The 39th Bomb Group

    The 39th Bomb Group, Heavy (H), was relieved of their assignment as a B-24 replacement training unit at Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona, on 1 April, 1944. The unit was re-designated as a B-29 bomb group, Very Heavy (VH), and reassigned to Smokey Hill Airfield, Salina, Kansas, for training as a combat unit. During April and early part of May, personnel were being assigned to the new group in small numbers, but no aircraft were yet available. On 15 May, the group was reassigned to Dalhart Army Airfield, Texas, where the ground echelon was formed, and the operational squadrons trained with B-17s. In August, the group returned to Smokey Hill, where limited B-29 training began while waiting for the 499th Bomb Group to complete training and deploy to the Pacific. Full-time training was finally initiated in October 1944, and ground school instruction began want all men in the unit. In January 1945, the air echelon deployed to Batista Army Airfield, Cuba, for flying and bombing training. This included a short period of overwater training just outside of Batista.

    The ground echelon departed 8 January, 1945, for Seattle, where it embarked on the S. S. Howell Lykes for North Field, Guam. In the meantime, the air echelon returned from Cuba and the group was in the last stages of preparation before the ferrying of personnel and the new operational B-29s received from Boeing-Wichita. The unit formed at Northfield, Guam, in mid-February, 1945. On 18 February, 1945, they were assigned to the 314th Bomb Wing that had just arrived from Colorado. On arrival, group personnel were engaged in quonset hut construction for their new home. By mid-March, most personnel were able to move into the huts from the initial tents which they were assigned to on arrival. On 12 April, their first mission against the Japanese home islands was to the Hodagaya chemical works at Koriyama. The following day, their mission was to the Tokyo arsenal. The last week in April, they supported the allied invasion of Okinawa by attacking airfields that served as bases for kamikaze pilots. They bombed military and industrial targets in Japan and incendiary raids on urban areas from mid-May until the end of the war.

    The group completed 78 missions from Guam.

    From August until two September, the group flew mercy missions dropping food, clothing, and supplies to allied prisoners and participated in the show of force mission over Japan and the battleship USS Missouri during the surrender ceremony.

    The 39th bomb group received a distinguished unit citation for an attack against the Otake oil refinery and storage areas at Honshu on 10 May, 1945. They received a second citation for bombing industrial and dock areas in Yokohama and manufacturing districts in Tokyo 8 to 29 May, 1945.

Commanders: Capt. Claude Hilton – 28 April 1944; Col. John Fowler – 22 February 1945; Col. George Mundy – 17 March 1945