A Family of Survivors - Paperback

by Nelton Duward Patterson (Author)

"A Family of Survivors" is a factual account of the events experienced by a rural Arkansas family the first half of the twentieth century. It has interesting eyewitness accounts of major events that occurred during this period of our history. These events include World War I, the great influenza epidemic, the Elaine Race Riots, the Great Flood of 1927, the Stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. It details events leading up to World War II, and gives an account of three brothers service in the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Army Air Force. It takes us to the surrender of Hitler's war machine.

As we celebrated V.E. Day, Victory in Europe, on May 8, 1945, we took stock of our losses. We were to learn that the 8th Air Force had spent 1,008 days in action against the enemy. We had burned a billion gallons of fuel, fired nearly 100 million rounds of machine gun ammunition and dropped more that 732,000 tons of bombs on the enemy. The 8th Air Force had lost 6,243 airplanes and more than 47,000 men.

The work of the 384th Bomber Group was not over. We would move into France and operate an airline for another seven months. This operation, called "The Green Project" is also outlined in the book.