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P/O 91st BG, 8th AF

Submitted by Jim Webb

Constituted 11th Reconnaissance Squadron (Heavy) on 28 Jan 1942. Activated on 15 Apr 1942. Redesignated 401st Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 22 Apr 1942. Inactivated on 7 Nov 1945.

Assignments. 91st Bombardment Group, 15 Apr 1942-7 Nov 1945.

Stations. Harding Field, La, 15 Apr 1942; MacDill Field, Fla, 13 May 1942; Walla Walla, Wash, 22 Jun-24 Aug 1942; Kimbolton, England, 13 Sep 1942; Bassingbourn, England, 14 Oct 1942-22 Jun 1945. Drew Field, Fla, 3 Jul-7 Nov 1945.

Aircraft. B-17, 1942-1945.

Operations. Combat in ETO, 8 Nov 1942-21 Apr 1945.

Service Streamers. None

Campaigns. Air Offensive, Europe; Normandy, Northern France; Rhineland; Ardennes-Alsace; Central Europe; Air Combat, EAME Theater.

Decorations. Distinguished Unit Citations: Hamm, Germany, 4 Mar 1943; Germany, 11 Jan 1944.

Emblem. On a light purple rectangle, long axis vertical, the comic strip character, HAIRLESS JOE, proper, wearing red brown, patched trousers and black, sleeveless jacket, grasping and holding aloft a very large yellow club with spike through end, balancing on the right foot, on a large light turquoise blue aerial bomb, and the comic strip character, LONESOME POLECAT, proper, wearing a red brown breech cloth and head band, having one white feather, trimmed black, in the headdress, seated astride the large aerial bomb, behind HAIRLESS JOE, and holding aloft in the right hand a light turquoise blue axe with yellow handle, all in front of a white disc within a green annulet, edged white. (Approved 18 Oct 1944.)