380th Bomb Group Association World War II Veterans Group   WE WENT TO WAR A Detailed History of the 380th Bombardment Group (H) in World War II

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to Glenn and Gary Horton for their superb contributions to the recording of the history of the 380^th Bomb Group (H) in the two volumes, KING OF THE HEAVIES and, particularly, BEST IN THE SOUTHWEST. These have been of invaluable help in the compilation of this work.

We are grateful to our Australian comrades, particularly Bob Alford and Russ Brooks, for their help with the Australian contingent of the 380^th and their work in completing that name list.

We acknowledge with gratitude the encouragement and help (both personal and financial) of Tom Hunt, President of the 380^th Bomb Group Association, which has made this work possible.

We are particularly indebted to Ms. Sue Goble of the Force Integration Division, U.S. Total Army Personnel Command, United States Army, Alexandria, Virginia, for her most willing service in providing us annotated copies of the pertinent U.S. Army personnel documents, which defined the MOS/SSN procedure during World War II. This allowed us to prepare the MOS/SSN data used here.

We acknowledge Purdue University for the use of their computers, printing, web resources, and library facilities in the pursuit of this project.  Without these our task would have been impossible.

The Frontispiece of this website is a chart of the World War II insignias of the 380^th Bomb Group (H) and its constituent squadrons as prepared by Francis R. (Johnny) Johnston, a regular artist for the 380^th Bomb Group Association, the veterans group of 380^th Bomb Group personnel. This chart has been extensively used by the 380^th Bomb Group Association as the cover for their newsletters.  Johnny Johnston served as tail gunner on the Baptist Crew (Crew 87) of the 531^st Bomb Squadron. The combat tour of the Baptist crew paralleled that of Magee (Crew 91) and they were also on the Amahai Mission. We are grateful to Johnny Johnston for this beautiful rendition of the insignias and for his kind permission to use it here.

The authors also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the patience, love, and forbearance of their spouses during the long hours, over many years, that the work presented herein entailed.