Lt. Robert L. Rathgeber pictured here receives the Distinguished Flying Cross awarded to him by Major General Karl Truesdell Jr. at Horham Airfield in England in August of 1944.

Lt. Rathgeber flew as a Bombardier with the 95th Bomb Group and the 335th, 336th and the 412th Squadrons. He ended up completing 27 missions between March 27th, 1944 (my father's first mission) aboard the B-17 Haard Luck (42-97334) over Cazaux, France. His last mission was over Zeitz, Germany on August 16th 1944 aboard Paisano (42-102450).

A friend of my father going back to training in Texas in 1942 and 1943, Lt. Rathgeber often accompanied my father on leaves to London. The two palled around the local English villages of Eye, Ipswich, Horham and downed more than the occasional pint at the Red Feather Club at the Airfield.

Between the two of them in their time of combat flying they rode out rough missions over Berlin, Schweinfurt, Augsburg, Frankfurt, Munich and multiple missions over France before and during the Normandy Invasion in early June of 1944.

Below is the writing on the back of the photograph written by Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson.