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

President's Corner

Published in the October 2008 Ragged Irregular

Hurricane Ike has destroyed many homes and killed many people. The past president, Bob Friedman and his wife Joy, have a home in Houston, but had to move to Arlington Texas with Joy's sister because their home is without power. Joy states that two thirds of Houston are in the dark and their zip code is 100% in the dark. The good news is that they are OK. Did we have any other members affected by hurricane Ike?

Yves Carnot, a guest at the Reunion from Brittany France, sent a picture of his display for September 11. It was the American Flag hanging at half mast. Most people I tell about Yves and the other people in France, Belgium, Netherlands, England, etc. that I'm in contact with, can't believe that most people in Europe continue to honor the American Serviceman that came to restore freedom and defeat the Germans'. In fact, many people and school children in Europe know more about WWII then our kids here in America.

I attended the business meeting at the Savannah reunion in 1998 and listen to the officers talk about declining membership and assets. Wanting to help, I called Asay Johnson and requested permission to start a web page for the 91st BGMA. He said OK if it was free and it has been. The web page was published on the inter-net on January 17, 1999. Two days later, Mike Banta (324th) started his inter-net RING to contact other veterans of the 91st. We did not know each other at that time. Months later we found each other and since then we have helped hundreds and maybe thousands get information regarding information about their Fathers, Brothers, Uncles, old friends and just historians wanting to know the truth about the 91st Bomb Group, based at Bassingbourn.

We continue getting over 1,000 visitors per week to the web page because it has the most complete information of any bomb group in WWII. Thanks must go to all the veterans who provided stories and pictures. Also, a special thanks to Lowell Getz, a historian, who has spent many hours researching documents and calling members for additional information. This is a real team doing research; Mike Banta and over 100 Ring members, Lowell Getz and the web page.

The web page has run into many problems over the past 2 years because of Virus' and computer malfunction.. I have had to hire help to maintain the web page and have just now purchased a new very expensive program. In other words, I can't keep up with the web page because we have so much more information to add and it will not get done without more help (hours). During the next year, I would like to hire someone part-time to just add more items. I will cost a minimum of $10.00 per hour.

I am starting a WEB PAGE fund to double the size of the PUBLISHED web page. We need a minimum of $5,000 donated to the 91st Bomb Group Web page fund, so please do what you can to help us. We do not have forever to complete the mission. Any and all donation would would be appreciated.

Jim Shepherd