Photos WW2 US Forces

[BravoZulu]

Lt Colonel Francis Stanley "Gabby" Gabreski (first from the right) along with his ground crew. In the background, his P-47D Thunderbolt. 1944

 

[BravoZulu]

USN Commander Wilson, with Japanese occupation banknotes in Manila, 1945

 

[BravoZulu]

The first YP-61 Black Widow night fighter to arrive at Orlando Army Air Base, November 1943 is met by a 349th Night Fighter Squadron Douglas P-70 "Black Magic".

 

[BravoZulu]

Lt James Hamilton Clark and his groundcrew of P-51B Mustang “The Mighty Midget” of the 363rd Fighter Group with an impressive mission and kill tally, ca 1944

He married a woman named Marjorie, and her nickname was 'Midge' so he gave her nickname to his Mustang, hence the name The Mighty Midget

This P-51B had crashed on August 13 next to the village of St Martin des Champs, not far from Falaise, and killing the pilot 2nd Lt Chester H Rice....Lt Clark had not flown on that day.

 

[BravoZulu]

Ground crew refuel a 9th Fighter Squadron P-38 at Dobodura, New Guinea 1943.

 

[BravoZulu]

M12 Motor Gun Carriages from the 991st Field Artillery Battalion in action near Bildchen Germany, November 1944.

 

[BravoZulu]

M4 (105) of the 756th Tank Battalion stuck in the mud near Les Rouges Eaux France... November 8, 1944.

 

[BravoZulu]

M3 105mm howitzers shell German forces retreating near Carentan, France. July 11, 1944

 

[BravoZulu]

Pvt Terry Moore of F Company, 184th Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, leans against an embankment, a cigarette in his mouth and his Browning automatic rifle (BAR) in his hands, Okinawa, May 1945.

 

[BravoZulu]

A U.S. soldier stands in the middle of rubble in the Monument of the Battle of the Nations in Leipzig near end of WWII

 

[BravoZulu]

11th Regiment, 5th Division US Private Charles Preston, of Nicholasville, Kentucky, brushes snow from a M1917 Browning machine gun mounted on his jeep. His unit was moving in against the German counterattack in the Ardennes during the 'Battle of the Bulge' which was then barely a week old, in the frontline of Luxemburg. 21 Dec 1944

 

[BravoZulu]

Close-up of shirtless Private First Class Paul Kaiser as he loads a Bofors 40mm gun in an anti-aircraft emplacement, England 1944

 

[BravoZulu]

In July of 1944, pilots wait to be briefed on an aircraft carrier (likely USS Ranger) while playing with the ship’s mascot. Shortly after this picture was taken, they were flying over the Atlantic on a mission

 

[BravoZulu]

B-17G 'Miss Donna Mae II' was tragically struck down due to bombs released from an allied aircraft. While engaged in a mission, 'Miss Donna Mae II' lost its formation and moved underneath another B-17, 'Trudy' with serial 42-97791, belonging to the 332nd Bomb Squadron. A 1,000-pound bomb released from 'Trudy' hit 'Miss Donna Mae II,' severing its left horizontal stabilizer and causing the aircraft to enter an uncontrollable spin. The aircraft lost a wing around 13,000 feet. The incident resulted in the loss of all 11 crew members. The plane crashed in Oderbergerstrasse, Berlin on the 19th of May, 1944.

Pilot 1LT Marion Ulysses Reid

Co-Pilot 2LT Lewis T Carter

Bombardier 2LT Stanley David Duffield

Navigator 2LT Roger Francis Tessier

Radio Operator SSGT John F. Boone

Ball Turret Gunner SSGT Ludwig Herman Huth

Tail Gunner SSGT Willard Melvin Christensen

Waist Gunner SSGT Richard Edward Brennan

Waist Gunner SSGT James Andrew Kalahar

Top Turret Gunner TSGT Lee Zane Kieffer

Observer TSGT John Baillie Davis

 

[BravoZulu]

Pin-up photos adorn the walls of a bomber-crew shack on Adak Island, Aleutian Campaign, Alaska, 1943

 

[BravoZulu]

PBY Catalina Flying Boat in the icy waters of Kodiak Bay, Alaska, 1943

 

[BravoZulu]

Three Consolidated PBY-5A Catalinas of patrol squadron VP-52 in the south-west Pacific in December 1943. VP-52 was based at Port Moresby, New Guinea at that time and was engaged in so-called "Black Cat" (nighttime) operations.

 

[BravoZulu]

Soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 35th Division board cars at Camp Robinson, Ark., on December 18, 1941, less than two weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor

 

[RisingStar]

Pfc. Clinton Calvert and Corporal Roy Swisher of the 4th Infantry Division bring in some fresh meat from a hunt to supplement their rations during the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944)

 

[BravoZulu]

Utah Beach, June 6th 1944. American troops exposed on the beach can be seen throwing themselves on the ground as a German 88mm shell explodes further down the beach. In the foreground, others can be seen in the shelter of the sea wall.