Uncovering History: My Journey with the 351st Bomb Group Association

The 351st Bomb Group Association is comprised of retired 351st veterans, their families, and anyone interested in the Bomb Group and preserving its history for future generations. It's readily accessible online (http://www.351st.org) and contains links to the group's history, a crew member database, and a mission database that allows users to search the load lists for every mission (there were 320) to find out which men and which planes flew on which mission. There's also a personnel database that includes names of ground crews and support unit personnel stationed at Polebrook Air Base in England. There's even a store to purchase memorabilia related to the 351st, including books that 351st veterans have authored.

My initial exploration into the world of the 351st was to acquire three books authored by Lieutenant Charles (Norm) Stevens, a bombardier in World War II. His works covered the period from his time as an innocent 18-year-old cadet training with the US Army Air Forces, through his experiences as a naive young bombardier in Polebrook, England, and finally to his safe return home and transition back to civilian life. I received the books directly from the author, and after eagerly reading them, I wrote him a letter inquiring if he knew our family member. He did not, but he was aware of the plane crash in Wales and mentioned that he had known some of the men who had died in that accident.

The coincidences (or was it more than that?) continued to pile up as he then put me in touch with a woman who would further change my life: Lisa, the niece of Santo Caruso. She had written Lieutenant Stevens previously, asking if he had known her family member. As it turned out, he had not only trained with Caruso, he was part of his crew in England up until the time that Caruso was injured and hospitalized for several months! I was thrilled with the news, and had no idea of what an impact Lisa would have on me, and on my research, in the many years to come.