[Hans Nauta]

Hi Nick,

This message was forwarded to me.

Regards,
Hans Nauta

"It is with a deep sense of sorrow and loss that I report that Roger A. Freeman, 8th Air Force Historian, and the man who coined the phrase "The Mighty Eighth" has passed away.

Mr. Freeman was 77 years old and passed away from a long bout with cancer. He was a mentor and someone I looked to as an inspiration and guide to my own work ethic as it relates to the 100th Bomb Group and the 8th Air Force. I only had the pleasure of meeting him once in Savannah during the festivities for the 60th Anniversary of the 8th Air Force. He was like a long lost friend who would stop and listen to every Vet, eager to hear just "one more story". Roger made sure Robert "Rosie" Rosenthal was recognized at this event by the the large crowd gathered in Savannah. As a young English boy, he watched you take off and come home from your air battles over Fortress Europe and he realized the tremendous cost American Aircrews were sustaining to destroy Hitler’s war machine. He never forgot and in 1970 published his first book on the 8th AF, simply entitled “THE MIGHTY EIGHTH" by Roger A. Freeman. This book and its subsequent reprinting are the benchmark by which other historians are judged on the subject. His physical appearance was small and frail but the legacy he has left us cast a very BIG and long shadow. Roger Freeman did as much to cement "The Mighty Eighths" place in history as any man in the 8th AF. He lost his innocence with us when he counted our missing aircraft returning to the fields of Little America. Roger would be embarrassed by all these accolades and say ALL of you are the real story and he just wrote it down. Maybe so but NOBODY could have put it into words better. Roger Freeman may not be a member of the 100th Bomb Group but he will be listed in our Taps section, because quite frankly, he earned it.

Goodbye Roger and Thank You."

Michael P. Faley
100th Bomb Group Historian
100th Bomb Group Photo Archives
email: MPFaley@aol.com