34th PRS: Home
General Eisenhower addresses paratroopers of the 101st Airborne. (National Archives)
June 1944 - "Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the opressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victoroy!

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."

(National Archives Photo)

34TH PHOTO RECON SQUADRON

Welcome to the Official Home of the 34th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, ETO (1944-45), and the modern day 34th PRS Association.

As the air war raged over Europe, men became legendary for their courage and self-sacrifice. Schweinfurt, Ploesti, and the dams along the Ruhr are some of the places synonymous with their bravery, courage and sheer determination in the face of brutal resistance by the Luftwaffe.

While individual fighter pilots received praise from the American press...and bomb groups were lauded for their bravery over the targets...working quietly in the background, alone and unarmed, were the Photo Joe's...the photo reconnaissance squadrons.

Although photo reconnaissance as a whole was generally unheard of in the ranks, military planners knew all too well the critical role of aerial surveillance. This key importance has been quantified by many, but none perhaps nearly as eloquent as Col. Karl L. Polifka (USAF), "The average fighter pilot, if he's lucky, knocks down ten enemy planes before his flying career is over. The average photo reconnaissance pilot at the end of fifty missions will have photographed a thousand targets which is a hell of a lot more important."

Armed only with cameras, the photo reconnaissance squadrons were the eyes of the allied armies in every theater and over every battlefield. Without the dedicated and selfless devotion of these proud men, many more brave sons would have lost their lives on the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific. Without them, even the simplest campaign would have been impossible.

This website dedicated to those men. Thank you for all that you did -- we owe our world in no small part to you.

P.S. Thanks Pop...you're my hero.

We would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to all of our kind contributors and supporters for helping us bring this story to the world wide web.

Thanks to the gracious contributions of squadron members, their families, our sister squadrons, fellow aviation historians and individual supporters...you have helped make the 34th PRS Online, and it's sister websites, the single best source of information on photo reconnaissance in World War II.

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All submissions and donations will be fully credited when featured as part of this website and future projects. Contact us via submissions@34thprs.org for more information on how to make monetary, photo or physical contributions and donations to our organization!

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