FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NR #AS-0402

MIDLAND, Texas (September 20, 2004) – Eight American World War II veterans and one combat unit will be inducted into the Commemorative Air Force's (CAF's) American Combat Airman Hall of Fame, Friday, Oct 1, 2004, at the Midland Center in Midland, Texas. A reception and dinner will be held at 6 p.m. with the induction ceremony to follow.

A vision of CAF founder Lloyd P. Nolen, the Hall of Fame was established in 1997 by the CAF to recognize Americans whose service in the air during any war or conflict reflects credit upon the fighting men and women of the United States . Each year the Hall of Fame induction ceremony precedes the CAF's annual airshow. AIRSHO 2004 is scheduled to take place Oct. 2-3, 2004, at Midland International Airport in Midland , Texas .

A biographical exhibit of each inductee will be unveiled in conjunction with the banquet on Oct. 1, 2004. For those who can't attend the banquet, the inductee exhibits will be located in the American Airpower Heritage Museum until the construction of the American Combat Airman Hall of Fame Center, where it will be permanently housed. The exhibit will be on display at the Midland Center for the banquet and dinner.

The inductees for 2004 are: Col. Don Blakeslee, United States Air Force; Col. Richard Cole, United States Air Force; Commander Ted Crosby, United States Navy; Lt. Col. John Wallace Fields, United States Air Force; Brig. Gen. Robin Olds, United States Air Force; Major George Preddy, United States Army Air Force; Captain Paul Stephens, United States Navy; and the Flyboys of Chichi Jima. The combat unit inducted will be the 95 th Bomb Group.

Those inducted into the Hall of Fame last year included: Lt. Col. Lee A. Archer, United States Air Force; Maj. Gen. Charles A. Bond, United States Air Force; Lt. Orbie Guthrie, United States Navy; Lt. Col. Besby Frank Holmes, United States Army Air Forces; Lieutenant Commander Norman W. Mollard, United States Navy; Col. Steve N. Pisanos, United States Air Force; and the B-17G "Ten Horace Power" and its crew. The combat unit inducted was the 43 rd Bomb Group. Other past inductees includes Brig. Gen. Joe Foss, Col. David Lee " Tex " Hill, Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets, Col. Rex T. Barber, Major Richard I. Bong and President George H.W. Bush.

Members and non-members of the CAF make nominations for those to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. A CAF committee of makes the final selection of the inductees. Advance tickets are required for the event and are available at a price of $100 per person. Tables are also available for individual or corporate sponsorship. For more information about purchasing tickets please call (432) 563-1000, ext. 2242.

Biographical information on inductees follows.

Col. Don Blakeslee, United States Air Force
Don Blakeslee was probably the finest fighter group commander in the ETO during World War II. Leading the Fourth Fighter Group and demanding teamwork and professionalism from all his pilots, Blakeslee transformed the outfit into the highest scoring fighter group in Europe . Blakeslee fought with the RAF, then the Eagle Squadron and then the Fourth Fighter Group, flying more than 500 combat missions and gaining 15.5 aerial victories. Blakeslee currently resides in Goulds, Fla.

Col. Richard Cole, United States Air Force
As a young lieutenant, not long out of flight school, Dick Cole found himself sitting next to Jimmy Doolittle, the most famous American aviator since Lindbergh, in a B-25 Mitchell bomber preparing to take off from an American aircraft carrier for a bombing mission over Tokyo . Cole, whom Doolittle characterized as a skilled pilot who enjoyed the confidence of his crew, would continue to fight World War II in the China-Burma-India theater. His decorations include two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Bronze Star. Cole currently resides in Comfort, Texas .

Commander Ted Crosby, United States Navy
An "ace in a day," Ted Crosby flew Hellcats as a part of VF-17 and VF-18 - two of the Navy's most distinguished fighter squadrons. While flying a combat air patrol during the invasion of Okinawa , in April of 1945, Crosby and his division leader were vectored toward more than 20 enemy airplanes, most of them kamikazes whose targets were the vast American fleet deployed around the island. Crosby and his division accounted for more than half the incoming raiders. Crosby currently resides in Castro Valley , Calif.

