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 December 2009
Mission Update! News from the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum |
Vol 12, Issue 1 |
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175 Bourne Ave
Pooler, GA 31322
912.748.8888
Open daily 9:00 a.m - 5:00 p.m.
(Closed New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving & Christmas) |
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Upcoming Holiday Hours of Operation |
The Museum will be closing at 2 pm on December 24th for Christmas Eve. We will be closed December 25th for Christmas Day.
The Museum will be closing at 2 pm on December 31st for New Years Eve. We will be closed on January 1, 2010 for New Years Day. |
| Christmas on the Homefront |
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On Saturday, December 5, 2009 from 10 am to 4 pm the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum will be holding Christmas on the Home Front. Christmas on the Home Front focuses on the way families and military troops celebrated Christmas during World War II. These home front activities are FREE & great for ages 3 to 13.
Activities Include:
- creating Christmas cards, (construction paper, old greeting cards, and
 scissors will be provided for the activity)
- stringing popcorn and cranberries to decorate a tree
- cookie decorating with an emphasis on rationing during WWII and learning about the kinds of treats eaten during the war
- learning how the men of the 8th AF helped English children celebrate Christmas
Appointments are also available for any group, please call Heather Thies, Education Director at 912-748-8888 ext 106 or e-mail her at education@mightyeighth.org for more information. |
| Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony |
The Fleet Reserve Association, JJ Burke Branch 215, and the Savannah Council of the Navy League will be hosting this memorial service. The ceremony will be held on Sunday, December 6th from 2 pm to 3 pm in the Museum's rotunda, it is open to the public and everyone is encouraged to attend.
Photograph from Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony 2008
From left, Leon Stebord, Earl Sheppard and Robert Taylor, of the Chapter 671 Vietnam Veterans of America, salute to the symbolic "Missing Soldier"
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| Honor Tree |
 Each year, the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum displays the "Honor Tree" in the Museum's Rotunda. The giant lighted tree is filled with photographs of Veterans and Active Duty Military. To honor your loved one who is currently serving in the military or is a veteran, send us a picture by email marketing@mightyeighth.org or mail a copy of the photo (the photograph will not be returned) to the Museum: 175 Bourne Ave, Pooler GA 31322 ATTN: Honor Tree. Be sure to include the name of the soldier. The Honor Tree will be on display November 25, 2009 through January 10, 2010. |
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"City of Savannah" |
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Contribute to the B-17 Project!
The B-17 "City of Savannah" restoration process is moving along nicely. Volunteers' sweat has gotten us through the first stage of the project - now we are going to need significant financial backing to begin the acquisition of the parts necessary to restore the plane to its full combat configuration.
You can be a part of history and the
Museum's B-17 Project.
The Museum appreciates all financial gifts, and for $100 or more you will receive a certificate of participation, suitable for framing, which recognizes your part in this historic Museum event.
Please make all checks payable to
"B-17 Project" and mail to:
Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum
P. O. Box 1992
Savannah, GA 31402.
If you would like to pay by credit card, please call Tameka Ford at
912-748-8888 ext 101. | |
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Upcoming Features!
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Be sure to see our next edition of the "Mission Update!" online newsletter for the latest news, "What's New in the Archives", "World War II Memorial Updates", and much more.
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Museum Staff
Brenda Elmgren
Director of Development
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| Make your Donation Count! |
Would you like to make your donation to the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum work harder? If your company has a matching gift program, you can double the impact of your contribution. Matching your gift is simple; ask your human resources department if your company has a matching gift program. Most companies have a short form that you need to complete and send in with your donation. That's all there is to it! The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum will do the rest.
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| Call for Volunteers |
Do you have a few spare hours? Need something fun and exciting to do? Do you enjoy meeting people from all over the country and World? 
If you answered yes to any of these questions, the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum is the perfect place for you to volunteer your time.
For more information on becoming
a volunteer contact:
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| Museum Update
Henry Skipper |
Over six and a half decades have passed since the young warriors of the Mighty Eighth Air Force stood on foreign soil to defend liberty and human dignity under the most critical circumstances. Our nation and its resources had been divided, not from within, but through the circumstances of two very different wars on two very different battlefields, against two very different enemies. To our west was the war in the Pacific waged at sea and on tiny atolls that might have seemed unimportant to many at the time. And to our east was the war in Europe, where the Mighty Eighth would stand firm against Nazi aggression. Our nation may have been divided by geography, but not in spirit or purpose. The nation was knit together from within at the common point of freedom of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It was an intense time - far more than we had ever witnessed before and we were so thankful when our troops, those of whom the ultimate sacrifice was not required, came home.
