Distinguished Unit Citations
The Distinguished Unit Citation (D.U.C.), also called the Presidential Unit Citation (P.U.C.) was awarded to the 95th Bomb Group (H) three times for three dangerous and difficult missions:
17 Aug 1943 (Regensburg Mission)
10 Oct 1943 (Münster Mission)
4 Mar 1944 (Berlin Mission)
The 95th was the only 8th Air Force Bomb Group to receive the Presidential Unit Citation three times.
The U.S. Air Force History Support Office states that the Presidential Unit Citation is awarded to the entire group, not to just the air crew members. Anyone who served with the 95th Bomb Group in any capacity for any length of time is entitled to wear this citation.
REGENSBURG SHUTTLE MISSION
17 AUGUST 1943 11 hours, 20 minutes
Mission Commander: Maj. Harry M. Conley
Lead Pilot: Capt. Robert C. Cozens
Exactly one year after the first 8th USAAF mission over Europe, the 95th BG participated in one of the most legendary air battles during WWII, the planned double strike against Regensburg and Schweinfurt. The 95th Bomb Group target: the German aircraft factories at Regensburg, deep inside Germany. In order to succeed, the 4th Bomb Wing (6 Groups, including the 95th, 100th, and 390th) needed to have fighter support before the target, then afterward fly over the Swiss Alps to North Africa to land and refuel before returning to England.
Morning mist and the vagaries of timing threw off some of the planned fighter support, leaving the rear boxes in the formation sitting ducks for German fighters. En route to the target, more than four hours of unrelenting attacks diminished the force of Fortresses as they flew steadily onward. The 95th’s gunners had their hands full for hours until the German fighters pulled back just before the target. Bombing results were excellent, with the raid destroying a significant portion of the Messerschmitt 109 factory. A companion raid that day on Schweinfurt by the 1st Combat Wing contributed to the devastation felt by the German high command. The Luftwaffe chief of staff committed suicide four days later. The 95th had lost four aircraft.
English artist Dennis Carliss painted the 95th Bomb Group’s formation on the route to Regensburg and gave his painting to William “Bill” Lindley, pilot of the B-17 The Zoot Suiters. Of this mission Bill wrote, “It was my kind of action. You never knew what would happen, but you looked forward to a change of scenery.”
“Going In–95th BG” by Dennis Carliss 1995 30”x46” oil on canvas from the William C. Lindley Collection / National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Pooler, GA . Gift of William “Bill” Lindley
Following the bomb run, the remaining B-17s flew over the Alps and across Italy to skim (almost literally) the Mediterranean Sea on their way to a makeshift base in North Africa. Many craft were lost on this leg of the mission, several ditching in the water as they ran out of fuel. Because of a SNAFU in refueling plans, the crews got an unexpected 10-day holiday in the sun. “We had a wonderful time in North Africa,” pilot Harry Conley wrote his mother. “The greatest treat of all was that we got all the fresh eggs, vegetables, and fruit we could eat . . . . For a week, we just laid around in the nice warm sun and swam and ate and went to town.” At the end of the sojourn, the 95th’s eight flyable B-17s (of 24 that had taken off from Horham) returned to base, one of them bringing along a North African donkey that was used to entertain the British children until it succumbed to an English winter a few months later.
MÜNSTER MISSION
10 OCTOBER 1943 5 hours, 38 minutes
Mission Commander: Col. John K. Gerhart
Lead Pilot: Capt. William E. Lindley
Black Sunday is the fitting moniker hung on this raid. In the first place, it represented a change of tactic from the precision bombing of the U. S. forces to the carpet bombing of a city center—to take the fight to the German people as the German forces had been doing to Allied civilians. The Medieval city of Münster, famed for its architecture, was home to vast railroad marshalling yards crucial for transporting raw goods and materiel for the German war effort. The point was to disrupt the morale of those working in the railroad yards. Upon getting their orders, many shaken crew members of the 95th objected to the mission, but were firmly reminded that this was W-A-R. They did their duty.
