"Salute": Staff Sgt Ben Roujansky, World War II Letters to Loved Ones

I was a radio operator gunner on a B-17, explained Ben Roujansky in 2017, and I operated out of Horham, England, during World War II. How I got there is really a good story.Speaking a little more than a week before his passing at 94, Ben had accomplished much in his life to be proud of, including serving with dignity with the 95th Bomb Group in Horham, Suffolk, UK, in 1945. He was born in Kishinev, Romania, in April 1923 during his parents’ journey to the United States while escaping the Cossacks’ pogroms against Jews in their native Russia. Amidst a world war, Ben enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces in December 1942. He trained stateside as a radio operator/gunner. He saw combat service with the 95th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force, which conducted strategic daylight bombing against enemy targets in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). Ben flew valiantly as one of nine aboard pilot Milo Trbovich’s crew. The men accumulated 18 credited missions from February through May 1945.Getting to the ETO was itself an accomplishment as this book of letters show. The letters herein document the journey taken by Ben, or “ROJO” as he was known in 95th circles, from his induction at Fort Dix in New Jersey through radio and gunnery schools to combat crew training to active service with the 95th Bomb Group.With:Foreword by Andy GarnerPreface by Sue Roujansky andIntroduction by Phil Samponaro Read more