Two Lane Adventures: Day 8 - Savannah and beyond

Sunday 17 March 2019

We had a private tour of the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum. During World War II, the story of the Eighth Air Force—better known as “The Mighty Eighth,” and made famous by the bravery of thousands of airmen flying the flak- and fighter-infested skies over Germany in B-17s and B-24s.

The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force honors the January 1942 standup of the storied unit at nearby Hunter Army Airfield. The Eighth wouldn’t stay long—its headquarters would be relocated to England the following month to partner with England’s Bomber Command in the burgeoning air war over Europe. By war’s end, the humble beginnings of the Eighth would culminate with more than 350,000 men and women, and 3,000 aircraft.

The museum’s lobby is adorned with squadron flags and busts of Air Force elite, including General Jimmy Doolittle, hero of the 1942 raid on Tokyo, and later commander of the Eighth, and General Ira C. Eaker, the Eighth’s second in command, charged with moving it to England. After a brief introduction in the lobby, our tour guide, Gil, took us to the first exhibit.

I was struck by the eerie silence of the galleries, which made the sight of a National Socialist German Worker’s Party banner, which was hung from buildings around Germany and in countries under the boot heel of the Reich during World War II, all the more disconcerting. A long display case, filled with a timeline of the Nazi party, as well as German armbands, bayonets, uniforms, and side arms, tells the bloody story of the Nazis, while the sounds of propaganda films play softly in the background. Visitors can inspect every stitch, ribbon, and ripped seam on original Luftwaffe and RAF uniforms.

We entered a large room with a quasit hut and the walls were completely painted to look like the airfield in England.

It even captured the grey color of England. It took several artists two years to complete the painting, but it is awesome!

Finally, you’re led into the unmistakable epicenter of the museum. Standing in front of us was a B-17G model (identified by the characteristic chin turret) presented in the livery of the 5,000 B-17 to be processed through nearby Hunter Army Airfield, which served as a deployment processing center for men and aircraft during the war even after the Eighth left.

Walking around the Fortress you can see the level of detail and tireless work that’s been put into the aircraft, and the oil drips on the floor from its Wright R-1820s make it seem like it’s ready for a mission.

Years of work have been put into restoring the airframe; the tail section came from a crash in Alaska, and the upper Sperry turret came from Ohio, where the previous owner was using it as a flower pot.

A section of the museum has been dedicated specifically to stories of the capture and escape of downed Allied airmen during the European campaign. Along with a blanket covered in various military patches, collected and stitched by a GI as a POW in Germany, more and more flight jackets and equipment begin to appear. Beside the torn Nazi flag and shattered Mauser 98k, an even larger NDSAP flag than the one near the entrance can be seen in a display case, signed by hundreds of Allied pilots freed from Stalag Luft VIIIA. Near the end of the museum is a colorful display of jackets, clothing, patches and other various memorabilia from the Eighth, all donated by former Air Corps veterans.

We entered the Poppy Project, Wall of Valor. It is a hallway filled with homemade poppies. Students can make poppies for the Poppy Wall of Valor to pay homage to the ultimate sacrifice made by members of the Eighth Air Force. These poppies are red-petal, black-centered flowers made from anything from construction paper to felt with red finger paint and watercolors.

Some are made from coffee filters or felt or construction paper. They all are unique, depending on the young hands that made them. Even California classrooms sent flowers to the Pooler museum. Other students bring them to field trips there. Flowers are grouped and labeled by group or troop — and counted. Their goal was Twenty-six thousand is the number of World War II Eighth Air Force members who gave their lives.

The poppy backstory is compelling: Red poppies, long dormant, sprung up in combat-ravaged fields during World War I. Canadian physician and Lt. Col. John McCrae wrote his famous poppy poem “In Flanders Fields” after the funeral of his friend, who died in a hellish battle, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia. His poem prompted Georgia teacher Moina Michael, known as “the Poppy Lady,” to make the red flower an emblem of war remembrance. The poppy “seems to signal to the skies, that the blood of heroes never dies,” she wrote in her “We Shall Keep the Faith” poem.

We entered an area dedicated to the ladies that supported the 8^th Air Force and actually flew the aircraft. It is a big part of the unit’s history that was never taught in school. These ladies were called WASP. They paid for their own travel to Texas and spent 6 months training.

Gil told us that every 5^th grader in the county school district comes to the museum and learns about the Eighth Air Force contributions to our history. All the while, the museum’s mission is simple … Teach people about the men of the Eighth in World War II.

We departed the museum and headed back into downtown Savannah. We had a noontime date with the Savannah River Queen, a 600 passenger boat. We were going to explore the harbor while enjoying a Sunday brunch. It is an unforgettable way to tour the historic waterfront city.

The Coast Guard Cutter Eagle, “America’s Tall Ship,” is in the Savannah harbor for the weekend. At 295-feet in length, Eagle is the largest tall-ship flying the stars and stripes and the only active square-rigger in US government service. With more than 22,300 square feet of sail and six miles of rigging, the Eagle has served as an afloat classroom to future Coast Guard officers since 1946. A permanent crew of eight officers and 50 enlisted personnel maintain the ship and train up to 150 cadets at a time in the skills of navigation, damage control, engineering, and deck seamanship.

There is a mutli-million dollar renovation and building in the waterfront district. There are buildings that are being renovated and new ones constructed.

The largest container ship was in the channel the same time we were. This ship is so tall, that it has to wait until the low tide to enter the channel or it can’t fit under the Tallmadge Bridge. Notice that it requires three tugs to help direct and slow the ship. Notice that it is not completely loaded, since we can still see some of the red on the underbelly.

I never realized that there were manatees in Georgia.

Our river cruise, took us past Fort Jackson.

This is the oldest standing brick fort in Georgia and one of the five surviving Second System Seacoast Forts in the United States. Most of the original fort design and functional parts are still in existence (not re-constructed).