Sunday February 5, 2012 

Mark your calendars! Super Museum Sunday is 

February 5, 2012, and you are in for a real treat if you are in or around the Savannah area on this date. Admission to the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum is FREE all day. Bring the whole family to Super Museum Sunday, where you are sure to enjoy a tour of the museum. 

The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum celebrated the founding of the 8th Air Force on Saturday January 28th, with guided tours of the museum, model airplane classes and World War II 8th Air Force veterans bringing history to life.

The 8th Bomber Command, later re-designated the 8th Air Force, was activated as part of the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1942 in what is now the American Legion Post at the south end of Forsyth Park. A critical strike element in World War II, the Mighty 8th remains an active force today.

Photo Courtesy of Savannah Morning News

Code named Operation Overlord, the D-Day invasion of Nazi occupied Europe was a meticulously planned and jealously guarded secret in which the outcome was by no means certain. 

Meghan Lowe joins us as the new Director of Development.  She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations/Advertising from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  She earned her Masters of Non-Profit Management degree from Regis University in Denver, Colorado.  As the daughter of a retired Army officer, she has lived and traveled throughout the United States and Europe.  Her older brother is an Air Force Academy graduate and an F-16 fighter pilot.  Meghan's business experience includes stints with the Pittsburgh Penguins professional hockey team and the Catholic Diocese of Savannah.  Meghan enjoys volunteering with nonprofit organizations, running, and reading.

Danira serves as Membership Coordinator for the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum and has several years of public service and private sector experience. Most recently, Danira served as a Consultant at Hancock, Askew & Co., one of the oldest accounting firms in Savannah, GA.

Prior to her transition to the private sector, Danira worked on Capitol Hill as Congressional Liaison where she coordinated outreach initiatives and provided administrative support for The Faith & Politics Institute, a non-profit organization headed by Rep. John Lewis (GA) and Amo Houghton (NY).

Danira resides in Savannah, GA., where she graduated from Armstrong Atlantic State University with a B.A. in Political Science. She received her M. A. in Diplomacy with a concentration in Conflict Resolution from Norwich University.

Let the Mighty 8th be a part of your legacy

Support the Mighty Eighth

Follow the directions to view this video by B-24 Pilot Paul Grassey (Duration 2 minutes)

Step 1. Go to the App Store on your smartphone and download a QR Scanner for FREE!

Step 2. Scan the QR Code with your smartphone to view video.

*This video is also available on the Museum's website at www.mightyeighth.org

New Members Only Site!

The brand new Members Only portion of the Museum's website aims to extend the reach of the Museums Membership program. Members will have access to exclusive updates, articles and an inside look at what is happening in the Museum. Discussion forums such as ones on the B-17 Restoration Project and Heir of the Eighth will be available. In order to view this exclusive content members will receive a personal registration code or can directly contact the Membership Coordinator.

Museum Update

by Henry Skipper

Restoration Project Update

Gilbert Terry

Gilbert Terry was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. Gil served as an Army helicopter gun pilot during the Vietnam War where he was shot down twice, received the Purple Heart for severe injuries, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Distinguished Service Cross.  In his Distinguished Service Cross citation it reads, "Warrant Officer Terry's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army." Later he flew Apaches for eight years.  Gil has done a little of everything stating that he never knew what he wanted to be when he grew up so he tried it all.  He worked as a cook, worked in a steel mill, went to two years of college, professionally raced motorcycles, worked for IBM for ten years and now that he is retired he teaches a form of martial arts called Hapkido. He is working toward his second degree black belt. Gil's wife of thirty two years, Scottie, unfortunately passed away a few years ago. He has two daughters and three grandchildren. He is a mission experience volunteer and is training to be a tour guide.

To read more about Gil's Distinguished Service Cross citation please go to http://www.militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards

MISS SOPHIE: Making do with what they had

Teri Bell

On Jan. 28, the Mighty Eighth Museum celebrated the 70th anniversary of the creation of the Eighth Air Force.

Sam's Blanket

Sam's Blanket is on display in the POW Exhibit Gallery at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum

On 16 July 1944, the 398th Bomb Group attacked the aircraft engine factory at Munich and lost two B-17s.  One of the destroyed B-17s had Samuel Miller flying as tail gunner.  He bailed out but upon landing fractured his spine and both ankles.  He lay in the Tyrolean Alps near Achenkirk, Austria, for two days until members of the Hitler Youth found him and reported his location to Nazi authorities.  Miller became a hospitalized POW, held in the German orthopedic hospital, Reserve-Lazaret Obermassfeld. 

While recovering from his injuries, Sam created a blanket by collecting military patches and pieces of fabric from people he met in the hospital.  

By the time Sam was liberated by Allied Forces in the spring of 1945, he had stitched 121 insignia patches to the fabric pieces to make this 4 ½ by 6 foot patchwork blanket. Of the other eight crewmen on Sam's airplane, two were killed in action: Curtis Lovelace, pilot; and Gerald Anataillia, ball turret gunner.  Six others parachuted to safety and became POWs: Robert Hart, copilot; Robert Uhl, navigator; Alton Andrews, bombardier; Robert Rees, flight engineer; Clifford Weatherwax, radio operator; Donald Land, waist gunner.

Creation of the 8th

by Jaime Hanna 

The insignia of the Eighth Air Force, the familiar winged 8 that adorns much of the Museum, seemed like an easy enough topic to research and write about.  Rumor had it that a local Savannahian, Major Ed Winter, designed the insignia, so I figured information on Major Winter and his design would be plentiful.  However, as these things often are, the accuracy of local legend proved to be difficult to confirm definitively.  What started out as a story about a hometown innovator became an education in military insignia and heraldry.  In order to find out how the winged 8 came to be, I had to go back in history to learn a little bit about how and why the insignia was so important.

Prior to World War I, military insigne was not widely used in the United States but had been common in Europe for centuries.  After the invention of armor in the 11th and 12th centuries, particularly knight's helmets which covered most of one's face, it became necessary for enemies and allies to be able to distinguish each other in battle.  Heraldry, the art of displaying one's armorial bearings, became important.  Shields were commonly adorned with specific symbols to indicate a man's affiliation as they were easy to spot. A nobleman might also wear an embroidered coat that attached to his armor which displayed his colors and/or symbols.  (This practice led to the expression 'coat of arms'.)  Over the centuries, coats of arms were used in Europe and England by trade guilds, families and religious organizations.  They were passed down through the generations, especially in aristocratic families.  When the colonists arrived in America, they avoided bringing Europe's class system with them and heraldry never became a part of traditional, colonial society. 

Read Further

February 1, 1942: WWII: The Command staff of the Eighth Air Force reaches England

February 7, 1943: WWII: In the United States, it is announced that shoe rationing will go into effect in 2 days.

February 8, 1943: WWII: Battle of Guadalcanal: United States forces defeat Japanese troops.

February 11, 1943: General Eisenhower is selected to command the Allied armies in Europe.

February 20, 1944: "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.

February 22, 1944: United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe organized from the Eighth Air Force's strategic planning staff; subsuming strategic planning for all US Army Air Forces in Europe and Africa.

February 4 - 11, 1945: WWII: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin hold the Yalta Conference.

February 13, 1945: WWII: Royal Air Force bombing of Dresden, Germany.

February 23, 1945: WWII: Battle of Iwo Jima