Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

One of the most rewarding things about building this website has been that it enables others to find information about relatives, friends and others who were involved in the 417th Night Fighter Squadron and other Night Fighter units.

More recently I received a request from Albert Bettencourt’s family regarding his service in the 417th.  It turns out that Albert was part of the original 417th NFS.  His family had provided 4 photos of Albert, some of which contain other people who’s full names are unknown.  Have a look at the end of the first gallery under the Faces of the 417th page.  If you can identify any of the others with Albert, please send us a comment!

Albert’s family is also looking for information on the meaning of the following badges that were part of Albert’s collection.

If you have any information on these badges please contact me or post a comment.

Cheers!

Jackie (417th website Admin)

Hi everyone,

A couple of updates to the website have been posted today.  I received links to 4 videos from the presentation that Brick Eisel and Dan Whitney did at the Palm Springs Air Museum.  There are 4 videos total, which were shot/edited by Dan’s son Daniel.  The links to the videos are on the Video Stories from the NFS page.  Head to the bottom of the page under “Misc”.  Thanks Dan and Brick for your work on this.

I have also begun to add photos from other NFS squadrons.  First up are photos of members of the 548th NFS.  These photos come courtesy of Eric Shulenberger who provided me with a copy of his book Deny Them The Night Sky which contained a copy of the photos which are also found in the book.  Only 50 photos posted so far.  More to come.

If you have photos from other Night Fighter squadrons that you would like to see added to this page, please contact me using the Contact Us page.

Finally, we’ve received two request for information from other readers seeking information on relatives.

Mark L. is looking for information on his father-in-law, Paul R Diehl, who was part of the 547 NFS.

Catherine F. is looking for additional information on her Grandfather, Lt. Col. Donald Flaherty, who was part of the 415th NFS.

If you have any information that might help Mark or Catherine, please contact me via the Contact Us page.

Cheers,

Jackie (417th website Admin)

Hi Everyone,

This is a bit unrelated to the Night Fighters, but wanted to share it anyway. As many of you may or (may not) know, I am currently living in Wellington, New Zealand.

A week ago,  April 25th was ANZAC Day here in New Zealand.  It commemorates New Zealanders killed in war and also honours returned servicemen and women.  The date itself marks the anniversary of the landing of New Zealand and Australian soldiers – the Anzacs – on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915 (WW1).  This year’s commemorations were all the more poignant because  it is the 100 year anniversary of the Gallipoli landing.

My husband and I attended many of the activities in Wellington, the most memorable being a dawn service at 5:30 AM  at the National War Memorial.  40,000 people attended, young and old, most of which had to rise as early as 4 AM to make there way to the service.  It was quite moving.  I thought I would share a few photos.

Enjoy!

Jackie

Hi everyone,

Karen Seeman found this article in the March 9th, 1944 edition of the Stars and Stripes about Corsica and I thought I would share it with you.  Very interesting stuff.

Enjoy!

Jackie (417th website Admin)

In December of 2014, I received 3 transcripts of letters related to Raymond Christensen from his great-niece, Karen.  Letters like this help current and future generations to better understand the war by seeing it thru the eyes of those who experienced it first hand.  I am so glad that Karen chose to share these letters with me and has provided permission to post them on this site for others to view.

The letters are posted, as links, on a new page called “Letters”.  This page is located under the Night Fighter History menu.  Or, you can just click on this link and head right to it.

I am interested in hearing from others who have letters that they would like to share on this website.  Please get in touch via the contact page!

Cheers,

Jackie (417th Admin)