465th Bombardment Group

Constituted as 465th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on 19 May 1943. Activated on 1 Aug 1943. Prepared for duty overseas with B-24's. Moved to the Mediterranean theater, Feb-Apr 1944; the air echelon received additional training in Tunisia before joining the ground echelon in Italy. Assigned to Fifteenth AF. Entered combat on 5 May 1944 and served primarily as a strategic bombardment organization until late in Apr 1945. Attacked marshalling yards, dock facilities, oil refineries, oil storage plants, aircraft factories, and other objectives in Italy, France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, and the Balkans. On two different missions - to marshalling yards and an oil refinery at Vienna on 8 Jul 1944 and to steel plants at Friedrichshafen on 3 Aug 1944 - the group bombed its targets despite antiaircraft fire and fighter opposition, being awarded a DUC for each of these attacks.

Other operations included bombing troop concentrations and bivouac areas in May 1944 to aid the Partisans in Yugoslavia; attacking enemy troops and supply lines to assist the drive toward Rome, May-Jun 1944; striking bridges, rail lines, and gun emplacements prior to the invasion of Southern France in Aug 1944; bombing rail facilities and rolling stock in Oct 1944 to support the advance of Russian and Rumanian forces in the Balkans; and hitting troops, gun positions, bridges, and supply lines during Apr 1945 in support of Allied forces in northern Italy. Moved to the Caribbean area in Jun 1945. Assigned to Air Transport Command. Inactivated in Trinidad on 31 Jul 1945.

Squadrons

780th: 1943-1945
781st: 1943-1945
782d: 1943-1945
783d: 1943-1945

Stations

Alamogordo AAFld, NM, 1 Aug 1943
Kearns, Utah, Sep 1943
McCook AAFld, Neb, c. 5 Oct 1943-1 Feb 1944
Pantanella Airfield, Italy, Apr 1944-Jun 1945
Waller Field, Trinidad, 15 Jun-31 Jul 1945

Commanders

Col Elmer Rogers Jr, 24 Aug 1943
Col Charles A Clark Jr, 13 Mar 1944
Lt Col Joshua H Foster, 1 Dec 1944
Lt Col William F Day Jr, 26 Apr 1945-unkn

Campaigns

American Theater
Air Combat, EAME Theater
Air Offensive, Europe
Rome-Arno
Normandy
Northern France
Southern France
North Apennines
Rhineland
Central Europe
Po Valley

Decorations

Distinguished Unit Citations:
Vienna, Austria, 8 Jul 1944
Germany, 3 Aug 1944

Insigne. Shield: Per bend gules and vert, a bend argent charged with a bendlet azure, between a wing of the third and a compass proper (bezant, with diapering green, bordered argent, thereover a four-pointed star compass, gules and azure). Motto: Onus Ferens Vitam - Cargo Carrying Life. (Approved 1 Jun 1955.)

Missing Air Crew Reports

Missing Air Crew Reports also known as MACRs are reports of US aircraft that went down, via enemy action or mechanical issues, behind enemy lines. These reports detailed the aircraft and crew along with their disposition; there were statements and eyewitness reports if available describing what they saw. The majority of these reports were completed in the years following the conclusion of World War II. This was so that the survivors who had become prisoners of war could provide statements of the events of that day. These reports differ from accident reports in that those documented aircraft that crashed on take off or landing; these events happened on allied lines.

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