442nd earns sixth outstanding unit award

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. William Huntington
  • 442nd Fighter Wing public affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  Air Force reservists assigned to the 442nd Fighter Wing, here, have earned the wing the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for 2007.

In a Jan. 7, memorandum, Air Force Reserve Command officials at Robins AFB, Ga., announced the award for the A-10 Thunderbolt II unit for leading the way, "in combat effectiveness, applying its trained combat-ready forces and their war craft, at will, in direct support of the Global War on Terrorism."

Nearly 600 members, about half of the Wing, have mobilized and deployed worldwide, including to combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, during the two-year rating period of March 2005 through February 2007. In doing so, they have supplied more than 70,000 active days of service to the military's "Total Force" objective.

With the Wing now having won the award six times in its nearly 65-year history the Wing's commander, Col. Steve Arthur, credits the unit's success directly to its members.

"These men and women exemplify the very best that the United States has to offer," he said. "As Citizen Airmen, they put their civilian lives on hold and step forward to answer the call with dedication, professionalism and patriotism. There are none better."

Almost echoing the Colonel's words, the award's citation read, "The exemplary effort, experience and fighting spirit of Airmen of the 442d Fighter Wing have forever contributed to the cause of Liberty at home and abroad."

Wing members will wear the award on their uniforms in the form of a ribbon with a narrow red stripe, flanked by a thin white stripe, a wide blue stripe, a thin white stripe, edged with a narrow red stripe.

The Air Force Outstanding Unit Award history goes back to Jan. 6, 1954, when it was authorized by Department of the Air Force General Order One. It is awarded by the Secretary of the Air Force to numbered units that have distinguished themselves by exceptionally meritorious service or outstanding achievement that clearly sets the unit above and apart from similar units. The services include; performance of exceptionally meritorious service, accomplishment of a specific outstanding achievement of national or international significance, combat operations against an armed enemy of the United States, or military operations involving conflict with or exposure to hostile actions by an opposing foreign force.

The wing was first organized in September 1943, during World War II, as the 442nd Troop Carrier Group. Nine month's later, on D-Day, the Group dropped 82nd Airborne paratroopers over St. Mere Eglise, France, then participated in every major European campaign until the fall of Nazi Germany.

Organized as a reserve unit in 1949, the unit flew transport aircraft and supported humanitarian efforts overseas and in the United States, as well as airlift support in Vietnam. In 1982, the Wing transitioned to the A-10 and has since deployed a number of times in support of operations world-wide.