One of our newest collections was donated by Emmett Dendy, a ball turret gunner in World War II. In the spring of 1945, he recorded 22 air missions in an Air Force Souvenir Handybook. Below is a typical entry:
This government-issued blank book also contains pre-printed pages for dates and for names and addresses as well as sections with titles like “Rail Distances between Large Cities,” “Facts on Uniform Care,” and “Correct Cover in the Field.” These reflections of WWII military culture provide context for Dendy’s missions.
Dendy’s mission diary once stopped at number 22, but years later, he crossed out the words “last mission,” because he took to the skies again:
The collection also includes this portrait of some of the men from the 467th Army Air Forces Bombardment Group around 1945:
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