Photo Gallery

DFC, Air Medal and 418th BS leather patch of Lt Robert E. Kirby, 418th BS Lead Navigator. Photo Courtesy of daughter Lisa Kirby Casey.

Air Medal and 418th BS leather patch of Lt Robert E. Kirby, 418th BS Lead Navigator. Photo Courtesy of daughter Lisa Kirby Casey.

This is what I used in Wing and a Prayer: The four headed eagle represents the four Squadrons, 349th, 350th, 351st, 418th. The blue background stands for a clear sky we flew thought during our daylight missions over enemy territory. The cloud under the eagle represents the many hours of flying through thick cloud cover during formation, landing or take off. The eagle’s wings are gold because our cause was righteous. The eagle is clutching in each talon a bomb of justice. The red shield stand for the blood of freedom and for the ultimate sacrifice our young airmen paid for that freedom. The 100th Bomb Group, also called the Century Bombers, is represented in the center of the shield by the Century Plant that blooms every hundred years. Approved on March 30, 1944