Personnel

subject: 100th Bomb Group TAPS Report Form



email: MPFaley@aol.com



realname: Michael Faley



relationship: I am the veteran's friend but not related



vet_name: Roger A. Freeman,  8th Air Force Historian



vet_died: 06/10/2005



family_contact: 



comments: It is with a deep sense of sorrow and loss that I report that Roger A. Freeman, 8th Air Force Historian, and the man who coined the phrase "The Mighty Eighth" has passed away.  



Mr. Freeman was 77 years old and passed away from a long bout with cancer. He was a mentor and someone I looked to as an inspiration and guide to my own work ethic as it relates to the 100th Bomb Group and the 8th Air Force. I only had the pleasure of meeting him once in Savannah during the festivities for the 60th Anniversary of the 8th Air Force. He was like a long lost friend who would stop and listen to every Vet, eager to hear just "one more story". Roger made sure Robert "Rosie" Rosenthal was recognized at this event by the the large crowd gathered in Savannah. As a young English boy, he watched you take off and come home from your air battles over Fortress Europe and he realized the tremendous cost American Aircrews were sustaining to destroy Hitler s war machine. He never forgot and in 1970 published his first book on the 8th AF, simply entitled  THE MIGHTY EIGHTH" by Roger A. Freeman. This book and its subsequent reprinting are the benchmark by which other historian!

S are judged on the subject. His physical appearance was small and frail but the legacy he has left us cast a very BIG and long shadow. Roger Freeman did as much to cement "The Mighty Eighths" place in history as any man in the 8th AF. He lost his innocence with us when he counted our missing aircraft returning to the fields of Little America. Roger would be embarrassed by all these accolades and say ALL of you are the real story and he just wrote it down. Maybe so buy NOBODY could have put it into words better. Roger Freeman may not be a member of the 100th Bomb Group but he will be listed in our Taps section, because quite frankly, he earned it.  



Goodbye Roger and Thank You.  

 

_________________ 

Michael Faley  

100th Bomb Group Photo Archivist  

100th Bomb Group Historian



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Mike,



 It has been some time since we have spoken.  

I had one last chance to e-mail Roger and received a short but touching reply.

Below is a dedication that will appear in any future publications of mine.  Thought you might be interested.



                                       Roger Anthony Freeman



               The quintessential English gentleman farmer whose intoxicating enthusiasm to understand the 

               American presence on his "side of the pond" has not only led to that generation's profound understanding 

              of their place in history but also gives this and generations yet to be born a compelling understanding as to 

              what the "boys of yesterday" and their Mighty Eighth accomplished in the face of tyranny. 



                                                 Regards,

                                              Paul Andrews





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Lt General E. G. "Buck" Shuler Jr (USAF ret) is a former Commander of the US Eighth Air Force (March 1988 - May 1991) and past Chairman and CEO of The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah.



Today he paid tribute to author and historian Roger Freeman, who passed away at home last night.



"Roger Freeman was the finest aviation historian and writer since the dawn of military aviation. He aided me immeasurably in putting the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum together in the mid-90s. I was honoured to be numbered among his friends and to serve with him on the museum's Board of Trustees. A true gentleman has departed from the scene." 



Lt General Shuler added that the entire library complex at the museum - including the library, archives, reading room, offices and the research room - will be named "The Roger A. Freeman Mighty Eighth Air Force Research Centre".