Harbor, the P-36 saw its only action in American service. Five P-36A fighters were able to get airborne and scored two of the first US aerial victories of WWII, downing two Japanese Mitsubishi Zero fighters for the loss of one of their own.
But this was not the first time the American-made Hawk had fought the Axis. More than two years earlier, on September 20,1939, French Sergeant André-Armand Legrand recorded the first aerial kill by the Western Allies when he shot down a Bf109E over the French-German border. Legrand was flying a Hawk 75A-1, one of the 316 Curtiss fighters sold to the French by early 1940. By the time that France fell in June 1940, French Hawk 75 pilots claimed 230 kills, while losing just 29 Hawks to the Luftwaffe. The Hawk 75 accounted for less than 15% of the French fighter force, and still tallied nearly 25% of all French victories in the 1940 campaign.
After the French Armistice, several squadrons of Hawk 75s served in the Vichy French Air Force, fighting in Syria as well as in the short Vichy French war with Thailand (October 1940 through January 1941). In a strange twist of fate, the American-supplied Hawk 75s engaged in combat with US fighters during Operation Torch in November 1942. Vichy Hawks battled US Navy F4F Wildcats, losing 15 of their own while downing 7 Wildcats.
The Hawk 75 continued in service in many nations in the global air war of WWII:
British & Commonwealth forces: The Hawk 75 (called Curtiss Mohawk in RAF service) fought the Japanese over Burma with the RAF and battled the Italians over East Africa with the South African Air Force.
The Netherlands: After Holland fell to the Germans in the spring of 1940, Hawk 75s flew in defense of the Dutch East Indies during the Japanese invasion of 1941-1942.
Nationalist China: Two squadrons of Hawk 75 fighters saw limited service with the Chinese as they fought against the Japanese invasion.
Finland: The Finns were starved for modern aircraft in their fight against the Soviet Union, and they purchased 44 Hawk fighters from Germany’s stocks of captured Curtiss fighters. The Finns used the Hawk 75 quite well (nicknaming it “Sweetheart”) downing nearly 200 Soviet aircraft for a loss of just 15 Hawks by the end of 1944.
Photo captions (L to R:
1) USAAF P-36 Hawks in experimental camouflage patterns during the war games of 1941.
2) The Curtiss Hawk P-36A.
3) French Hawk: the Curtiss fighter performed well in combat against the Luftwaffe in the spring of 1940.
4) The end in France: Hawk 75 abandoned in June 1940.
5) US troops examine captured Vichy French Hawk 75s in North Africa during December 1942.
6) Arctic Hawk: A Finnish Hawk 75A-3 hunting for Soviet warbirds. Via SA-Kuva
7) Finnish Sweetheart: The Hawk 75 performed well in Finnish service, earning the affection of FAF pilots. Via SA-Kuva
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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.
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Patches of the 32nd Bomb Squadron, 301st Bombardment Group, 301st ARS (Aerial Refuleing Squadron) and 301st BG/Wings Association Patches |
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Patches of the 301st Website "Who Fears" and of the 352nd, 353rd and 419th Squadrons. |
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Preserve This History, Honor the Service, Provide Education For Future Generations |
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Thank You For Your Support ! |
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Thank You For Your Support ! |
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---- 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.
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Need a Good Book?
Check out these titles.
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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
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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
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A Novel of MACVSOG in Vietnam. By Gene Pugh a Special Forces Recon Team Member.
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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
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.
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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
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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:
Air Corps:
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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:
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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!
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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
Army Air Corps Library and Museum
Directors' Line: 214.957.1393
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