August 2012 Mission Update! News from the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum |
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Museum Staff
President and CEO
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Let the Mighty 8th be a part of your legacy
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For more information about Planned Gifts and the Mighty Eighth Foundation, please contact Pam Vining |
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Support the Mighty Eighth
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Follow this QR Code to view a video by B-24 Pilot Paul Grassey
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Introducing: Christa Smith to the Events Dept.
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The Events Department welcomes Miss Christa Smith as a new part time Special Events Associate.
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Flying Fortress 5K Run
The 3rd annual Flying Fortress 5K is to benefit the restoration of the Museum's B-17, the "City of Savannah". The 5K (3.1 mile) course will make its way through the campus of JCB, Inc., starting and finishing at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum.
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Flying Legends Summer Camp
by Jaime Hanna
Summer camp continues to be a huge success! Our last group was huge - we had 23 kids and they were all boys! It was very high energy but fun was had by all. All the kids loved decorating their own pilot's wings and goggles and especially loved trying on the official A2 jacket and volunteer Fred Pye's uniform jacket. The POW foods were even a huge hit - Spam continues to be the overwhelming crowd favorite! Everyone left with an appreciation of the sacrifices made by the men of the Eighth Air Force and the difference they made in World War II. At the end of the week, the boys received their 'wings' and proudly wore them pinned to their shirts.
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Betty Smith - Museum Volunteer
by Heather Thies
Betty Smith was born in Leroy, Illinois. At the age of six years old, she was doing the family grocery shopping with her red wagon because her mother had been crippled due to an illness. As a result she helped around the house a lot. At the age of twelve, Betty became a plane spotter during the war. She stood on the roof of City Hall with her binoculars and overalls and counted planes from the three local airbases. She married and had three children. The couple moved to McDill AFB near Tampa, Florida where Betty continued her education in college by studying Psychology. She later worked as a Juvenile Officer for the Tampa Police Department and as a freelance model. When her daughter moved to Savannah she called Betty feeling homesick and asked Betty to move here so she did. Betty had been managing clothing stores since 1959 so she found a job and stayed.
Read Further
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Stories from behind the scenes of the B-17 Restoration
by Jerry McLaughlin
 During the summer of 2009, several of the City of Savannah restoration crew members were beginning to clean the bomb bay area of the airplane as a family was standing beneath the nose of the plane. A woman from the family approached Jim Argo, one of the Wednesday volunteers, and explained that her father was a B-17 Pilot and an Eighth Air Force Veteran. She told Jim that her father was terminally ill and had asked her and her bother to take him to visit the Museum. He expressed his desire to have one last look at a B-17. The woman asked if there would be any possible way for her father to be able to get into the cockpit of the airplane. The restoration volunteers lifted the weak former pilot through the forward hatch of the airplane, just where he would have pulled himself up during his flying days, through the cockpit and into the Pilot's seat. Read Further Donate to the B-17 Restoration Project Today! |
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Museum Update
by Henry Skipper
 The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum is constantly trying to remain fresh and dynamic. It is our objective to not only improve existing displays and exhibits, but to also investigate adding new exhibits to more effectively tell the incredible story of the Eighth Air Force. One good example of our commitment to improving our exhibits is the total enhancement of the Museum's mission experience film. This three part film was upgraded earlier in the year to provide our visitors with an updated visual experience of an actual B-17 bombing mission. We are now in the process of upgrading the POW exhibit to give our guests a sense of what life was like as a POW in WWII. Completion of the POW exhibit is scheduled for the end of the year. We have just completed a total renovation of the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial exhibit. The cemetery is the only World War II American cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the fourteen American cemeteries on foreign soil. The exhibit itself contains a replica of the Roll of Honor containing the names of the Eighth Air Force personnel who died defending liberty.
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Legacy of Honor
Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum's Legacy of Honor Program.
Please help us keep admission free for World War II Veterans by donating $10 to the "Legacy of Honor Program"
Follow the link below to make your donation.
Legacy of Honor Program
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We Need Your Support
The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum does not receive funding from the local, state, or federal government. We depend solely on grants, support from corporations, and individual donations from Museum supporters. If you are interested in helping us upgrade and develop exhibits, expand our Character Counts character education program, and continue the historic restoration on our B-17 Flying Fortress City of Savannah, please visit our website:
http://mightyeighth.org/support-the-museum/contribute-to-the-museum/ or contact:
Meghan Lowe
Director of Development
912-748-8888 ext. 165
mlowe@mightyeighth.org
We appreciate any gifts to help the Museum carry out its mission!
Become a Member! The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum introduces new membership levels for active duty military and their families! An individual active duty military membership is now $25.00 and a family with at least one adult serving in the armed forces is $60.00. We have also added new benefits for the Squadron Leader and Wing Commander members. Become a member today and help support "one of the world's most powerful museum experiences." As a member of the Mighty Eighth, you are entitled to unlimited admission for one year, subscription to the Museum e-newsletter, a 10% discount at the Museum Gift Store, a personalized membership card, and access to the Mighty Eighth's Members Only Online Forum. Memberships range from $25 to $1,000 for individuals and families! For more information, please visit our membership website: http://mightyeighth.org/support-the-museum/membership/ Danira Beckmann Membership Coordinator 912-748-8888 ext. 101 dbeckmann@mightyeighth.org Please also consider having your employer become a corporate member! Corporate Membership information can be found at: http://mightyeighth.org/corporate-membership-page/ Our Newest Corporate Member is: 
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Museum Gift Store
It is hard to believe that August is here. School is starting soon for many children. The lazy, hazy days of summer are coming to an end.
