President's Corner - 91st Bomb Group (H)

President's Corner

Published in the January 2009 Ragged Irregular

I wish to express my appreciation for the Veterans of the 91st Bomb Group, who gave so much, and for those that returned asking little for themselves. They returned and built America as we have today. We are now over 66 years since the start of WWII and the loss of so many of the boys who served.

We are looking ahead to the future of the 91st Bomb Group Memorial Association. I would like some suggestions from the Veterans of the 91st as to what you think needs to be accomplished in the next few years. We will have a reunion in 2010 in Dayton, Ohio to see the Memphis Belle, but what else can we do or make happen in the interest of history or the 91st BGMA?

For those you on the Ring, Mike Banta is doing much better after his back surgery and he convinced the doctors to give him a new HIP. For those of you that do not know about the Mike Banta Ring, you should have a friend, family member or even a stranger to show you the web page: www.91stbombgroup.com and add your story to the history that has already been placed on the web page.

We now have 2 new FULL MEMBERS voted for on 11-87-2008. They are Charles R. Davis and Thomas L. Davis. They qualified because they have been an associate member for more then 3 years and are willing to help at future events. A full list of all Full Members will be in the April R.I.

Thank you to those who donated money to the Web Page Fund. This money will be used to pay outside help so that we can increase adding the new items to the web page. The information presented on the web page is the most detailed information available on the inter-net. Your story is of interest too much of the world; much more then you could every imagine. We have hundreds of picture, stories, crew photos and other items and we want to make sure they get issued to the web page.

As noted above, Mike Banta is recovering from his back and hip problem, but now it seems to be my turn. I could be having back surgery after the first of the year and this has already restricted my time on the computer.

Jim Shepherd