This year, 2024, our reunion will be held September 24-29th, in conjunction with the 8thAF Historical Society’s 50th Annual Reunion at The Higgins by Hilton in New Orleans, LA. For details of the Reunion Program, Reunion registration and Hotel Information, please go to the Reunions page at: https://www.8thAFHS.org
Not unexpected but another casualty of Covid 19
8th AFHS Group, I am asking you to share this message with your 8th AFHS Group. The Board held a Skype meeting on August 9 and it was decided to postpone the Memphis Reunion to October 19-23, 2022. We are not meeting in Memphis this year but will next meet October 27-31, 2021 in Savannah. Obviously, this decision was necessitated by the realities of Covid-19. We are investigating a Zoom meeting platform for Saturday, October 24, 2020 so that the members of the Society can touch base via this format. More details will be forthcoming.
Travis Chapin
8th AFHS Board
An informal gathering of ten 385th veterans and their wives in Cleveland, OH, Sept 7-9, 1956 jump-started the formation of our WW2 Association. Officers named at that meeting were Ruel G. Weikert, President, Frank B. Walls, Secretary, and John Nejedlik, Treasurer
The first reunion of the 385th Bomb Group veterans was held at the Hotel Webster in Pittsburgh, PA on August 3rd and 4th 1957. The officers named in 1956 were duly elected at this meeting.
The second reunion was held in Chicago, IL in 1958. The same slate of officers was re-elected.
The third reunion was held in New York City, August 5th through 7th, 1960. Once again, the same slate of officers was re-elected.
Twelve years passed before the fourth reunion was held in Cleveland, OH, July 22 and following, 1972. Frank Walls was elected President.
The next reunion was held in Atlanta, GA April 25th- 27th, 1975. Officers elected were Dr.Vincent Masters, President; Frank Marano, Vice President; John Ford, Secretary; and John Cooper, Treasurer.
Reunions have been held fairly regularly since then; for many years they were held every other year, more recently annually. As the passage of time took its toll on our membership, the annual reunions were held in conjunction with the annual reunions of the national 8th Air Force Historical Society, essentially offering the opportunity to have a “reunion within a reunion” featuring some of our own activities while taking advantage of the reunion planning, administration and program of the larger national group. From time to time, however, we choose to meet separately as we did in 2013.
This year, 2019, our reunion will be held October 16-19 in conjunction with the 8thAF Historical Society Reunion at the Sheraton Westport Lakeside Chalet in St. Louis, Missouri. For details of the Reunion Program, Reunion registration and Hotel Information, please go to the Reunions page at:
This year, 2017, our reunion will be held September 27-October 1 in conjunction with the national 8thAF Historical Society reunion at the Hilton New Orleans Airport Hotel in New Orleans.
For details of the 2017 National 8thAF Historical Society Reunion program, Reunion Registration and Hotel Information, please please click on the
8thAF Historical Society link on the Additional Links page of this Web Site.
Note: You must register separately for the reunion and the hotel. Hotel reservations must be made directly with the hotel.
385th Bomb Group Association Reunion
October 14-18, 2015
On Friday morning, October 16, we will hold our 385th Bomb Group Association Business Meeting, (location to be determined) from 8:30-10:00 am. Later on Friday, we will have a “Rendezvous Dinner” for 385th BGA attendees. Our annual Memorial Service will be part of the program at our “Rendezvous Dinner.” Details to follow. Also, for the duration of the Reunion, the 385th BGA will host its highly popular and well patronized Hospitality Suite, hosted by Chuck Smith and Royanne Donnelly. The Hospitality Suite will serve as Reunion HQ for 385th BGA attendees and be THE PLACE for hangar flying, story telling, and socializing.
385th Bomb Group Association Reunion
October 9-14, 2014
The 2014 385th BGA reunion was held in Nashville TN with the 8th Air Force Historical Society at the Sheraton Music City Hotel. Chuck Smith and Royanne Donnelly once again outdid themselves hosting our hospitality suite, providing a wide range of libations and a plentiful variety of snacks. Over the course of the reunion, the hospitality suite was our HQ and featured “hanger flying” stories and recollections.
Thursday, October 9, featured our group dinner and annual memorial service honoring those who have “flown their last mission.”