This year of 2009 has been one of the most severe periods in American history. Granted, it pales in comparison to what our mothers and fathers or perhaps our grandparents experienced during the World War II years of the 1940s. And this great Museum, a tribute to those who offered their lives to preserve our freedom, has not escaped unscathed. While we have been challenged, we are also rewarded by the changes the Museum has undergone.
The staff of the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum joins me in thanking you because this year, even in the midst of national woes, many have stepped up once more to provide the financial support needed for the Museum to endure across the generations. Numerous supporters have been generous and for that, we are deeply grateful.
As we look at the "numbers" for this year, we find that some supporters, both big and small have decreased their donations by as much as one-half. Some have not been able to give at all. I'm asking you now to "pull out all the stops" and if you have not made your gift for 2009, please consider doing so now.
The entire staff of the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum joins me in thanking you for your faithfulness and support, and we wish you a happy holiday season. |
November Events at the Museum |
 Due to the weather a symbolic flag retirement ceremony was held by members of the American Legion Post 322 of West Chatham.
Children's Model Airplane Building Class
If you missed our November classes, the next Children's Model Airplane Building Classes will be held on Saturday, February 6, 2010.
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| The Mighty Eighth Store |
The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum Gift Store is a unique shopping experience. In it you will find everything from clothing, jewelry, and books to models, patches and pins, and collectibles found nowhere else in this area.
Click on the link below to begin shopping today.
Mighty Eighth Gift Mugs, comes with coffee or tea. Choose from a wonderful selection of mugs, prices start at $14.99
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On a Mission to Freidberg
by Dr. Vivian Rogers Price |
In 1995 the city of Valkenburg, The
Netherlands, presented this flight deck window to six members of Crew #784,
787th Bomb Squadron, 466th Bomb Group.
Fifty years earlier on 12 March 1945 this crew had set out on its 9th
mission. The target for that day was the
railroad marshalling yards at Freidberg,
Germany. The B-24 Liberator they flew had a history of
mechanical problems. Watching the crew
load the plane, their squadron commander jokingly told the pilot, Charles
Felts, "We'd appreciate it if you didn't bring this plane back."
This flight deck window from B-24J, serial number 44-40357
was presented to members of the Felts crew on 21 April 1995
by the City of Valkenburg, The Netherlands. It is now at the
Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum.
Charles Felts and his crew took
off, formed up, and headed toward the target without incident, but thirty-seven
minutes before bombs away an oil line broke at the number one engine. Oil leaked onto the wing and froze. Felts tried to feather the prop but
couldn't. It windmilled until the prop
shaft seized. Felts and his co-pilot, Edmond "Cody" Hall
managed to maintain control of the plane, and Edwin Kimmel, bombardier, successfully
released the bombs on target. As they
headed for home, the prop control on the number two engine went out and the
prop began to windmill. Felts successfully
feathered this prop. With only two
engines and severe drag from the one seized prop, their B-24 rapidly lost
airspeed and altitude. Felts dropped his
aircraft out of formation, and hoped they would be over friendly territory
before they had to bail out. When they
reached an altitude of only 8,500 feet, Felts asked his navigator, Charles
Dondes, where they were. Dondes
answered, "How the hell should I know, you have been flying this thing sideways
for the last hour!" After another five
minutes, the number four engine stopped.
At 5,000 feet Felts rang the bailout bell, and the entire crew bailed
out. They landed near Valkenburg in The
Netherlands. The U.S. 9th Army
was there, and the crew was safe inside American lines. Army sentries then guarded the B-24 that had
pancaked in a field outside the village
of Sibbe.
The Felts crew returned to Attlebridge
and flew an additional eight combat missions before Germany surrendered. The members of the crew were Charles Felts
(pilot), Edmond "Cody" Hall
(co-pilot), Charles Dondes (navigator), Edwin Kimmel (bombardier), Merritt
McLaughlin (flight engineer), Martin Tarlosky (nose gunner), Edward Weidner
(right waist gunner), Harry Bender (left waist gunner), Marvin Allard (radio
operator), Clinton Swanson (tail gunner).
The window is now in the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum's collection.
