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On This Day in Air Force History 6 Jun:

1944: Operation OVERLORD. American and Allied aircraft flew approximately 15,000 interdiction, close air support, and airlift sorties in support of the D-Day invasion. Today marks the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day Invasion. (B-26 Marauders in D-Day stripes interdict enemy positions, USAF Image)

On This Day in Air Force History 5 Jun:

MEDAL OF HONOR
Leon Robert Vance Jr | World War II | U.S. Army Air Corps | Medal of Honor Recipient
1944: While leading a B-24 group against enemy coastal positions close to Wimereux, France, Lt Col Leon R. Vance’s bomber sustained repeated hits from antiaircraft fire. These hits perilously crippled the bomber, killed the pilot, and wounded other crew members, including Vance. Despite an injury and three lost engines, Vance still led the formation over the target and bombed it successfully. Returning to England, he gradually lost altitude. As Vance neared the English Coast, he ordered the crew to bail out. One man, however, was badly injured, so Vance ditched his B-24 in the channel. After landing on the water, the plane began to sink, with Vance pinned inside. An explosion occurred and threw Vance clear of the wreckage. After resting, he started to search for the other crewman. A search and rescue craft found Vance 50 minutes later. Sadly, while still recuperating from his wounds, Vance boarded a C-54 returning to the States. His aircraft went down somewhere in the North Atlantic with all souls on board lost. For his heroism in the B-24, Vance received the Medal of Honor. (Medal of Honor Website, PD)

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Members of a local organisation in Langrune-sur-Mer (Calvados) are calling for the cancellation of a scheduled visit from the US Secretary of Defence. Pete Hegseth is due to represent US President Donald Trump alongside some 400 other guests during a D-Day commemoration in the village this Saturday (June 6).

“This individual promotes values that go against democracy, human rights and peace,” stated Langrune en Commun.

Read more: https://www.connexionfrance.com/news/normandy-villagers-oppose-visit-of-trumps-secretary-of-defence-for-d-day-service/794672

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On This Day in Air Force History 3 Jun:

BATTLE OF MIDWAY
1942: The engagement lasted through 6 June. Three US carriers destroyed four Japanese carriers, while only losing one of their own. The Japanese also lost a heavy cruiser, 322 aircraft, and 5,000 men, including a host of skilled pilots. This defeat ended Japan’s eastern offensive and marked a major turning point in the war. Seventh Air Force flew 55 B-17 sorties and four B-26 torpedo attacks, claiming 22 hits on ships and 10 Japanese fighters shot down. It lost two B-17s and two B-26s. (Douglas TBD-1 Devastator torpedo bombers are prepared for launch on the USS Enterprise, June 4, 1942, US Navy Image)

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WWII pilot killed in action will finally be buried in his hometown more than 80 years after his deat Lt. Thomas Ruth's body was exhumed from the Manila American Cemetery in 2013, and his remains were positively identified last year.

The Battle of the Coral Sea began 84 years ago today. This was the first battle fought in which participating ships neither saw nor fired upon each other. Rather, the battle was fought entirely by carrier-based aircraft. Learn more on our blog: https://f3.social/6ydm

"What Patton Did When Stalin Refused to Return 5,000 American POWs"

May 1945, Germany had surrendered. The war in Europe was over, but for 5,000 American soldiers, the war was not over. They were prisoners liberated from German camps by Soviet forces. According to the Yalta agreement, they should have been returned to American control immediately. But they weren't.

They were being held in Soviet controlled territory behind a curtain that was rapidly falling across Eastern Europe. The reports reached General Patton in early June. American POWs, thousands of them, were not coming home. Patton contacted Soviet command, requested their immediate release. The response was bureaucratic, vague.

We are processing them. They will be returned when documentation is complete. Weeks passed, the prisoners remained. Patton contacted them again. The response changed. We have no record of American prisoners in our sector. 5,000 men gone. According to Soviet records, they simply didn't exist. Patton didn't believe it.

He had names, ranks, units, camp locations where they'd been liberated. He had testimonies from soldiers who'd escaped Soviet custody, who'd made it back to American lines, who described what was happening behind Soviet barriers. The Americans were being held in camps, not as guests, as prisoners. New prisoners with new guards.

The sw****ka had been replaced with the hammer and sickle, but the wire was the same. Stalin's message to Eisenhower was diplomatic. There may be some confusion. We are working to identify any American personnel. It takes time. But Patton had run out of patience. But he called a meeting with his senior staff.

The topic was simple. 5,000 Americans are being held by the Soviets. Stalin is refusing to return them. What are we going to do about it? This is what he decided. Before we continue, make sure you subscribe. We tell the story about World War II where the war ended, but the prisoners remained trapped behind new borders.

The Yalta agreement had been clear. Signed in February 1945 by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. Article 3, Section B, all prisoners of war liberated by Allied forces shall be returned to their country of origin as rapidly as possible. Rapidly, that was the word. Not eventually, not when convenient. Rapidly. The Soviets had signed it, agreed to it, then ignored it.

The first reports came from Captain Robert Shaw. He'd been a POW in a German camp near Dresden. The Soviets liberated his camp on May 3rd. Shaw expected to be sent west to American lines, home. Instead, he was marched east along with 300 other Americans. They were told it was temporary, for processing, for medical evaluation, for documentation.

They were taken to a Soviet holding camp 30 miles inside Soviet controlled Poland. The conditions were confusing. They weren't treated badly. They were fed, given bunks, medical attention, but they weren't free to leave. Guards were posted, Soviet guards with Soviet rifles. The Americans asked when they'd be sent home. Soon. Be patient.

Paperwork takes time. Shaw noticed something. The camp was filling up. Every few days, new American prisoners arrived from other German camps, all liberated by the Soviets. All told the same thing, processing, documentation, soon. By late May, Shaw estimated there were over a thousand Americans in his camp alone, and he'd heard there were other camps, similar situations, all across Soviet controlled territory.