Memorial taplet at St Andrew's church, Hingham, dedicated to the 452nd Bomber Group (Heavy), stationed at RAF Deopham Green (USAAF Station 142), England, c. 8 January 1944 – 6 August 1945 - (
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The memorial consists of a black marble tablet set onto the front face of a small flint and brick wall at the western edge of St Andrew's churchyard. Group emblems are on each corner of the tablet, the top two show a bomb with crossed lightning flashes behind it - the emblem of the 452d Bombardment Group. The bottom pair show badge of the 8th air force.
The inscription reads -
MEMORIAL
DEDICATED TO THE MEN OF THE
452nd BOMB GROUP (H)
WHO SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES IN WORLD WAR II
THAT THE IDEALS OF DEMOCRACY MIGHT LIVE"The 452d Operations Group (452 OG) is the flying component of the 452d Air Mobility Wing, assigned to the United States Air Force Reserve. The group is stationed at March Air Reserve Base, California.
During World War II, its predecessor unit, the 452d Bombardment Group (Heavy) was an Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress unit in England, stationed at RAF Deopham Green. 1st Lieutenant Donald J. Gott and 2nd Lieutenant William E. Metzger, Jr were both awarded the Medal of Honor for their heroic actions.
The present day 452d works to maintain a special relationship with the 452d Bomb Group Memorial Association to keep its heritage alive.
The 452 Bombardment Group (Heavy) was established on 14 May 1943 and activated on 1 June 1943 at Geiger Field, Washington. The unit was transferred to Rapid City AAB, South Dakota on 15 June 1943 and trained there until early October 1943. It had been redesignated as 452 Bombardment Group, Heavy on 20 August 1943. The unit was moved to Pendleton Field Oregon on 11 October 1943 and to Walla Walla AAFd Washington on 4 November 1943.
Ground unit left for Camp Shanks New York on 23 December 1943 and sailed on the Queen Elizabeth on 2 January 1944, and arrived in Clyde on 8 January 1944. The air echelon began overseas movement in early December 1943 via the southern ferry route. Most of the aircraft reached England a few days before the ground units arrived. The 452d was assigned to the 45th Combat Bombardment Wing, and the group tail code was a "Square-L".
the 452d entered combat on 5 February with an attack against aircraft assembly plants at Brunswick. Throughout combat, engaged primarily in bombardment of strategic targets, including marshalling yards at Frankfurt, aircraft assembly plants at Regensburg, aircraft component works at Kassel, the ball-bearing industry at Schweinfurt, a synthetic rubber plant at Hanover, and oil installations at Bohlen.
In addition to strategic missions, the 452d supported ground forces and carried out interdictory operations. Helped prepare for the invasion of Normandy by hitting airfields, V-weapon sites, bridges, and other objectives in France. The group struck coastal defenses on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Bombed enemy positions in support of the breakthrough at Saint-Lô in July and the offensive against Brest in August and September 1944. Later in September, assisted the airborne attack on the Netherlands. Hit enemy communications in and near the combat zone during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 – January 1945. Bombed an airfield in support of the airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945.
The group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for action on 7 April 1945 when, despite vigorous fighter attacks and heavy flak, it accurately bombed a jet-fighter base at Kaltenkirchen. The 452d Bomb Group flew its last combat mission of World War II [in Europe] on 21 April, striking marshalling yards at Ingolstadt.
The group flew a total of 250 missions from Deopham Green during the war, losing 110 of its bombers in the course of these operations. Indeed, the group suffered particularly heavy losses during the spring of 1944, at that time sustaining one of the highest rates of loss of any Fortress equipped unit in the Eighth Air Force.
Redeployed to the US June/August 1945. The air echelon departed the United Kingdom late June 1945. Ground echelon sailed on the Queen Elizabeth from Greenock on 5 August 1945, and arrived in New York on 11 August 1945. The unit established at Sioux Falls AAFd, South Dakota where the Group was inactivated on 28 August 1945."
SOURCE - (
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Factsheet - (
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American Air Museum archive - (
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