In April 1942, Ben completed clerical training and was ordered to Barksdale Field, Louisiana. He hoped for a combat assignment but was a lowly clerk when he was attached to the 93rd Bomb Group, a B-24 outfit. Military Division, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Two bigoted sergeants schemed to transfer Ben from the 93rd when the group was ordered to Fort Myers, Florida, to complete training. Ben tearfully pleaded his case and was allowed to remain with the 93rd. In Florida, he slowly earned the trust of his comrades.
Military Division, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Ben was assigned to the 93rd’s pool of teletype operators, even while he continued to dream of proving his loyalty to America as an aerial gunner. He proudly posed in his flight gear in the Florida heat in the summer of 1942.
Military Division, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
After arriving in England in September 1942, Ben begged for a combat assignment. After a trial flight on a crew with a temporary need for a gunner, Ben insisted on a photograph to commemorate the occasion.
Military Division, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Ben joined a combat crew on the eve of the 93rd’s December 1942 departure for North Africa. The 93rd men were ordered to fly missions in support of the Operation TORCH landings out of a base outside Oran, Algeria, but foul weather forced their relocation to a desolate Sahara Desert base in eastern Libya known as Gambut Main.
Military Division, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Ben and his 93rd comrades flew raids on Axis shipping targets in North Africa and Italy for two months. In this photo, a crew is being briefed for Ben’s sixth mission, a raid on Palermo, Italy, on January 7, 1943.
Military Division, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Living conditions in the Libyan desert camp were primitive. The 93rd men lived in tents, ate outdoors, and survived on a few cups of water a day. Sandstorms, rain, and cold made conditions even worse.
Military Division, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
During the 93rd’s return trip to England in late February 1943, Ben and his crew were forced to make an emergency landing in Spanish Morocco. Ben, kneeling second from left, spent about two months in Spanish captivity with a colorful international cast of interned Allied airmen.
Military Division, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
After his release by Spanish authorities, Ben was debriefed in London. Before he rejoined the 93rd, former Hollywood film star Ben Lyon interviewed Ben for the popular Stars and Stripes in Britain radio show. Ben’s stirring story of patriotism and courage was beamed across America.
Military Division, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Ben rejoined the 93rd at a pivotal moment in the Eighth Air Force campaign against Nazi Germany. Casualties and combat stress had depleted the ranks of units, and German air defenses were exacting a rising toll on the American raiders. This photo shows the crew of the 93rd B-24 known as The Exterminator donning flight gear for an April 1943 mission, just days before Ben rejoined the group. US Army Air Forces (USAAF)/National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
In mid-May 1943, the men of the 93rd welcomed a new group commander: Lieutenant Colonel Addison Baker, right, a renowned stunt pilot in Ohio before the war. Baker was a beloved squadron commander in the 93rd prior to his promotion. A little more than two months later, Ben witnessed Baker’s horrifying death during the low-level Ploiesti raid.
US Army Air Forces (USAAF)/National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
Ben’s first month back with the 93rd was marked by a near-death experience over the Bay of Biscay and mystifying low-level practice flights over the English countryside. On June 25, Ben and his comrades once again set off for North Africa. Their new home was a desert camp outside Benghazi, Libya. The harsh living conditions were a shock to the newcomers, but not for Ben and other veterans of the previous North Africa deployment.
Military Division, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
After three weeks of missions against Italian targets in support of the Sicily invasion, Ben and his comrades resumed low-level practice flights in the Libyan desert. On August 1, 1943, Ben and his crewmates were among the first Americans to bomb the Axis oil refineries at Ploiesti, Romania—a day that would be remembered as Black Sunday because of the devastating American losses.
US Army Air Forces (USAAF)/National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
In the aftermath of the Ploiesti raid, American air commanders arranged for the survivors to escape their depressing desert camps for a few days of rest and relaxation in Egypt. Ben and several 93rd comrades spent their furloughs in Alexandria, Egypt, trying to forget the horrors they had witnessed. The men savored clean sheets and fine cuisine, drank heavily, flirted with lovely foreign women, shopped for souvenirs, and posed for photographs. Ben borrowed a local policeman’s fez for one snapshot. But their escape from the pain of Ploiesti proved fleeting, and the 93rd resumed combat operations in the second week of August 1943.
Military Division, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