The 95th led 15 other groups of the 1st and 3rd Bombardment Divisions. Six groups of P-47 fighters escorted them to the target, but had to turn back at that point. The bombers were met by 200-250 enemy fighters who hammered them for 45 minutes from the Initial Point through the target until U. S. fighters could pick them up again. It was the most furious assault to date. Almost every plane was damaged.
The 95th lost five planes; the 390th, eight; and the 100th, twelve—all but one of the 13 that had taken off. There were great casualties in Münster: more than 500 residential buildings destroyed, along with commercial and industrial structures; 25,000 civilians, homeless; almost 500 civilians and 200 soldiers, killed. It was the greatest air battle to date, with 229 bombers and their fighter escorts against 300 German fighters, clashing over 800 miles of sky for more than three hours. Of the 2,900 American crewmen, there were 642 casualties—or more than 18%.
“It seemed like a blurred nightmare. Wave after wave of enemy fighters, pieces of aircraft littering the clear blue sky, ugly black smoke of flak bursts, men drifting in parachutes, burning bombers and fighters all around us, twenty-five minutes that lasted an eternity.” – James Goff, Navigator
FIRST DAYLIGHT MISSION OVER BERLIN
4 MARCH 1944 9 hours, 40 minutes
Mission Commander: Lt. Col. H. Griffin Mumford
Lead Pilot: 1st Lt. Alvin H. Brown
Pathfinder: 1st Lt. William B. Owen
The first daylight raid over Berlin almost didn’t happen. Originally scheduled for March 3, the mission was scrubbed early on due to bad weather. The next day, the weather was equally dismal, but 500 planes from the 1st and 3rdBombardment Divisions began forming up as ordered. While still assembling over England, the 1st Bombardment Division recalled their planes due to worsening weather. The 3rd Bombardment Division continued to assemble, crossing over to the Continent as clouds thickened.
To this day, there is a dispute about whether or not a valid recall was issued, but, in fact, all Division aircraft turned back except the 13th “A” Combat Wing—19 planes from the 95th, one Pathfinder aircraft from the 482nd, and 12 planes from the 100th . Despite anxious queries from other craft, the commanding officer of the Wing, Lt. Col. Grif Mumford, insisted that the tiny group of planes fly on. Pathfinder bombardier Marshall Thixton wrote, “On we flew, courageously, brave, and scared as hell.”
Miraculously, two P-51 fighter groups showed up as the force arrived in Berlin and saved the day—“just like the cavalry coming over the hill,” according to one man on the run. If they had not appeared, the small force of 32 planes could have been totally destroyed. As it was, the 95th lost four aircraft, with most of the men becoming POWs and four, killed in action. But—the force hit its target and Berlin was shocked to realize it was not safe in daylight or in darkness, when the RAF struck.
The “I’ll Be Around” crew, one of the crews that flew the Berlin mission on 4 March 1944.
Upon returning to Horham, the men found 8th Air Force brass waiting for them. Instead of reprimanding the commander, as some feared, the VIPs awarded him the Silver Star; the lead pilot, Al Brown, the Distinguished Flying Cross; and the Group, its third Presidential Unit Citation. The 8th Air Force needed a big win at this point. If it could not have it in force with the originally planned strike of 500 aircraft, it would take what did result—one lone combat box bombing the biggest target of the War. It was a public relations triumph and a huge psychological blow to the enemy.
“By heroically electing the more hazardous of two equally acceptable and honorable courses of action, the 95th Bombardment Group clearly distinguished itself above and beyond all other units participating in this momentous operation.”
– From text of the Presidential Distinguished Unit Citation – 4 March 1944 – Berlin
95th Bomb Group combat crews celebrate on return to their base in Horham, Suffolk, UK from the first American daylight raid on Berlin, 4 March 1944. The B-17G Fortress in this photograph (that appeared as a two page spread in LIFE MAGAZINE name “BERLIN FIRST”) was shot down two days later, 6 March 1944 while again attacking Berlin, a day on which the 8th Air Force suffered its heaviest loss of the war – 69 heavy bombers.