A Tribute to the 382nd Bombardment Group (VH):
Trained for Combat, But Didn't Get To Go

Brief History:

The 382nd Bombardment Group originally began on 28 October 1942 as a B-24 (Heavy) operational training unit (and later replacement training unit) with the 2nd Air Force, stationed variously at Salt Lake City AAB, Davis-Monthan Field, Pocatello AAFld, and Muroc AAFld. During this time the Group consisted of four training squadrons: 536th, 537th, 538th, and 539th. The 382nd BG (H) was inactivated on 31 March 1944.

The 382nd Bombardment Group (Very Heavy) was activated on 25 August 1944 at Dalhart Army Air Field (Texas) and assigned to the Second Air Force. Its new mission was to train and go to the Pacific as a B-29 combat outfit. This combat training began 11 December 1944, after a relocation to Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Salina, Kansas. The 382nd BG (VH), along with the 383rd BG (VH) that was training at nearby Walker AAFld (Kansas), was to form part of the 316th Bombardment Wing 1/ in the Pacific as part of the newly reassigned 8th Air Force (which had been moved, without personnel and equipment, to the Pacific after the war in Europe ended).

The 382nd BG (VH) consisted of a headquarters squadron, three combat bombardment squadrons - the 420th, 464th, and the 872nd - as well as the 33rd Photo Lab. Both the 420th and 464th Bomb Squadrons date back to 1942 as Heavy (H) training squadrons - the 420th previously training B-24 crews with the 302nd BG (H) and the 464th previously training B-17 and B-24 crews with the 331st BG (H) - and were both originally inactivated in April 1944 before later being reconstituted. The 872nd was created in November 1943, also as a combat training unit, initially assigned to the 497th Bombardment Group, and originally inactivated in May 1944.

From December 1944 to July 1945, the 382nd BG (VH) trained its combat crews at Smoky Hill AAFld, including two-week rotations of all squadrons and crews (including maintenance personnel) to Cuba (Batista Army Air Field, near Havana) for tropical training and overwater flying. During this time, further transition and technical training took place for each of the 11 crew positions on the B-29, as well as the forming of crews themselves and practicing of flight operations, plus giving the maintenance personnel some very valuable experience in "making do" in field conditions.

In July 1945, the air echelon moved to Harvard Army Air Field, Harvard, Nebraska, for final training and qualifications, while the ground echelon embarked (by train and then by ship) to Guam. With the declaration of peace on 14 August 1945, all air training for the group stopped, with the ground echelon being the only major part of the group that officially served in a combat zone 2/.

The last entries in the official archive of the 382nd BG (VH) records that the air echelon flew their planes and personnel to Kearney Army Air Field (Kearney, Nebraska) at the end of August and beginning of September. From there, the record seems to disappear. Apparently some personnel were reassigned to other units (for instance, the 420th BS was apparently sent to Grand Island AAFld to be dispersed into a group reforming there), with several still making it out to the Pacific, while others became eligible for discharge. Officially the 382nd BG (VH) was stationed at Guam from 8 September until December 16, 1945, before it was moved to Camp Anza (California), where it was deactivated, along with its three combat squadrons, for the final time on January 4, 1946.

As such, the 382nd Bombardment Group (VH) trained for battle, was ready to go (the flight and air echelon were apparently originally scheduled to leave for the Pacific in late-August or early-September), but due to events (a good set of events!) didn't see combat. While not as exciting as a group that saw combat, it is nonetheless interesting to read about combat training and the morale and commitment of personnel ready to go to war. This tribute is in their memory and for their commitment.

1/ In addition to the 382nd and 383rd, the 316th BW (VH) also consisted of the 333rd and 346th BG (VH), which had already been stationed at Kadena, Okinawa, by the end of the conflict. (See weblinks at the end of this page for information on these other groups.) There seems to be some disagreement on where the 382nd and 383rd were to be stationed. The Eighth Air Force in the Pacific was to operate out of Okinawa, so I would presume all the units would be there. However, I read somewhere (although I can't find it right now) that the 382nd and 383rd would be in the Marianas, such as at Guam where the 382nd ground echelon was shipped. Similarly, Headquarters and the ground echelon for the 383rd were shipped to Tinian in September, which would lend credence to this location. But others say that all the groups of the 316th BW were to be stationed at Okinawa. Either way, officially the 382nd made it only as far as Guam.

2/ Besides the 382nd Ground Echelon making it overseas to Guam, at least three lead crews from each squadron of the 382nd BG (VH) were already overseas on detached service in the Pacific for combat experience prior to the arrival of the rest of the group. These crews were later assigned to the 346th BG (VH) on Okinawa. Officially it is listed that the station of the 382nd BG (VH) was Guam from September 8 to December 16, 1945, although it is unclear from the archived history as to how much of the air echelon personnel made it to the Pacific. One archived shipment order indicates that apparently at least nine crews of the 382nd were transferred to the 346th in November 1945. Either way, it is clear that the bulk of the Air Echelon of the 382nd BG (VH), as a fighting unit, did not see combat.

Available Records on the 382nd BG (VH):

Information on the 382nd BG (VH) is limited. Being the 382nd was never in combat as a flying unit, the records that were kept all had to do with training only. No books that include 382nd BG (VH) were ever written to the best of my knowledge.

