Another unusual historical portrait brought to you by Aerothentic

These gentlemen are, from left to right, General Roger M. Ramey, Commanding General, Fifth Bomber Command (not to be confused with Brigadier-General Howard K. Ramey). Ramey is about to preside over an awards ceremony at 7-Mile near Port Moresby to men of various combat units, including the 3rd and 90th Bombardment Groups.

Ramey had a varied career, he was at various times Commanding Officer of both the 43rd and 90th Bombardment Groups before taking over Fifth Bomber Command. After the war he went on to become famous as the commander at Roswell Air Force base during the infamous 1950s UFO incident that is such a cult topic still today.

Next to him is Colonel 'Art' Arthur Rogers, Commanding Officer of the 90th Bombardment Group. In his unpublished memoirs, Rogers would later write, "Being the Group Commander of the first heavy bombers to reinforce a losing army in the jungles of New Guinea, I was asked many, many times the puzzling question by young crews who were facing death, "What are we fighting for in this jungle anyway?" My stock reply at first was, "because we were attacked at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941." But, the comments I received were disturbing, such as: "Who wants this old jungle anyway?" "The Japs are no longer attacking our territory." "Hawaii is strong enough to defend itself , why not let us go back and defend the West Coast." This gave me food for much thought and convinced me that when living conditions and fighting conditions were at their worst not only an Army but a Nation must have a great spiritual and moral goal to fight for if it is to fight under such adverse conditions".

The third gentleman across is Commander of the 3rd Attack Group, Colonel 'Big Jim' Davies, who had brought the 3rd Group to Australia across from the US. To his right is adjutant of the 90th Bombardment Group.

Aerothentic is proud to bring you some of the interesting personalities who made up the forgotten Fifth Air Force . . .

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