Friday, October 10, featured a highlight of the reunion program – attendance at a live performance of the Grand Ol’ Opry. A torrential downpour greeted us on our exit from the Opry leaving many saked, but still enthusiastic over the performance.
385th Bomb Group Association Reunion
October 16-20, 2013
The 2013 385th BGA reunion was held in Bloomington, Minnesota at the Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul-Airport/Mall of America. A small but enthusiastic group of attendees enjoyed several days of socializing and activities. Chuck Smith and Royanne Donnelly once again outdid themselves hosting our hospitality suite, providing a wide range of libations and a plentiful variety of snacks. Over the course of the reunion, the hospitality suite was our HQ and featured “hanger flying” stories and recollections, music from the Big Band era, interesting videos on topics associated with the Mighty Eighth in WW II and, of course, the World Series and College Football games.
Thursday, October 17, featured our group luncheon and annual memorial service honoring those who have “flown their last mission.”
Friday, October 18, we took an extended guided tour of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St.Paul that everyone found interesting and informative. Highlights included stops at the Guthrie Performing Arts Center, the Minnesota State House and the Minehaha State Park, site of the scenic Minehaha waterfall, and the Mall of America. A Friday night pizza party in the hospitality suite was enjoyed by all.
Saturday morning was our Annual Meeting including a discussion of future direction of the 385th BG Association, a demonstration of our Web Site and FaceBook page and an interesting presentation on the evolution of uses for pilotless aircraft (drones) ranging from pizza delivery to tornado mapping to whale watching. Our Saturday evening banquet featured music by the Bend in the River Big Band featuring vocalist Linnea Marrin. The band included saxaphonist Reuben Haugen, himself a WW II veteran and pilot of an L-4 Grasshopper spotter during the Philippines campaign!
Check out the REUNION PIX AND VIDEOS page!!
385th Bomb Group Association Reunion
October 11-15, 1999
REUNION NOTES
BY Ed Stern
Dedication of our 385th Memorial at the Mighty Eighth Air, Force Heritage Museum was the highlight of the Reunion held April 11 -15 in Savannah. Secretary George Hruska and his son “Young” George took over as hosts after the sudden death of Joe Jones, who had proposed Savannah as the site of our 17th Reunion.
Our Memorial, an imposing structure of polished black gran ite in a very unusual design which featured our 3 trees in green on the front of the memorial, seemed very outstanding to all of the more than 300 members who attended the dedi cation. Chaplain Jim Vance gave a stirring eulogy to our lost comrades, including the 49 who have died since our last re union.
The Wednesday evening banquet, with BG Victor E Renuart as speaker, was a memorable occasion. General Renuart, Commanding Officer of the 347 Wing at Moody Air Force Base, commands over 5200 military and 800 civilians. He reminded us that we were the age and generation of his charges grandparents, and we should be very proud of the great young people now serving in the Air Force. His Com- manc is actively involved in the present troubles in Kosovo and Serbia. Incidentally, 171/2% of his personnel are women.
British visitors Roy and Di Barker assured us that our three trees and the Great Ashfield Church will survive in perpetuity, supported by a $65,000 Trust Fund which they supervise. The roof was recently replaced at a cost of $15,000.
Our appreciation to President Mike Gallagher for his leadership was expressed with a standing ovation. The Hruskas were again thanked for the planning and execution of an other smooth-running reunion. Sam & Mary Lyke’s efforts in handling finances and registration were acknowledged.
At the business meeting, officers were elected as follows: Tom Newton, Pres; Leo LaCasse, 1st VP; Marvin Tipp, 2nd VP; Maurice Nysether, 3rd P; Bill Varnedoe, 4th VP; George Hruska, Sec. Emeritus; Jerry Mudge, Sec; Vern Philips, Treas and Darla Newton, Ass’t to President. Financial re ports were presented, and a balance in the treasury of $6,843.81 as of April 10th was shown.
A goodly number of “first-time” attenders were at Savannah. A special highlight was hearing from the 19 former POWs who gsve short summaries of their experiences. Did any of the rest of you notice that a couple of those POWs went down in August 1943? That’s a LONG time as a POW
Roger Feller, who organized and set up our Memorial in Perle, and Andy Ryan, whose brother died in the mid-air colli sion over Perle, attended the reunion and told us what we will find when we visit there. A number of our members have already been there
