Over The Reich:
Sam Sitton and the 357th Fighter Squadron

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Sam Sitton Jr. volunteered for service in the United States Army Air Forces in November 1942. He was awarded his wings and commission as a Second Lieutenant on March 12, 1944, and served as a flight instructor before assignment to the fighter pilot training school in Sarasota, Florida, where he trained for combat in a P-40 “Warhawk.”

Lieutenant Sitton arrived in England on September 16, 1944, aboard the French liner Maratania. After P-51 fighter orientation he was assigned to the 357th Fighter Squadron of the 355th Fighter Group based in Steeple Morden, Cambridgeshire, England. For most of Sitton’s forty-one combat missions, he provided escort cover to the B-17 “Flying Fortress” and B-24 “Liberator” bombers of the 8th Air Force on missions over German-occupied Europe.

When not engaged in escort duty, Sitton and his fellow fighter pilots were free to attack ground targets such as barracks, railroad yards, and factories. On March 24, 1945, Sitton and his comrades in the 357th provided cover for airborne troops participating in “Operation Varsity,” the largest single-day Allied airborne operation of the war. With this action, Allied leaders intended to break German defenses along the Rhine River and hasten the war’s end.

For his service in World War II, Lieutenant Sitton received the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters. After the German surrender, Sitton served in the Army of Occupation as Operations Officer of the 70th Fighter Wing until November 11, 1945. Sitton remained in the Air Force Reserves until his retirement in January 1983 with the rank of Major.

Over The Reich: Sam Sitton and the 357th Fighter Squadron

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Over The Reich:
Sam Sitton and the 357th Fighter Squadron