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U.S. Air Force Honors 384th Crew
Multiple Ceremonies at Normandy Cemetery in 2002
The Eighth Air Force's 384th Bombardment Group (H), its missions, its losses, its experiences will always be remembered. This website along with others, many books, museums and memorabilia are dedicated to that purpose. But now the 384th has had a special honor bestowed upon it. The U.S. Air Force has recognized it, and is passing down its memory to new recruits, seasoned air force personnel - and even to generals currently serving our country. Right after D-Day 2002, I received an e-mail from a French researcher and good friend (Mick Simon) who visited the Normandy Cemetery on 6 June 2002. He told me he was astonished to see that the grave site of Staff Sergeant Marion L. Parker, 384th/544th, was "one of the most decorated" of any in the entire cemetery. Mick and his group have been researching Marion's crew (Pilot: Herb Small) for several years, and since Marion was my uncle, he wanted to let me know about the beautiful wreath that had been placed on my uncle's grave site. The banner with the flowers read "U.S. Air Forces - EUROPE". Now these flowers were a big mystery to my family and me, and to our French friends. Try as we might, we could not find out who placed the flowers there. My father (Marion's brother) especially wanted to say "thank you", but we just didn't know who to thank.
 Flowers at Gravesite of S/Sgt Marion L. Parker, 06-06-02
(For the full story on Marion and the rest of the crew, see One Man's Sacrifice.)
About one month later, I was more than surprised to receive an e-mail from GS-14 Dan Mortensen of Maxwell AF Base. His e-mail read, in part:
"Carol, I discovered this site a couple of months ago, and three weeks ago I led a USAF group, including 5 generals, through Normandy. We stopped at Omaha Beach Cemetery of course, it's always mandatory, and because I had some personal material on one of your crew members, we had a ceremony and a prayer around the grave stone of Marion Parker and we placed a very beautiful wreath on it. We were all grateful for you all to supply this material, as we are grateful to those who gave their lives for our nation. We will go back several times in the coming year, as the Air Force has now caught on to how educational it is to tour Normandy, even as the Army has been doing it for years."
You can imagine my surprise! His next e-mail read, in part:
"I made copies of most of the incredible story you assembled and passed it out to everyone at the grave site. It had a dramatic effect on everyone, including all the generals, as you might expect. It is especially touching to read that kind of personal material at an actual grave site. And it is important for currently serving airmen that they know there were real people who fought earlier battles. The only thing I would wish more was that you were with us....."
"I think it is unique that we in the Air Force are beginning
to realize that Normandy does not just belong to the ground forces that assaulted the beaches--that is the mindset of most Americans--but it belongs to airmen. By the end of August 1944, the official end of the Normandy campaign, we had lost 28,000 aircrew over France, your uncle but one of them. We are trying hard to reclaim the heritage of that event for the airmen everywhere
and the USAF in particular. We will go and visit your uncle's grave and others at Omaha beach and we visit other sites that help us recall and remember the incredible battles of WW II that are our heritage and that teach us lessons even today. I wish I could tell all the families who still remember the loss of loved ones so many years, that we in the active air service still remember and honor them all."
My reply to this kind man read, in part:
"By the way, I once again must say that it is a dream come true for me that you are using my uncle's story and my website information to pass on the history of our WWII aircrews as you are doing. My goal in creating the site was to honor these crewmen, tell their stories in their own words, and to preserve the all-important history. Little did I think, when I started, that it would have this kind of impact. You wouldn't believe the things that have happened since I started it. Anyway, this is the ultimate honor for my family, but more than that, it is an honor to the veterans and THAT is my real purpose. Believe me,the veterans who have trusted me with their long-held stories will know how you are honoring one of their own, and using a member of their Bomb Group to teach airmen of their heritage at Normandy. I feel as though my uncle and all the others, did not die in vain because we have not forgotten them, and you are passing on their stories to present day servicemen. Thank you for this, I just wish I could thank you enough..."
I found out later that the Commanding General of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe was the person laying the original wreath on Marion's grave on D-Day 2002:
 General Lays the Wreath, 06-06-02
A second tour group was led by this gentlman about 2 months later. Another prayer service, wreath-laying, and teaching session was conducted.
 AF Tour Group Gathers at Graveside
> Teaching About a Typical 384th BG Mission
After the ceremony, 3 roses were taken from the wreath and laid at the gravesites of 3 other men from this same crew who are interred nearby:
 Cross of Roy Morris, co-pilot
 Cross of Herb Small, Pilot
 Cross of Russell Ulrich, Waist Gunner
The group also toured the target area of this particular crew, Sottevast, France. He had this to say about Sottevast:
"Sottevast was a very important target, more so than has been understood allthese years. The place was never anywhere near completion, partly becausewe bombed it so many times. But it was good that we did because evidencesuggests that it was intended as a site to maintain and prepare for launch, both nuclear and chemical charged V-2s. Most of the histories regard Sottevast as a V-1 site, and that is patentedly wrong. We have only recently discovered that the Germans had developed a special V-2 to carry these kinds of devastating loads. The Cherbourg Peninsula is peppered with numerous hidden launch sites, some that have been identified, and one which I have seen."
This website has had many wonderful effects, and I just wish I could share all them with you. Best of all, though, is knowing that because of the veterans who were kind enough and trusting enough to share their stories with me for publication here, their own government is using a 384th BG Crew as an example of true sacrifice for current servicemen. I am so proud of all of the veterans, and hold them in my heart always. Now - more people than ever will have the opportunity to know what I know about the honorable men of the 384th Bombardment Group (H) at Station 106. May we never forget.
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