Air Force Combat Units of WWII

AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS-GROUPS 337CAMPAIGNS. Air Combat, EAME Theater;Air Offensive, Europe; Rome-Arno;Normandy; Northern France; SouthernFrance; North Apennines; Rhineland;Central Europe; Po Valley.DECORATIONS. Distinguished Unit Citations:Budapest, Hungary, 13 Apr 1944;Ploesti, Rumania, 15 Jul 1944.INSIGNE. Shield: Per bend azure andlight blue, superimposed over the bend athunderbolt, bendwise, or, piercingthrough a cloud formation proper, overan increscent moon to the sinister chief,and a sun to the dexter base of the third;on a chief argent, over a bar to base ofchief, embattled gules, an olive branch andseven arrows in saltire, between twospheres all proper. (Approved 4 Aug19554462d BOMBARDMENT GROUPConstituted as 462d BombardmentGroup (Heavy) on 19 May 1943. Activatedon I Jul 1943. Redesignated 462dBombardment Group (Very Heavy) inNov 1943. Prepared for combat withB-29’s. Moved to the CBI theater, viaAfrica, Mar-Jun 1944. Assigned to TwentiethAF in Jun 1944. Transported suppliesover the Hump to staging fields inChina before entering combat with anattack on railroad shops at Bangkok, Thailand,on 5 Jun 1944. On 15 Tun 1944 tookpart in the first AAF strike on the Japanesehome islands since the Doolittle raidin 1942. Operating from India and China,bombed transportation centers, naval in-stallations, iron works, aircraft plants, andother targets in Japan, Thailand, Burma,China, Formosa, and Indonesia. From astaging base in Ceylon, mined the MoesiRiver on Sumatra in Aug 1944. Receiveda DUC for a daylight attack on iron andsteel works at Yawata, Japan, in Aug 1944.Moved to Tinian in the spring of 1945for further operations against targets inJapan. Participated in mining operations,bombardment of strategic targets, and incendiaryraids on urban areas. Bombedindustrial areas in Tokyo and Yokohamain May 1945, being awarded a DUC forthe action. Received another DUC fora daylight attack on an aircraft plant atTakarazuka on 24 Jul 1945. Returned tothe US late in 1945. Assigned to StrategicAir Command on 21 Mar 1946. Znactivatedon 31 Mar 1946.SQUADRONS. 345th: 1945-1946. 768th:1943-1946. 769th: 1943-1946. 770th:1943-1946. 77zst: 1943-1944-STATIONS. Smoky Hill AAFld, Kan, IJul 1943; Walker AAFld, Kan, 28 Jul1943-12 Mar 1944; Piardoba, India, 7 Apr1944-26 Feb 1945; West Field, Tinian, 4Apr-5 Nov 1945; MacDill Field, Fla, Nov1945-31 Mar 1946.COMMANDERS. Unkn, I Jul-5 Aug 1943;Col Alan D Clark, 5 Aug 1943; Col RichardH Carmichael, 26 Aug 1943; ColAlfred F Kalberer, 20 Aug 1944-unkn.CAMPAIGNS. American Theater ; India-Burma ; Air Offensive, Japan; China Defensive;Western Pacific; Central Burma.DECORATIONS. Distinguished Unit Citations:Yawata, Japan, 20 Aug 1944; Tokyo