The 381st Bomb Group (H) B17 and the 432nd Air Service Group served at AAF Station 167 in Ridgewell, Essex, England. The 381st Bomb Group was activated on 1 January 1943 and deactivated on 26 August 1945. Its flight squadrons were the 532nd, 533rd, 534th, and 535th, and it served with the 8th Air Force. Its members valiantly served and gallantly died in defense of the free world against tyranny and oppression, so that all may live in peace and freedom with dignity. It was the first group trained here.