“At the time of the Normandy Invasion I was a navigator in the 439th Troop Carrier Group, 94th Sqdn. Our group put up an 81 ship formation for the mission. We were the 79th plane. I had a pretty good view of the show up ahead. When we crossed the French coast we encountered a cloud deck. Some planes went above the clouds. We stayed below so I could see the check points to hit the drop zone. Suddenly there were paratroopers in the air all around us. A plane above the clouds had dropped his troopers. Thank God we didn’t hit any…
… A machine gun position directly ahead on our course began firing at the flight ahead of us. He hit the lead plane; it nosed up, its landing lights flashing, and fell off on the left wing, crashing in a ball of fire on the ground. All I could see protruding from the fireball were wing tips and empennage [tail].
Then our time came to come under fire from the machine gun position. He was firing green tracers and was walking them back toward our plane. They were coming up the right side of the plane. I thought we were going to get it. The co-pilot threw up his arms to protect himself. I had a flak helmet and flak suit on. I ducked my head down, waiting for the impact. The tracers were so close they lit up the cockpit with a green flow, then stopped. We didn’t get a scratch. Another second and the shells would have penetrated the gas tanks. I wouldn’t be here to tell this story.” – “439th Troop Carrier Group Navigator Bob Dains, Tells D-Day Story,” The Ninth Flyer Volume 6, Number 3, 1996
June 6, 2014 is the 70th anniversary of D-Day. In memoriam to the largest sea invasion that has ever taken place, Archival Services is promoting their numerous D-Day related materials including the newly processed Archives of the Ninth Air Force Association, digitized copies of the Ninth Air Force Association’s newsletter, The Ninth Flyer, and dozens of books concerning D-Day and the Normandy invasion. Over 150,000 troops from Allied countries participated in the landing, providing a northern foothold on the continent and ultimately helping to break the back of Nazi Germany; over 150,000 memories to be honored and remembered.
Archives of the Ninth Air Force finding aid