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More than just a Museum
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The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum takes the meaning of
the word "museum" to a new level. The Museum
has a heartbeat and it is about so much more than the collections or the
aircraft. As precious as these things
are, the Mighty Eighth is about the PEOPLE.
The stories live and breathe, and are the vital link between the heroes
of the past and the leaders of the future.
The staff,
administration, the devoted volunteers, and Board of Trustees of the Mighty Eighth
Museum, are all committed
to preserving the stories of courage, character, and patriotism of the Eighth
Air Force.
 The Museum strives to safeguard
the legacy bestowed by these brave
warriors. Your financial donations provide
the lifeblood that has seen the Museum through the past twelve years, including
this past year, perhaps the toughest the Museum has ever faced.
YOU have kept the heart beating.
Historically, the Museum earns about
32% of its revenue from facility rentals, gift shop sales, admissions,
columbarium sales and monuments in the Memorial Garden.
The other 68% of the Museum's income
comes directly from your financial gifts.
All of these sources are being severely challenged.
Where does your
money go?
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Your gifts help care for almost 10,000 reference
books, 7,000 artifacts, over 24,000 original photographs, and 9,000 archival
documents that are available to family members and old pilots.
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Your gifts mean that educators,
visitors, and researchers (like Ken Burns and Don Miller) can use the records
found here as source material for films and books.
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Your gifts help maintain hundreds of
plaques and tributes to veterans in the Museum's Memorial Garden.
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Your gifts help care for the beautiful
Chapel of Fallen Eagles and the recently completed Eighth Air Force Roll of
Honor.
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Your gifts will enable the Museum to open
its doors to 100,000 visitors and 15,000 students each year, and permit the
Museum to extend its reach and fulfill its goal to educate the leaders of
tomorrow.
Please read further
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| Museum Volunteer Jack Marvin
by Heather Thies |
Jack Marvin
Retired Colonel Jack Marvin earned his solo pilot license at the age of 15 on a J3 Piper Cub and his passenger license at 16. He entered the Air Force in June 1948 and was chosen as a fighter pilot after phase two of training. During the Korean War Jack flew one hundred combat missions in the F86A and F86E. When he returned home he served as a Combat Crew Instructor on the F80 and F86 at Nellis AFB. After leaving active duty in 1953, Jack flew as a test pilot flying the F100 and T28 for North American Aviation. He then moved to Japan to work for Mitsubishi flying the F86 and later returned to North America to work for Republic Aviation to test fly the F105.  Jack went back to active duty during the Pueblo Incident during 1967-68 instructing on the F86H and AT33. He served in the Tuscan Air Guard from 1970-79 as an active duty pilot for the Air National Guard AFRES as a combat crew instructor on the F100 and A7. He later became the advisor to the 9th AF Commander and retired in 1985 after serving as the advisor to the ANG AFRES Inspector General of the US Air Force. He flew 64 different types of planes during his career logging 11,000 flight hours. Jack has been married to his wife Dee Marvin for sixty years. They have four children, fifteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. They moved to Savannah in 1990.
In 1999 Jack began volunteering at the Mission Experience as a guide.
He still fits in his flight suit and wears it while volunteering.
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Loss of a Dear Friend
| It is with deep sadness that we pass the following information on to you.
Mr. George Menzel, 401st Bomb Group bombardier and
navigator, passed away on November 2, 2009 following a brief illness.
Mr. Menzel was a life-time member of the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum and
the Eighth Air Force Historical
Society. He was also a member of the
Birthplace Chapter of the
8th Air Force Historical Society. Mr. Menzel was a longtime supporter of the Museum and was instrumental in securing funding
for renovation of the Deenethorpe Diorama and
the move of the B-17 that now rests in the Museum's Combat Gallery.
Read more about George Menzel
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| Colonial Group, Inc. Art Gallery |
 In the September Mission Update Museum President Henry Skipper announced plans for the renovation of the Colonial Group, Inc. Art Gallery.
Now that the renovation is complete the Art Gallery now has new luxury slate vinyl flooring, custom made draperies, as well as all new LED pinspot and recessed lighting. This renovation was made possible by funding from the Colonial Group Foundation.
The International Aerospace Art Exhibition by the American Society of Aviation Artists is currently on display and will be featured through January 3, 2010. |
| Tell Us What You Think! |
You are very important to us. Your comments and suggestions are welcome and encouraged.
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