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D-Day, June 6, 1944 - 1Lt. Raymond E. Lanterman was the younger brother of 34th PRS Supply Officer Capt. Charles H. Lanterman. Although Raymond, a combat engineer, was not a member of the 34th PRS or the Army Air Corps for that matter -- there is an eternal connection between his story and that of the 34th PRS.
On 19-May, 1944 34th PRS pilot Lt. Garland York flew their specially modified F-5A Lightning "My-Little D-Icer" up his assigned stretch of beach shooting a strip of film from St. Vaast De La Hounge to Bancs Du Grande. Flying at 35 feet and at full throttle, his cameras set on runaway, Lt. York photographed what was to become Omaha Beach...the bloodiest stretch of sand that would forever change the future of our world. It would be these photographs which would find their way into the 146th Combat Engineer Battalion and 1st Lieutenant Raymond E. Lanterman's hands. Carried ashore by Lanterman, these photos served as a reference of what lay before him.
According to the Special Engineer Task Force Plan of 22-May/44, the primary mission of the Special Engineer Task Force was to prepare 16 50-yard gaps through all of the beach obstacles within the tidal range of Omaha Beach. The 146th was charged with creating six of these gaps on Easy Red alone. Their secondary mission: to remove all the beach obstacles found on Omaha Beach.
CLICK HERE to read Ray's memoir as leader of Gap Team 9 as he reflects on that day. The day known to those who were there as the living hell called D-Day. (Charlie Lanterman)
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Welcome to the Official Home of the 34th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, ETO (1944-45)
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 Joes", 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 "Pop" Polifka (USAF),
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"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."
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Col. Karl L. Polifka (USAF)
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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. |
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