319th Bombardment Group

319th Operations Group
Emblem of the 319th Operations Group
Active	1942–1945; 1946–1949; 1949–1951; 1955–1957; 1991—present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Part of	319th Air Refueling Wing
Garrison/HQ	Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota

The 319th Operations Group (319 OG) is the flying component of the 319th Air Refueling Wing, assigned to the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command. The group is stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota.

The group's predecessor World War II unit, the 319th Bombardment Group was the first Martin B-26 Marauder group in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations during the war. The group received two Distinguished Unit Citations during the war. In 1945, the group was re-equipped with the B-25 in combat in the MTO before returning to the US to transition to the Douglas A-26 Invader. After re-training the group was deployed to Okinawa, where it flew combat missions over China as part of Seventh Air Force against Imperial Japanese forces until the war's end.

One of the original Mercury Seven astronauts, Donald Kent “Deke” Slayton, flew A-26s from Okinawa as a part of the group's 438th Bomb Squadron in 1945.

The 319 OG (Tail stripe: Grand Forks) provides air refueling of combat and support aircraft around the world through its global mobility operations flying KC-135R/T tankers.

The group consisted of the following squadrons:

The 319th Bombardment Group trained in Louisiana in B-26 Marauders and after completing initial training, the group reported in October and November 1942 to England for staging to the Mediterranean theater of operations, where it was assigned to the Twelfth Air Force.

After it moved to Algeria as the first Martin B-26 Marauder unit in that theater, arriving with just 15 aircraft and losing group commander Col. Alvord Rutherford over France en route, the 319th BG entered combat for the first time on 28 November, bombing and strafing warehouses, docks, and railroad yards at Sfax in Tunisia. From then to March 1943, the group bombed German and Italian targets in Tunisia and Libya, including airfields and enemy shipping along the Mediterranean Coast. The 319th trained in French Morocco from March, then returned to combat in June 1943, attacking enemy targets on Italian island in the Mediterranean, including Sicily, Sardinia, and Pantelleria. From bases in Algeria and Tunisia, the group supported the Allied invasion of Italy, bombing bridges and marshalling yards during the late summer and early autumn of 1943. In November, it moved to Sardinia, to strike Axis targets in central Italy. Early in 1944, the 319th supported Allied ground forces as they advanced in the Cassino and Anzio areas. Later in the year, using North American B-25 Mitchell bombers the group attacked German supply lines in northern Italy, bombing bridges, marshalling yards, and roads. In March, it earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for raids on marshalling yards in Rome and Florence that damaged enemy communications without destroying cultural monuments. For supporting the Allied ground advance in Italy during April, May, and June 1944, the group earned the French Croix de Guerre. During the summer, it bombed bridges over the Po River in northern Italy using B-25 bombers to block the stream of German supplies and reinforcements going southward. The 319th Bombardment Group supported the invasion of southern France in August 1944 by attacking coastal batteries, radar stations, and bridges. From Corsica, it hit railroad bridges in Northern Italy and late in the year attacked railroad lines through the Brenner Pass that connected Germany and Austria with Italy.