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20th Air Force

58th Bombardment Wing

468th Bombardment Group - "The Billy Mitchell Group"


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 Welcome to the 468th Bombardment Group Web Site Minimize

This site is dedicated to the men of the 468th Bomb Group.

These brave men helped bring Japan to her knees, under difficult conditions, using a new and unproven marvel of 1940's technology, the B29 Superfortress.


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 "Letters to Lee" - New book about James and Lee Edmundson Minimize

Dr. Celia Edmundson, daughter of Lt. General James V. Edmundson, has edited a book titled "Letters to Lee".

In his 36 years of military service, Edmundson had over ten thousand hours in 137 types of airplanes.  In addition to 107 combat missions in World War II, he led 32 combat missions in Korea and 42 in Vietnam.

This book is a compilation of vignettes, letters and newpaper and magazine articles of the period.

Learn more about the book and place an order here:

http://www.fordhampress.com/detail.html?session=a2da58dab552813b7ecf12e5097f81dc&id=9780823230969


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 Reunion Update Minimize

Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization created solely to honor America's veterans for all their sacrifices. They transport our heroes to Washington, D.C. to visit and reflect at their memorials. Top priority is given to the senior veterans – World War II survivors, along with those other veterans who may be terminally ill.

http://www.honorflight.org/

If you cannot afford the cost of a trip, or need some help, please hit the link provided above.

We have also posted the applications on the reunion page of this web site.


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 Robert Merwin Pilchard Minimize

Captain Robert Merwin Pilchard piloted A/C 42-93826 on the first Yawata mission, June 15-16 1944.  He and his entire crew were lost during the mission.

Read his brother Edwin's remembrance of "Bob" and read about Bob's love of flying.


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 Robert M. Pilchard and Crew Minimize

(National Archives photo)

Captain Pilchard and Crew of the 793rd Bomb Squadron,  468th Bomb Group, pose in front of their Boeing B-29 at an air base somewhere in India.  They are: Capt. R. M. Pilchard, 2nd Lt, R.F. Sturges, 2nd Lt. J.T. Roberts, 2nd Lt. D.R. Mortimer, 2nd Lt J.R. Bevan, E.C. Wrigley, L.A. Pfeiffer, R.P. Sharples, R.V. Ferracane, W.F. Quirke and one unidentified.   

Wrigley was not with the Crew when the plane crashed.


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 From the Group and Squadron Histories Minimize

"When the Chinese found Lt. Pilchard and Crew they wrote scrolls honoring the men at their burial. Each year at the same time as our first raid on the Japanese mainland they will display these scrolls. Duplicate scrolls have been forwarded to their next of kin. An English translation of each one of the scrolls, as rendered by Capt. M.F. Yeh of the Chinese Consulate General in Calcutta, is below:

(1) When heroes die on the road to victory, the first sign of ultimate success is thus achieved

(2) Shadows of planes filled the sky; souls of Crews ascend to the heaven

(3) For world peace our friends, helping China, sacrifice their lives; all people pay tribute to the dead

(4) Heaven takes into her fold the world's outstanding heroes

(5) For the peace of the world they fought against aggressors; for the welfare of people they sacrificed their lives

(6) Nobody is immortal, all heroes have to die one day; if there is such a thing as reincarnation, they will rise again as heroes in the next world

(7) The whole world regrets the death of well known heroes

(8) Sacrificing for achievement encourages and opens the way for bombing Japan, in order to avenge the dead

(9) When deaths occur among the fighting men of the Allies, it is greatly regrettable; when time comes to celebrate the victory for the peace, the souls of the dead shall be comforted

(10) Flying across the sky above the Pacific to destroy Japan makes the Axis aggressors frightened."


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 B-29 41-36961 Minimize

Read the details of the first B-29 crash within the 468th Bomb Group in Salina, Kansas on October 24, 1943.  This material has never been presented in any forum before.  See the link to the right.

From the Group and Squadron Histories: 

On a Sunday in October, those on duty at Smoky Hill saw their first crash of a B-29.  From the field they could see this plane trying to climb, then slowly do a cartwheel on its right wing and plummet below the trees and housetops.  Then the black smoke appeared.  All aboard were killed except the tail gunner, and the plane was a total loss.  It was a sobering thing to see, but the following morning everyone was back to his training bit.  That deep belief, “It can’t happen to me”, so often true of combat men, seemed to prevail.


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