In Tribute to my Uncle Joe the B17 Gunners headgear

[weller]

Great Phil! I have an Uncle story and hope to post it soon. Not ready yet cool Militaria
Jeff

[Steelhead10]

Very nice, and thanks for posting it.

[Gwar]

Thanks for sharing AZPhil....G

[FALLSCHIRMJAGER]

Well done Phil, you have a great looking set-up there, that truly pays tribute to your uncle. Leon.

[AZPhil]

Thank you so much Gent's . I have tried my best to Honor these men. I have a complete officer and enlisted mans uniform that I will be displaying on Mannequins soon.

Gwar that pic is an awesome shot of a 384th B17 Damned Yankee.
Here is what is referred to as" The Last Man Standing"
On that Schweinfurt raid on April 13th 1944. Six out of seven B17s of the 545th Bomb Squadron were shot down. This is a pic of the lone survivor Dewayne "Ben" Bennett to make it back to Grafton Underwood that day. I made contact with Ben in 2009 and he told me all about that day . He was the wing man for my Uncles plane and saw everything. " It was hit bad. I could see flames coming out of the bomb bay doors"They took a major hit from 20mm fired by 15 FW190's. 4 out of the 10 men on Board of the Mrs Geezil died in an air battle that lasted from 13:54 to 13:57. THREE MINUTES and 6 B17s went down. Ben sent me everything he had on that mission, Maps, course taken return flight info. He said it was very hard to except the loss. He was the only man in the Barracks now!
Ben was a major influence in me joining the 384th Bomb Group website and becoming a combat specialist and adding Flight crew from copies of the original Loading list to the sorties. Ben Died in March of 2010 and I miss him greatly.
In memory of Ben!!!

[AZPhil]

Here is a pic of my Uncle just after completing a mission on the Damned Yankee II in March of 44.
It was colorized by our AWESOME member Bill T.


My Uncle Joe is second from the right on the bottom row. Phil the left waist gunner is to the left of My Uncle
Semper Fi
Phil

[Rossi]

Pretty Damn Cool tribute to Uncle Joe and Ben. I still think hands down they will go down as the best generation in history. Thanks PhillyDog!

Thank you so much Gent's . I have tried my best to Honor these men. I have a complete officer and enlisted mans uniform that I will be displaying on Mannequins soon.

Gwar that pic is an awesome shot of a 384th B17 Damned Yankee. Here is a pic of my Uncle just after completing a mission on the Damned Yankee II in March of 44.
It was colorized by our AWESOME member Bill T.
Here is what is referred to as" The Last Man Standing"
On that Schweinfurt raid on April 13th 1944. Six out of seven B17s of the 545th Bomb Squadron were shot down. This is a pic of the lone survivor Dewayne "Ben" Bennett to make it back to Grafton Underwood that day. I made contact with Ben in 2009 and he told me all about that day . He was the wing man for my Uncles plane and saw everything. " It was hit bad. I could see flames coming out of the bomb bay doors"They took a major hit from 20mm fired by 15 FW190's. 4 out of the 10 men on Board of the Mrs Geezil died in an air battle that lasted from 13:54 to 13:57. THREE MINUTES and 6 B17s went down. Ben sent me everything he had on that mission, Maps, course taken return flight info. He said it was very hard to except the loss. He was the only man in the Barracks now!
Ben was a major influence in me joining the 384th Bomb Group website and becoming a combat specialist and adding Flight crew from copies of the original Loading list to the sorties. Ben Died in March of 2010 and I miss him greatly.
In memory of Ben!!!

[AZPhil]

I agree Kirk 1000% and I tell the one's that are still with us that exact same thing.
" You are a part on the greatest generation that this nation has seen"
I want them to know before we lose them!!!!!
Semper Fi
Phil

[Jody]

Hi Phil,
Great stuff.

Jody

[Rossi]

Amen Bro! You are spot on. We have only a few years left to pay our respects before they pass. This you tube video link below may have been seen before by you already It makes me tear up every time and never gets old to me. When in life do we slow down enough from our damn busy routine to stop and hug, commend, salute and make these heroes the priority they should be. Thanks again for posting what you did. Your salute to Joe and Ben made me slow down a bit tonight. I sit in my office tonight looking at my militaria and it means even more than ever going into another year. I miss Opa multiple times a week and I am sure Joe and Ben are proud of you my friend. You are a good man!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp_OiWVcq1Y

Hoorah!

I agree Kirk 1000% and I tell the one's that are still with us that exact same thing.
" You are a part on the greatest generation that this nation has seen"
I want them to know before we lose them!!!!!
Semper Fi
Phil