David C Diefendorf

When I retired from teaching after almost 30 years, I had very little to do. My son suggested that I take the memoirs that my Dad had written in 1988 and rewrite them, while adding photos of the almost countless materials that he had saved over his 34 year Air Force career. Dad joined the Army Air Corps in 1942. He flew missions in Europe in the P-38 and the P-47. He flew the P-80 in Korea, and finally the F-4 in Vietnam. He retired from Norton AFB in 1975, and passed away in 1996. During all of his years in the Air Force, he saved everything - everything. I edited his memoirs that he had written and printed out on a dot matrix printer. I added many photos and numerous documents and letters. This book turned into over 400 pages.

A couple of years later, I decided to write a more focused history about Dad's World War II outfit (367th Fighter Group, 9th Air Force) and the close association it had with the U.S. First and Third Army. I also incorporated some of Dad's memoirs into this book.

Well, the writing bug is out of me now. It's off to other things - hopefully road trips to see friends and family.

I didn't edit the memoirs and write the other book in order to make a profit - the price is the lowest that Amazon would allow. I did it mainly for family and friends, and especially for my son. I only hope that the many hours of research and fact checking will pass muster.

If anyone out there actually reads one of the books, please feel free to let me know what you think. Any constructive criticism is welcomed.