The Story of the 73rd

Even before the historic and devastating atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese war effort and will to fight had been battered by the heavy B-29 bombing missions flown from the Mariana islands. The 73rd Wing shouldered one-third of this magnificent effort—flew one-third of the total number of missions—dropped one-third of the bombs and suffered one-third of the casualties. Its sacrifices in the early days before the acquisition of Iwo Jima as an intermediary base, pave