75 Years Of Heritage: When The 100th Air Refuelling Wing Met Veterans From The Original 100th Bombardment Group

US airmen based at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk have been paying tribute to their Second World War heritage with a special event in Washington.

The 100th Air Refuelling Wing met veterans from the original 100th Bombardment Group, which operated from Britain during the war.

100th Bombardment Group are known as the Bloody Hundredth, due to the losses suffered during air raids over Europe.

However in 1944, on one successful mission to Germany, the 100th BG received a Distinguished Unit Citation for severely disrupting German fighter plane production when they struck an aircraft factory.

Speaking at the event in Washington, Colonel Christopher Amrhein, 100th Air Refuelling Wing Commander said:

“It’s really more than a reunion, it’s a symposium. To be able to be a part of that, to honour the legacy and also to be able to get our message out of what the current 100th is doing every single day, is really the driving factor of why we are here.

 We are getting just as much out of this as the folks are that we are here to honour.”

Like their predecessors, 100th Air Refuelling Wing offers air refuelling and combat support to US operations in Europe and Africa.