page_title: 37th Airlift Squadron
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: 37th Airlift Squadron / History / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: C-47s with CG-4 Waco Gliders just before D-Day, 1944, 316th Troop Carrier Group, 37th TCS
context_page_description: The 37th Airlift Squadron is part of the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It operates Lockheed C-130J Super Hercules aircraft providing theater airlift.
context_section_description: Activated in June 1942 under I Troop Carrier Command at Patterson Field, Ohio.  Trained at various stationed in the southeast and Texas with Douglas C-47 Skytrain transports.   Deployed to Egypt in November 1942 as part of President Roosevelt's decision to aid the Royal Air Force Western Desert Air Force, assigned to the newly established Ninth Air Force, headquartered in Cairo.
  Transported supplies and evacuated casualties in support of the British Eighth Army, operating from desert airfields in Egypt and Libya.  Reassigned in May 1943 to the USAAF Twelfth Air Force in Algeria, supporting Fifth Army forces in the Tunisian Campaign.  Began training for the invasion of Sicily; dropped paratroops over the assault area on the night of 9 July. Carried reinforcements to Sicily on 11 July and received a DUC for carrying out that mission although severely attacked by ground and naval forces; dropped paratroops over the beachhead south of the Sele River on the night of 14 September 1943.  Remained in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations until February 1944 until being reassigned back to Ninth Air Force in England, IX Troop Carrier Command to participate in the buildup of forces prior to the Allied landings in France during D-Day in June 1944.
  Engaged in combat operations by dropping paratroops into Normandy near Ste-Mere-Eglise on D-Day (6 June 1944) and releasing gliders with reinforcements on the following day. The unit received a third Distinguished Unit Citation and a French citation for these missions.
  After the Normandy invasion the squadron ferried supplies in the United Kingdom.  The squadron also hauled food, clothing, medicine, gasoline, ordnance equipment, and other supplies to the front lines and evacuated patients to rear zone hospitals.  It dropped paratroops near Nijmegen and towed gliders carrying reinforcements during the airborne attack on the Netherlands.
caption: A C-47 from the 37th TCS in June 1944.
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