AFHRA Microfilm Rolls B0371 and B0372 contain all the available official historical records on the various incarnations of the 382nd BG, with the latter roll containing the records for the (VH) time period. The microfilm records on the 382nd BG (VH) consists primarily of standard monthly history reports that summarized the status of personnel, training and operational preparedness, equipment and maintenance, facilities, and morale. Many of the monthly reports include a complete roster of officers (but not enlisted personnel) as an appendix, as well as charts indicating the training status of each crew (known only by crew number and by the name of the aircraft commander).

There is no complete roster of the unit, and other records that might have existed in this regard were lost in the 1973 fire in St. Louis at the National Military Personnel Center (the fire destroyed all unit rosters for 1944, 1945, and 1946). The closest available for a complete roster of the air echelon only, with enlisted personnel, are three special orders preserved in the microfilm archive and dating to late August, that direct the movement of 36 aircrews (plus passengers) from Harvard AAFld to Kearney AAFld.

Here is information I have collected and transcribed to-date on the 382nd BG (VH):

Photos?

Here is the beginnings of a webpage with photographs for the 382nd BG and its personnel.

The 382nd BG (VH) and Cpl. Chester S. Anderson (My Uncle)

What prompted me to research and write about the 382nd Bombardment Group (VH) was my uncle, Corporal Chester ("Chet") S. Anderson.

I am fairly certain that my uncle was with the 382nd BG (VH) in 1945, training to fight as a B-29 gunner, possibly as a CFC ("ring") Gunner3/. At least that is what the family and I believe. We know he was training for combat as a B-29 gunner, my dad recalls as a CFC (central fire control) gun operator, and we know Chester was at Smoky Hills Army Air Field (SHAAF) at the end of 1944 and into mid-1945. His wife and daugher even lived with him for a time in Salina in 1945. The 382nd BG (VH) was the only outfit training for combat at SHAAF during this time fitting this profile, although Chester could have been assigned strictly to the Base Unit (as he was when he first arrived at SHAAF in December). (My father distinctly recalls Chester's outfit being slated to go overseas, with the departure stopped due to the end of the conflict, which would suggest against the Base Unit in mid-1945.)

Unfortunately we have no records to prove this. Chester's military records, like so many others, were lost in the 1973 fire in St. Louis at the National Military Personnel Center. Documents and letters we do have confirm Chester's various assignments and locations up through his arrival at SHAAF in December 1944, and pick up again once he at Sioux City AAFld in mid-August 1945. But we are missing details and confirmation for things in between. And with the lack of complete unit rosters from 1945 (also lost in the 1973 fire), I cannot verify Chester's assignment. His name does not appear among the crew/passengers listed in either of the three special orders for the final disbursement flight of planes to Kearney at the end of August.

What I believe is this: Chester was indeed with the 382nd BG (VH), and that he was among the 32 enlisted personnel transferred away in early August when the Group reduced its table of organization to 12 planes/crews per squadron. Chester was unlucky to be among the equivalent of six (6) crews of enlisted men selected to be disbursed - one crew from the 420th, two crews from the 464th, and three crews from the 872nd. I am hopeful that a letter may yet be uncovered (from among family archives) that will reveal a return address and/or a pilot's name that will let me verify my guesses (such as squadron assignment and possibly explain what happened) 4/.

After leaving Smoky Hill AAFld, Chester was reclassified as a B-25 flight engineer-crew chief and assigned first to the Headquarters Squadron of the 47th Bombardment Wing and later to the 240th AAF Base Unit (17th BOTW), both at Sioux City Army Air Base (Iowa). Unfortunately he was killed (along with all others in his plane) in Kentucky on November 10, 1945, while on a cross-country training flight with marginally CFR conditions (low clouds) in hilly terrain.

3/ That Chester was training as a CFC gunner (MOS 540) is not certain. Given that Chester remained a Corporal suggests that he might have been in a different position (as with few exceptions CFC gunners were Sergeants), possibly as a Tail Gunner (most of those were Corporals, MOS 611). He may have also been a "scanner," which is the generic B-29 label for someone who is either a Right- or Left-Side Gunner, as they were often Corporals. In this case he would have been cross-trained as either an Armorer-Gunner or Electrical-Gunner. (The latter would add some credence to his being trained specifically in the remote control gunnery system as a backup to the CFC, and providing my dad with the idea that his brother Chet was training as a CFC gunner.)

4/ Although I will never know for sure why Chester was passed over by the Group at the last minute, I can think of several contributing factors: (1) his age (he turned 34 on July 20, 1945), (2) he was married and (3) a parent, (4) he had other usable qualifications (he was a civilian pilot instructor for the CAA-WTS before being drafted), (5) he may have been behind in his training or just not as qualified as others for his MOS in the Group, and/or (6) he just "lost out" in a "lottery" in the ways the military made such decisions. I suppose it is possible that he also volunteered to move.


References:


Links to Other Sites of Related Interest:


Page created by Kevin Anderson (Dubuque, Iowa).
All errors are my own and will be corrected where possible.

Contact me with comments.

Originally created on 31 December 2005
Last updated 8 March 2008