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The 384th (8th Air Force) History
To the old-timers those early days seem far away. Wendover....intense training overthe Salt Flats of Utah.... getting acquainted with the men of what was then a practically unknown organization... and finally the staffing area and a last look at the Statue of Liberty. If they seem far away it is largely because so much has happened...events that have made the 384th one of the proudest names in aerial combat. Less that three weeks after arriving at its overseas base the 384th had its baptism of fire. And scarcely a month away from final training in the United States it had half a dozen missions under its belt... tough missions that might have shaken a less determined organization. |
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Those first weeks of combat gave the 384th traditions that have remained with it through the scores of missions that followed. In our first month of combat a lone riddled Fortress stayed in its low position absorbing the shock for the higher elements until it was forced to ditch in the North Sea. How many other planes were enabled to come back by that can never be told, but when the crew of the ditched Fortress, after 41 hours adrift, returned to this base, the pilot had one simple statement for the interrogators: "WE FLEW THE COURSE AS BRIEFED." Another tradition grew out of the Groups second mission. The formation went over Hamburg that day and when it finally showed up over the field again three aircraft were mission. Among them was one piloted by Major S. L. McMillin, the Group's deputy commander. The 384th clearly showed what it was made of. Then, one day, as the combat men assembled for another briefing, there was electrifying news. A postcard addresses simply " To my commanding Officer" had arrived from a German prison-of-war camp. It was the first voice we had heard from the wilderness of lost planes. It came from Major McMillin, and it put in plain words the slogan that was to guide the 384th in more fortunate months to come. |
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LETS KEEP THE SHOW ON THE ROAD |
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For Information on the Museum and Hours
of Operation Courtesy
of Steve and Linda Kay Dean
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