PRECURSOR TO NAVY SEALS LAND IN NKY FOR ANNUAL MILITARY REUNION

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Contact:
Millard Lefty Palmer
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Pressroom@nkycvb.com | www.nkycvb.com

PRECURSOR TO NAVY SEALS LAND IN NKY FOR ANNUAL MILITARY REUNION

Covington, KY/April 25, 2007—Before the Navy Seals existed, there was the 73rd Bomb Wing. 

The group’s 23rd annual reunion takes place May 2-6 at the Riverfront Radisson Hotel and features a show of appreciation by a foreign dignitary.  The Honorable Lt. Governor Timothy Villagomez of the Northern Mariana Islands will present a minted medallion to each of the 300 servicemen scheduled to attend.  “The medallion will show appreciation for restoring the freedom of the islanders who were subjugated to Japanese rule,” said reunion organizer Millard Lefty Palmer.  The presentation will happen, Saturday, May 4 at 8:30 p.m. at the hotel.

The 73rd Bomb Wing was stationed on Saipan, an island in the Marianas, where much of the assault on the Japanese mainland during 1944 and 1945 occurred.  The Bomb Wing’s personnel:

• Flew 85 separate combat mission totaling more than 155,000 hours manning 9,894 sorties
• Dropped 48,000 tons of bombs
• Destroyed 436 enemy aircraft
• Lost 182 aircraft with more than 1,000 suffering heavy damage
• Saw 69 airmen killed with 1,000 more wounded or reported missing

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