Description

Leading the Way to Victory is the official history of the 60th Troop Carrier Group featuring unpublished firstperson accounts by participating veterans and expertly written by retired USAF Colonel Mark C Vlahos combat veteran and former Vice Wing Commander of 314th Airlift Wing at the Little Rock Air Force BaseThe December 7 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor thrust the United States into World War II Just six months later in May 1942 flying new C47 transport aircraft the 60th Troop Carrier Group led the way as the first US TCG to deploy to England and the European Theater of Operations in World War II Leading the way to victory the 60th TCGs first missiondropping US paratroopers outside of Oran North Africawas not only the first combat airborne mission in US Army history but also the longest airborne mission of the entire war This drop spearheaded Operation TORCH also known as the Invasion of North Africa by taking key Axis airfields just inland from the amphibious landing zones The 60th TCG went on to fly some of the first combat aeromedical evacuation missions and the first combat mission towing CG4A Waco gliders during Operation HUSKYthe Invasion of Sicily As the new airborne air land aeromedical evacuation and glider missions matured in World War II the 60th TCG continued to play a major role paying in blood for valuable lessons learned in the school of hard knocks The group later flew dramatic missions into Yugoslavia supporting Partisans as part ofthe secret war in the Balkans an episode of World War II history still all but unknown today and dropped British paratroops in the airborne invasion of Greece The Group was inactivated at the end of the warDrawing on official United States Army Air Forces microfilm records operational records in the National Archives photographs from both collections published historical materials and many personal accounts author Mark C Vlahos expertly written and highly readable volume is certain to become the standard history and goto reference for the 60th TCG This work offers scholars and lay readers alike an authoritative informative and engaging saga of the Groups battles adversity hardships and triumphs from inception through the Allied victory in Europe