British soldiers destined for the front cross paths with children who were being evacuated to the countryside from London, 1940
Impromptu celebration upon the announcement of the Japanese surrender
More than 70 years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many residents of a retirement community in picturesque Hanover, N.H., still remember exactly where they were. They’ll sit down with you, and if you have a minute to spare, they’ll even show you their black and white pictures.
Some were in college; some heard about Pearl Harbor from co-workers. And while the memories are still crisp, they know that their generation, and their generation’s stories, is slowly disappearing.
Major George E. “Ratsy” Preddy of the 8th AF was a fighter pilot stationed in England and who shot down 6 German planes on one mission. One of the top aces in the ETO, he had 25.5 shot down and 6 destroyed on the ground.
Preddy luck soon ran out when he was down down and killed by ‘friendly’ fire on December 25, 1944. He was KIA in his aircraft on Christmas Day while on a strafing mission in support of ground troops during the Battle of the Bulge. Him, and two other P-51s were hit by ‘friendly’ fire that was intended for the Me 109 that the Mustangs were chasing. Preddy’s plane crashed into the ground at high speed and low altitude, killing him instantly.During his service in the war, Preddy flew P-40s in Australia with the 49th Fighter Group earlier in the war and had at least 5 aircraft assigned to him while serving in the 325nd Fighter Group in England. At the time of his death, he was the CO of the 328th Fighter Squadron, 352nd Fighter Group. He was the top scoring Musting Ace of the entire war.
The trouble with me is, I don’t even know how to start to build my share of one world. So if I get through this, I will have to get on the ball and learn something about economies and people and things.
If that is vague, it is because I don’t know where to start to be specific. In the end it is only the people that count, all the people in the whole world. Any land is beautiful to someone. Any land is worth fighting for to someone. So it isn’t the land.
It’s the people.
That is what war is all about, I think. Beyond that I can’t go very far. So if we can get through this war, I’ll get started…"
London (more specifically, the docks) on fire after a German air raid, September 1940
A trooper in the 505th PIR (of the 82nd Airborne) riding the horse he found down Cape Wool Street in Sainte-Mère-Église.
It is impossible not to make a Band of Brothers reference.
COME ON BAD BOY LET’S GO.
LIFE photographer and war correspondent Margaret Bourke-White in Italy, 1944
