Ralph Hoehn, a B-24 bomber pilot who took part in 35 missions over Europe in World War II, is scheduled to receive a much-belated Distinguished Flying Cross on June 25 during a ceremony at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Hoehn served with the 491st Bombardment Group and began flying bombing missions in Europe after D-Day. “We were shot at on almost every mission,” he explained. “Sometimes,” he continued, “the skies would be dark with smoke from flak [antiaircraft fire] ahead of us and behind us. The flak would shake the plane. It was especially thick if we hit the same target twice—the Germans were ready for us the second time.” Hoehn’s award ceremony is part of the Air Force Materiel Command Freedom’s Call Tattoo 2010 that kicks off that same day. (Wright-Patterson report by Mike Wallace) (Freedom’s Call Tattoo 2010 Web page)
Air Force Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich assumed command of U.S. European Command on July 1, taking over the key assignment as the U.S. and its allies contend with a resurgent Russia and a grinding war in Ukraine.
