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Dicing Omaha Beach on 19-MAY-1944 (Charlie Lanterman)
19-MAY-1944 - "US 34/420 TASK 731 STRIP ST. VAAST DE LA HOUGNE TO BANCS DU GRANDE VEY- 1700 - 35 FEET". These comments, officially recorded on RECFLASH Serial No. 330, detail the "dicing" mission flown by 2LT. Garland A. York to gain vital intelligence on the nature of shore defences found on the Normandy Coast we call "OMAHA BEACH".

Lt. York and Lt. Keith were the two volunteer pilots from the 34th PRS that would fly their camera equipped, field modified, stripped-down, hand-me-down of a F-5 Lightning to gain photos of such detail that an extremely accurate scale mock-up of Omaha Beach and Utah Beach may be completed including extremely detailed photos accounting for all beach obstacles. Information vital to the Special Engineer Task Force of the 146th Engineer Battalion (Combat) who were charged with clearing these obstacles from OMAHA BEACH.

One of these Combat Engineers was 1LT. Raymond E. Lanterman. As the Officer In-Charge (OIC) of Gap Team 9, Lt. Lanterman was charged with creating six (6) 50-yard gaps in the beach defences of EASY RED beach. Ray had this to say of the contribution of the 34th PRS, "Thanks, gentlemen of the 34th, for your important contribution without which our mission could well have been a failure."

(Ray Lanterman via Charlie Lanterman)

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 shear 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.

Armed only with a camera, the photo reconnaissance squadrons were the eyes of the allied armies. 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 the squadron members, their families, members of our sister squadrons, fellow aviation authors and historians and individual supporters...you have helped make the 34th PRS Online the best source for education and preservation of the vital role our eyes of the Allies played in the Second World War.

 Proud Recipient of the U.S. Wings Gold Site Award!
Proud Recipient of the U.S. Wings Gold Site Award!
Celebrating over 25-years online and counting!
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The 34th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron Online is a private, non-commercial website
founded by Richard Faulkner and Thomas Myers -- inspired by Rhymer Myers and maintained
in memory of all of the squadron members for their friends and families. This site stands as a
testimony to their pioneering work in aerial photographic reconnaissance through the preservation
of their history and the telling of their timeless story.

"Thanks Pop...you're my hero." (Thom Myers)