It's not too early to start thinking about gift ideas for the holidays.
We have incredible scrapbooks and picture albums. If you get started on it now, you'll have it in plenty of time for Christmas or Hanukkah. This labor of love will surely please anyone on your list. We have Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine. They come with matching fabric that can be embroidered with your loved one's name.
We have just received a new challenge coin. Be a part of the historic restoration of the B-17 "City of Savannah" by purchasing a restoration challenge coin. These beautiful coins are only $14.99. Hurry while supplies last.
Just in are the 8th Air Force shield t-shirts. These navy
t-shirts come in medium, large and extra large for $21.99.
Our buyer is back from Atlanta and has many new items on the way. Keep checking our online store for the latest arrivals.
For the month of August, all hats will be 10% off. Don't forget with every $50 on line purchase you receive a Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum tote.
Thank you for your continued business and enjoy the remainder of summer.
Follow this QR Code for extra savings!
Shop the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum Gift Store Today!
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Operation Barbarossa
by Museum Volunteer Gary Silver
Army Group (AG) Center  The Luftwaffe prepared the way for AG Center's attack, although its primary mission was to neutralize the Soviet Air Force. Reconnaissance units plotted troop concentrations, supply dumps, and airfields, and marked them for destruction. On the morning of June 22, the Luftwaffe bombed major cities in Soviet-occupied Poland, and destroyed 528 Soviet aircraft on the ground and 210 in the air. When darkness fell across the invasion front that first day, the Red Air Force had lost approximately 25 percent of its strength, some 1,600 planes. [Willmont, p.99] Opposite AG Centre were four Soviet armies centered at Bialystok in a salient that jutted into German occupied Polish territory. East of Bialystok was Minsk, the capital of Belorussia and a key railway junction. The goal of AG Center's two Panzer Groups was to execute a pincer movement at Minsk, denying the Red Army an escape route from the salient. While the Panzer Groups attacked eastward, Center's infantry struck at the salient, eventually encircling Soviet troops at Brest-Litovsk on the Soviet frontier, and at Białystok. Moscow at first failed to grasp the dimensions of the catastrophe that had befallen the Red Army. Soviet forces were ordered to launch a general counter-offensive, but with supply and ammunition dumps destroyed, and a complete collapse of communication, the uncoordinated attacks failed. Disorganized Red Army units were soon destroyed by the German forces. On June 27, AG Center's Panzer Groups met up at Minsk, 200 miles into Soviet territory and a third of the way to Moscow, where they awaited orders. In the vast pocket between Minsk and the Polish border, the remnants of 32 Soviet Rifle, eight tank, and motorized, cavalry and artillery divisions, comprising tens of thousands of Soviet troops, were encircled. [Willmont, p.99] Read Further |
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A Tasty Talk with Teri
MISS SOPHIE: Georgia Peaches are good for everything, but dessert's always the best
by Teri Bell
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Article courtesy of Savannah Morning News
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From the soft, fuzzy, yellow skin that wears a blush of pink to the sweet juice that runs down your chin as you bite into its sweet flesh, a fresh Georgia peach is just about as good as it gets.
Adopted as our state fruit in 1995, the Georgia peach is a perfect representation of our state's gentle, warm and sweet Southern hospitality.
A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be in the vicinity of Lane's Southern Orchards on Ga. 96 just outside Fort Valley. I always visit Lane's when I'm in the area for a scoop of their peach ice cream - and if I happen to get there in peach season, I always pick up a case or two of their delicious peaches.
If you have never had the pleasure of visiting Lane's, this is more than a little peach stand, it's a tourist attraction. They have tours of the packing company, the peach and pecan orchards, a store where you can buy all kinds of cute gifts, jams, jellies and pecans, and a restaurant.
Read Further
Teri Bell is co-owner of Miss Sophie's Marketplace at the Mighty Eighth in Pooler. Go to sophiesmarketplace.com.
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A Ring For a Bag of Grain
by Dr. Vivian Rogers-Price
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2nd Lt. Butrum traded his Army Air Corps class ring for this burlap bag filled with grain while a POW at Stalag VIIA in Moosburg, Germany.
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On 27 May 1944 Luftwaffe fighters attacked B-17s from the 351st Bomb Group flying on a mission to Ludwigshafen. The second attack forced the B-17 piloted by Tedford Myers out of formation. He immediately ordered his crew to bail out, and all became prisoners of war. Co-Pilot Clarence Butrum landed in Germany about thirty miles north of Switzerland. In less than ten minutes, German soldiers captured him. Butrum was sent first to Dulag Luft for interrogation and then to Stalag Luft III where he remained from 4 June 1944 to 27 January 1945. He went on the forced march to Spremberg and then by train to Nürnberg riding in boxcars each with fifty to sixty men jammed into a space intended for only forty. He arrived in Nürnberg on 24 February 1945. Next from 4 April to 9 April 1945 he traveled by train under the same crowded conditions to Stalag VIIA at Moosburg. The need for food at Moosburg prompted him to trade his Army Air Corps class ring for a bag of grain. The International Red Cross had given this bag of grain to Polish Prisoners of War who were also at Stalag VIIA. With this trade, Butrum had enough grain to sustain himself and five other American POWs until liberation on 29 April 1945.
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