This is the story Ralph told his daughter Leah about his service during WWII. It was recorded in a fashion to preserve facts for his family so I apologize for any formatting or grammatical errors. Leah Savage

Ralph was inducted in the Army Air Corps at Camp Forrest Tennessee in Tullahoma on June 15, 1943. He came home for 2 weeks then reported to Fort Oglethorpe Georgia about July 1, 1943. This was a staging area where you were physically examined, mentally tested and placed in a branch of service that you were most fitted for. They wanted to put Ralph in the Navy but he wanted the Air Corp. (The Army Air Corp later became the Army Air Force (AAF) in the latter part of 1943.) Ralph had basic training on Miami Beach and left there in early September for Denver Colorado where he had technical training. He graduated from this school about 12-15-43. At this school Ralph learned typing, various forms used by the AAF. Ralph had 10 days furlough and reported to the Troop Carrier Group at Sedalia Missouri on 12-25-43. Ralph spent one day at the Sedalia Base and reported to the 440th, 96th squadron at Alliance Nebraska and stayed there a week and was shipped to Pope Field North Carolina where the group was already on maneuvers. Ralph was assigned to intelligence and served in that capacity throughout the duration of the war. Ralph left Pope Field after a month of maneuvers and then sent to Baer Field Indiana for staging. Ralph was there a week. The air echelon took off for North Africa and England. The ground echelon went to Camp Shanks New York and boarded a ship for England. Ralph was in this group. He was on a French ship called the Louis Pasteur. It had a maximum load of 5000 people but 7500 was on board. Rather than sail the zig zag course across the Atlantic to avoid the submarines the powers who be chose to go a straight line and outrun the submarines. It took only 5 days to cross and they landed in Liverpool. They were assigned to a Base at Nottingham England where they stayed for a month and then moved to Exeter, which was their permanent base while in England. We trained for D Day and participated in the D Day operation. This was one of the longest days in Ralph’s life. He was on his feet over 36 hrs without sleep. This included getting ready for the mission, briefing, seeing the planes off, and debriefing the crews upon return. For instance the 96th Troop Carrier Squadron had the first radar outfit on one of the planes. The group commander flew the lead plane that was assigned to the 96th squadron. Two crews did not return. 12 crews went in. A crew was a pilot, co-pilot, crew chief, and radio operator. Some of the planes had navigators. D Day was June 6, 1944. The ground troops began landing on Omaha beach and related beaches at 6:00 a.m. Troop carrier began their mission at 10:00 p.m. on June 5 and flew a box pattern. They flew from Exeter to the east for a distance then flew south which was just off the coast of Spain, flew west over France then flew North to the beginning. This completed the box pattern. They dropped the paratroopers at a town called St. Mere Eglise, which was near the area where the ground troops would be dropped at 6:00. The purpose of this was to strike the Germans in the rear and get their attention away from the forces landing at sea. It was a success although a lot of lives were lost. For instance Ralph saw a group of paratroops called the filthy 13, which consisted of 12 native Americans and a lieutenant from Brooklyn. He saw them board the plane to leave and only 2 returned. They were called the filthy 13 because they vowed at Christmas not to bathe until after D Day. They held to this. They also would take orders from no one unless the lieutenant could whip them.

After D-Day Ralph went to France in August. After Paris was by-passed and Rheims was liberated the 440th set up base at the Rheims airport which was completely demolished. The group remained here for a few days and moved to another town to the south east of Paris. This was more of a bivouwac base and was located at Le Mans. The unit stayed there about a month and moved to a more permanent base at Orleans. They remained here until the was ended on May 7, 1945. On May 6, 1945 the unit was flying gasoline to the front to resupply armored forces. A single plane accident took the life of four people. One was Ralph’s best friend Jack Smith from Old Hickory, Tennessee. The group was reorganized and those people having 75 or more points were returned to the United States and the remaining troops were reorganized into units to be sent to the Pacific. The point system was based on 1 point for months of service, one point for months overseas, married or having children. Ralph had 74 points having been in service 24 or so months and overseas 18 of those. Ralph was assigned to the 39th squadron and equipment was packed and ready to place aboard ships for the Pacific. The war in Japan ended in late August 1945. Since the group was already prepared to ship overseas they were boarded on ships and shipped home, arriving before many of the troops with higher points than 75. The unit arrived in Hampton Roads, Virginia on September 4, 1945 exactly 18 months from the time they left the U.S. Ralph was sent to Atlanta Georgia for discharge. Because of the large number arriving here many of the soldiers (including Ralph) were given a 45 day furlough and returned to Fort McPherson in Georgia for discharge on November 6, 1945. Ralph’s coming home was a pleasant experience and the ones remaining here appeared happy to see the returning soldiers.

Marion R Craighead