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On This Day April 18, 1983 – A suicide bomber destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people including 17 Americans.
The April 18, 1983 United States embassy bombing was a suicide bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 63 people, mostly embassy and CIA staff members, several soldiers and one Marine. It was the deadliest attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission up to that time, and is thought of as marking the beginning of anti-U.S. attacks by Islamist groups.
Photo Caption: President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan pay their respects to the 17 American victims of the embassy bombing.
Remember Those Who Served
The Greatest Generations Foundation
On This Day April 18, 1942 – World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan. Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed.
The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, on 18 April 1942, was an air raid by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu island during World War II, the first air raid to strike the Japanese Home Islands. It demonstrated that Japan itself was vulnerable to American air attack, was retaliation for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, provided an important boost to U.S. morale, and damaged Japanese morale. The raid was planned and led by Lieutenant Colonel James "Jimmy" Doolittle, U.S. Army Air Forces.
Remember Those Who Served
The Greatest Generations Foundation
Friends,
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Mr. George Meshko aged 89.
Staff Sergeant George Meshko, WWII B-17 Crewmember
96th Bomb Group, 339th Bomb Squadron
8th Air Force, Army Air Corps
Short Bio: During WWII, George Meshko served as gunner and flight engineer on a 25-mission combat tour in the B-17, from November 1943 to March 1944. For his outstanding service and dedication, Meshko was awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross, which was presented personally by legendary General James Doolittle. Meshko completed his combat tour just two weeks before his 19th birthday. Following his safe return home from the war, Meshko married his sweetheart Nancy, started a family and continued his love affair with aviation.
He took flying lessons through the GI Bill and became a flight instructor. He flew crop dusters and did a variety of other jobs that allowed him to hang around the airport and keep flying. Eventually, Meshko landed at Frontier Airlines. Over his 33-year career as an airline pilot, he flew the DC-3, the Convair 340, the Convair 580, the Boeing 737 and finally the MD-80. After Boeing purchased McDonnell Douglas, the company renamed the MD-80 the B717, so Meshko likes to say he began and ended his professional flying career in the B-17. Following his retirement, Meshko joined the EAA in 1985 and has been a member of local chapter 43 for the past five years. During his tour of duty, Meshko kept a mission diary, recording the detailsof each mission flown by his 10-man crew in their B-17 “Skyball.” He noted the mission target, flight conditions, enemy air attacks, abundance of flak and the outcome of each bombing run. He wrote about the many downed enemy and friendly aircraft he witnessed and how many ‘chutes opened – when he could spare a moment to count them.
He recorded the near misses he experienced and the sense of relief upon each safe return to the crew’s base in England. In addition to his mission log, Meshko also kept a personal diary. This one he filled with the emotions of a young man, far from home, with a small group of close comrades, fighting a very personal war.
On behalf of a grateful nation, we salute you for your dedication and service to your country. RIP my friend.
Remember Those Who Served
The Greatest Generations Foundation