Lt. Col. John Wallace Fields, United States Air Force
The battleships were still smoking in Pearl Harbor when Fields arrived in Hawaii on Dec. 16, 1941, in a new B-17E. Assigned to the 435 th Armed Reconnaissance Squadron, Fields received the Distinguished Flying Cross for action against a Japanese cruiser and again for the evacuation of Philippine President Manuel Quezon. Fields participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea bombing troop transports and against Japanese targets at Rabaul and the Solomon Islands . After flying a total of 51 combat missions against the Japanese, Fields served as director of operations at Lincoln , Nebraska , and Topeka , Kansas . Discharged in 1945 as a Major, he was recalled to active duty as a Lt. Colonel in 1951 during the Korean War, serving in England as Deputy Base Commander at RAF Mildenhall. Fields currently resides in Shamrock, Texas .

Brig. Gen. Robin Olds, United States Air Force
A bit of a maverick, Robin Olds became a triple ace in two wars, flying more than 100 combat missions in World War II and more than 150 combat missions during the Vietnam conflict. As a 22-year-old fighter pilot with the 479 th Fighter Group, he shot down two German fighters on his very first combat mission. As a 44-year-old Colonel, Olds shot down four MiG jet fighters over North Vietnam . Known as a "pilot's pilot," with little use for things that kept him out of the cockpit, Olds finished his career with 17 confirmed victories. Olds currently resides in Steamboat Springs , Colo.

Major George Preddy, United States Army Air Force
The highest scoring Mustang ace of World War II with 26.8 victories, George Preddy's life would end tragically on Christmas Day, 1944, when he was shot down by friendly fire. The small, slight North Carolinian, called by his commanding officer the "complete fighter pilot," Preddy served both in the Pacific in the earliest days of the war, and then flying out of England with the 352nd Fighter Group. He was credited with shooting down six German fighters on one mission. Among his decorations, some awarded posthumously, were the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Preddy will be honored posthumously with Joe Noah, of Clarksville , Va. , founder/treasurer of the Preddy Memorial Foundation accepting the honor.

Captain Paul Stevens, United States Navy
As a young NavCad in 1940, Paul Stevens could not foresee then that he would see action throughout America 's involvement in WW II. At the controls of what others would regard as lumbering patrol planes, Stephens would fly and fight the Japanese with an aggressiveness that was noteworthy. He is credited with having engaged and shot down six Japanese airplanes, including an airplane carrying a Japanese admiral. For his lengthy service in the Pacific, and for the daring and resourcefulness he displayed, he received the Navy Cross, two Silver Stars, two Distinguished Flying Crosses and several air medals. Stevens currently resides in Nashville , Tenn.

The Flyboys of Chichi Jima
Dick Woelhof, Grady York, Marve Mershon, Warren Earl Vaughn, Jimmy Dye, Floyd Hall, Glenn Frazier - ordinary names, ordinary young men, like the thousands and thousands who served their country as pilots and aircrew in the Pacific during World War II. Yet these men were fated to become a part of the darkest side of war. They endured incidents on the island of Chichi Jima in 1945 that were so hideous that that they bordered on the unimaginable. These incidents illustrate the fanaticism that infected the Japanese military during the war and the horror of war.

95 th Bomb Group
"First over Berlin " is how the 95 th Bomb Group is best remembered. In a war in which the concept of strategic long range bombing would be tested on a huge scale, all the men who flew B-17s, B-24s and B-29s through hostile skies can all take pride in what they accomplished. The men who crewed the B-17s of the 95 th were, however, the first to attack the German capital. For that effort, and for two other equally gallant efforts, the 95 th Bomb Group received a Distinguished Unit Citation - the only 8 th Air Force Bomb Group to be so recognized. William M. Vandegriff, of Catharpin, Va., president of the 95 Bomb Group (H) Association, will be accepting the honor for the 95 Bomb Group.

-30-