Show news from those in the service Y s private first class wayne dark clark who Is stationed at courtland ala as aerial engineer on a B ai Z bombar and ills his brother AC A C rich dark clark of hobbs field N M have spent the past two weeks in morgan on an emergency furlough lieutenant general james H doolittle has just congratulated uie the men and women of the eighth air force who have been stationed in england lieutenant general doolittle assumed command of the eight in january 1944 among thel the members ot of that force so congratulated are sergeant jay W francis and T ser gea geant nt john C johnson both of morgan general Doo doolittles littles message read 1 I wish to extend my personal congratulations and my heartfelt appreciation to every one of you for the magnificent job you have done each of you may be proud of your part in the defeat of germany I 1 am proud of you the world is proud of you the eighth air force was the worlds mightiest strategic bombing force its personnel of was the equivalent of 12 infantry divisions and it could send airmen in 2000 four engine bombers and 1000 fighters over germany at one time a combat effort possible only through the support of tens 0 of thousands of non f lying specialists since august 1942 when combat operations erat ions began liberators and flying fortresses of the eighth dropped more than tons of bombs on enemy targets fighter pilots shot down nazi planes and destroyed others on the ground bomber gunners shot german interceptors Intercept ors out of the air the eighth dropped an average of a ton of bombs every minute of the last 12 months airmen of the eighth were the first americans to attack germany the ile ea eab 17 crews flew a handful of unescorted bombers against the powerful and proved the feasibility of an american idea precision daylight bombing over the reich As the eighth grew in strength it was assigned the task taa of crushing the german air force which had to be done before the allies could invade france bombers of the eighth smashed nazi aircraft production centers after beating the into relative impotency the eighth threw its growing weight against germanys germanas Germ anys rail systems and vital sources of oil these campaigns in conjunction with the british knyal foiw aind nn jhc th thc stricter strict ed german military operations in the air and on the aroun ground d and paved the way for the march of allied armies across europe its fighters destroyed thousands of enemy planes in the air and on the ground |