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

President's Corner

Published in the October 2009 Ragged Irregular

The 91st Bomb Group web page will soon be 11 years old and we continue updating and adding more history every day. We must have over a years backlog of items to add and more are coming in almost every day. The web page has had over 750,000 visitors during this time and we believe the web page is the most complete of any Army Air Corp groups of World War II.

Help is needed to pay for time required to manage the web page. I do not ask of payment for myself, but for those who help add items and we need your help with donations to the WEB PAGE FUND. Remember, your donation is tax deductible because the group is a non-profit organization. I donate $40.00 per month to help a little, but we need a maximum effort and many donated dollars. Please do what you can and send your checks to our Treasurer, Jody Kelly.

Gary Hall did an incredible job planning and organizing the Rally Round in Minneapolis and made 3 veterans very happy with a short flight on a B-17. Don Freer said the last time he crawled out of a B-17, he was free man, that was 64 years ago.

We need everyones help with the Reunion 2010 in Dayton Ohio. We are trying to get an idea on how many might attend or how many are planning on attending at this time. You can advise one of the officers and the information will be past on to Ed Gates who is organizing the event.
I just received a letter regarding the passing of Daniel Goldstein, 322nd, from Phoenix. He was very considerate in wanting to help the 91st Bomb Group Memorial Association continue and named the group as a beneficiaries. His donation is listed at $1,000.00 if the trust, after expenses, has that much money left. This is such a wonderful gift and association is grateful for his contribution.

After having back surgery March 30, I'm becoming more active and will schedule a conference with the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino California. The 91st has a display there and after receiving many more items, we will be adding them to the museum. Display cases will be required and they are working on a research center. Of concern, are the Ragged Irregulars. I have a full set, thanks to Jack Gaffney and we are working to have them all on the web page for review and you should be able to print copies.

Suzi and I had an interesting experience while on vacation with a gentleman from Ohio who starting talking about WWII and how the Americans bombed the Germans. Suzi fired back that he didn't know what he was talking about and that I was a historian and would set him straight! I found out he was so misinformed that it was hard for him to accept the truth. The Gentlemen of the 91st have taught me much and has made my son, Jim Jr., a believer in real history.

We have all listen to programs that play down the importance of the bomb of Europe. A cassette tape was given to me and the narrator was a British gentleman and he outlined why the bombing was so important to the war effort. I plan to have the cassette copied to a CD and will make them available to the group.

Jim Shepherd