and another B-24 unit were detached to North Africa to a desolate relic of a town called Benghazi where some make-shift airfields had been established. Rommell had been kicked out of North Africa but Sicily and Italy were still under German control. We bombed various military targets there including Catania, Sicily; Rome, Foggia Airdrome, Naples, and Pisa, Italy; Wiener Neustadt, Austria; and the oil fields at Ploesti, Romania. The low level raid on the Ploesti Oil Fields was a very daring gamble of five B24 groups going over the target just high enough to clear the smoke stacks of the refineries. It was a costly undertaking in which we lost a third of the bombers sent out. Our crew felt we lucked out on making it back to Benghazi safely because we took our little red cocker spaniel mascot we had purchased while crew training in Casper, Wyoming, in 1942, with us. We returned to England and resumed bombing Nazi targets, and I participated on raids to Frankfurt, Ludwigshaven, Kiel, and Brunswick, Germany and Oslo, Norway. I completed my tour of twenty-five missions on February 2, 1944, and was assigned to Headquarters Eighth Air Force, where I remained until the war was over in both Europe and Japan. I was credited with destroying a German ME 109 fighter during the raid on Foggia, Italy. My decorations include three Distinguished Flying Crosses, Four Air Medals, Four Commendations Medals and the French Croix de Guerre. Rex Ward Pettingill Rex attended Weber College in the carpenter shop for two years. From that experience, he was able to later build four homes with his bare hands. He has also remodeled every home that he has lived in and has helped family members and friends with projects in their homes. He feels he had some natural talent; but his education helped to refine it. Mr. Pettingill was working at Hill Air Force Base as a mechanic in 1943. There was a need for volunteers to enlist in the Army Air Corps and go to London to repair planes over there. He volunteered, and he said, 'My experience in the service was like a pretty good vacation.' He was sent to San Antonio, Texas, for his basic training. He then went to the depot in London. There, he worked to replace all the necessary parts on the B-1 7, B-24 and B-38 planes so they would measure up to the European Culture. On D-Day, he reported for work at the hanger only to find that it was completely empty. He was transferred to a potato field in France to continue to work on planes there. The field had 12,000 men, and the town that was nearby was very small. It was 25 miles from Paris. In their spare time, the men would swim in the canal that was near. In January of 1946, Rex finished his tour of duty. He came back to Ogden and went right back to work at Hill Air Force Base. He felt that his training at Weber State College was very beneficial. L. Douglas Pierson Douglas Pierson was a staff sergeant in the 11th Airborne Division. He made three combat jumps and found himself in Japan three days before the official end of the war on August 15. He was decorated with two Purple Hearts, three Bronze Stars, a Presidential Commendation and a Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB). Roger Lee Porter_ Roger served in the Army Air Corps from June 1943 until February 1946. He was awarded the European African Middle Eastern Service Ribbon and the Good Conduct Medal for his service overseas. In England, he was stationed at the Burtonwood Air Depot. Roger was discharged with the rank of sergeant, returning to Ogden after the war and attending Weber College from 1946-1948. Milton Walker Priest 54 Milton served over two years with the 8th Air Force where he assisted in providing maintenance and supply support for the 93rd bomber group for B24s. He advanced to a rank of technical sergeant (five stripes) and received the European Theater medal. Marvin Stratford Rabe Marvin Rabe attended Weber College in 1942 and 1943 at which time he was inducted into the Army Air Corps. He served there from 1943 to 1946, stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the 11th Air Force Air Transport Command. Evans Green Ray_ Of my grandparents' generation, Franklin Delano Roosevelt said: "This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny." As I have grown older, I have come to realize that the quality of my life and the freedoms I enjoy are due to the outcome of this rendezvous. I hate to think of how my life would be different or where I would be had this generation not stepped up to meet the challenges of its day. We learn from Euripides that courage is to bear unflinchingly what heaven sends. This is exactly what The Greatest Generation" did. And although my grandparents have slipped beyond the grave, their lives and examples remain forever before my eyes, encouraging me to keep trying. And so, it is for them this is written. In the spring of 1940, my grandpa, Evans Green Ray, had completed course work for a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University. However, he still had a quarter to complete at Weber College. This was due to the fact that he had previously missed a quarter of college to work for his uncle, harvesting beets. At this time, World War II was raging in Europe and a feeling of urgency was materializing here at home. There were several professors who touched my grandpa's life and taught with passion and conviction. This inspired my grandpa to enlist in the Air Force. It was a dream of his to be a pilot and fly planes for the United States Air Force. After some persuasion, his parents finally relented on the condition that he pass the physical examination required. He did indeed pass the physical and received a call from the office of the commanding officers in Salt Lake City. He was to report for duty the following day. The next day Evans Ray found himself on his way to Lindbergh Field in California. Training was intense, as only those who have experienced it can imagine. It seemed that Evans was coming closer and closer to realizing his dream. But sometimes dreams remain just that. Sometimes fate steps in. Things don't always turn out the way we want them to. And sometimes, after the hurt and disappointment subside, we realize that the very act of falling short of our dreams is in actuality, a blessing. We are conveyed to a different place, taking a different path from the one we would have initially chosen. I still remember my grandpa telling us of this experience with reverence in his voice. When training to be a pilot, he would get vertigo in the plane. When flying blind, he could not tell whether he was right side up or upside down. It was because of this that he 'washed out' and was unable to be a pilot. It was honestly devastating to him at the time to not realize this dream. However, as time went by, he realized how truly blessed he was: for not one member of his squadron returned home alive. Each one gave his life to the cause of freedom. After this experience, in the autumn of 1941, Evans Ray returned to Weber College to finish the required hours for graduation. A few months later, on December 7, 1941, the world stood still. While in church, my grandpa learned of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He decided he wanted to enlist right away. So, in early January of 1942, he went to Salt Lake to join the Air Force. After arriving at Fort Douglas, he learned that he would be one of 32 men sent to Hill Field. On June 1, 1942, Evans Ray graduated from Weber College. He was the only young man in uniform and received a standing ovation from the audience when he stood up to receive his diploma. A few days later, he was one of six young men in uniform at the commencement 55