During World War II, the 95th Bomb Group operated from Horham, England, as AAF Station 119 from April 1943 to May 1945, flying 321 combat missions in B-17s and leading the first American bombers to complete a daylight raid on Berlin. Activated on 15 June 1942 at Barksdale, Louisiana, formed in October 1942 at Geiger Field, Washington, and operational from 13 May 1943 to 20 April 1945, the group lost 156 B-17s in combat, destroyed 425 enemy aircraft, and suffered 611 men killed in action, 5 missing, 117 returned wounded, 851 prisoners of war, 65 internees, and 61 evaders before being inactivated on 28 August 1945. Its air echelon included the 334th, 335th, 336th, and 412th Bomb Squadrons, and its ground echelon included numerous ordnance, finance, service, military police, quartermaster, medical, engineering, material, base services, chemical, weather, and aviation fire units, as well as chaplains and Red Cross volunteers; U.S.A.A.F. and R.A.F. fighter squadrons provided escort support. The combined efforts of the 95th Bomb Group and attached units brought official recognition as the only group in the 8th Air Force to receive three Presidential Distinguished Unit Citations for Regensburg on 17 August 1943, Munster on 10 October 1943, and Berlin on 4 March 1944. Special tribute was paid to those killed in action while serving in the European Theater, from the first on 14 May 1943 to the last on 7 May 1945, in honor of the men who gave their lives for America's freedom.