THE RABBIT HOLE

Chapter 2

As noted earlier, my research found that my grandfather was under the “Mighty 8th” USAAF while in England and that he was a part of a detachment unit called Detachment A of the 2487th Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation). Once he left England, he became a part of the 9th under the Air Force. Well, it goes a lot deeper than that! Once I found out the unit that my grandfather was under, all I did was what any curious individual with a computer would do. I entered the never ending abyss of Google. I typed in my grandfather’s unit name and BAM, my research went sideways! I started finding random data, ran- dom photos, random comments, random everything. I couldn’t really pinpoint his exact unit of Detachment A because there was little to no data on that specific Detachment, but I did start to find a bunch of stuff related to the 2487th Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation) in general. With cross referencing, this is what I found in a nutshell.

After leaving England, I believe that my grandfather was under the 9th Air Force Service Command, 71st Fighter Wing, 366th Fighter Group, 366th HQ Squadron, Team B 26th Service Group, and ultimately

Detachment A of the 2487th Quartermaster Truck Company (Aviation). Let’s just say units got moved around a lot back then, but he was mainly assigned to a Quartermaster service unit to provide fuel, supplies, and transportation to the famous division called the 67th Tactical Recon Group. The other half of his unit was designated to provide fuel, supplies, and transportation to the 366th Fighter Group. Both of which helped make the French coast safe for the Normandy invasion. As they moved further into Germany, they played a part in the Battle of the Bulge. I found out that the 67th Recon Group that my grandfather was designated to was the first to fly Spitfires and P-51 Mustangs with surveillance equipment in Europe! There was even a book written about his Recon Group that is super rare to find. It was called “Peck’s Bad Boys of the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group” written by Richard Applegate. I found only one printed copy left in existence and it goes for about $100. I did however find a digital version for Kindle and bought it immediately and reviewed it. It was a very interesting read and really highlighted the importance of the 67th Recon Group in paving the way for the Normandy invasion and beyond. It is a great read for history buffs who want to read about the evolution of WWII aircraft, especially the P-51 Mustang and our military utilizing surveillance equipment strapped to combat aircraft.

I know right? How cool is that! Now if I could just actually find some dates, the exact path he traveled while in Europe, and hopefully stumble upon some photos, maybe I could verify all of my research thus far and find out if he landed on the beaches in Normandy. I mean after all, that was one of my initial goals. I had to figure out why those documentaries were so important to him, especially the Normandy ones and landing on the beach.

I ultimately exhausted everything I could find on Google. I found information on every large unit he was assigned to or associated with, did research on many of the famous bomber and fighter groups, and looked for just about anything I could find related to his specific Quartermaster unit regarding Detachment A, but came to a dead end. Then I