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This week in McGuire Air Force Base history

  • Published
  • By Gary Boyd
  • 87th Air Base Wing/305th Air Mobility Wing
June 3,1942: Lt. Col. Curtis E. LeMay takes command of the 305th Bomb Group. While he commanded the "Can Do" warriors, he helped revolutionize strategic bombing.

June 6,1944: The 305th BG supported the D-Day landing operations in Europe,
launching five separate missions. The Air Force lost only a single bomber
in more than 2,000 sorties. Air Supremacy made the landings at Normandy
possible.

June 6,1966: John Levitow, the lowest ranking Airman ever to receive the Medal of Honor, enlists in the United States Air Force. His first assignment is McGuire Air Force Base, where he is a power production specialist in the 438th Civil Engineer Squadron. 

June 7, 1960: A materiel flaw in the mission handling equipment caused a
serious fire which enveloped a nuclear warhead at the 46th Air Defense Missile
Squadron on the Fort Dix annex BOMARC site. Quick-thinking first responders
helped contain the accident and miraculously, no one was killed.