B26.COM |
Guest Book | Pages & Links |
About Us
| Who we are - Mike Smith created B26.com for his great uncle Bob Brockett and his crew. Trevor Allen joined to manage historical content and reply to questions and inquires posted to the guest book. |
What problem do we solve - B26.com provides online community, research, documents and data that enable people to build a deep and lasting understanding of historical events surrounding those who served in the Martin B-26 Marauder. The veterans and their descendants, historians, academia and the general public want a easily accessible, historically correct representation of those who served to be open and available to the general public. |
Who wants us - Conservatively there were over 450,000 veterans who served in any capacity on the Martin B-26 Marauder. Of these approximately one quarter would have been aircrew with the balance in supporting roles. Using generally acceptable statistics there are 7,200,000 second, third and fourth generation descendants. The number of descendants seeking information on forebears who served on the Martin B-26 Marauder is increasing rapidly. Based on analysis of B26.com and other WW2 sites, a well organized presentation of a wide range of Martin B-26 Marauder related material presented by authorities in their field is an overwhelming success. |
Accomplishments to date - B26.com was created in May 1998 as an online memorial to Martin B-26 Marauder veterans. With no other means of promotion other than Internet search engines B26.com attracts thousands of unique visitors a month (51,286 in June 2007). The guest book goes back nine years and contains many individual stories written by the veterans themselves. Ol' Marauder Men have been reunited with friends and connections renewed. Descendants have contacted other descendants and shared personal information. Professional and hobby historians have contributed content. Veterans and their descendants have contributed content. There is a high demand for information and people are willing to share information in order to receive a little more information in return. |
Trevor Allen, Historian |
Introducing Trevor Allen: I began by finding names of B26 men and the towns where they came from. Thus began a marathon correspondence with sheriffs and town mayors which slowly began to bring in replies. When a contact with a B26 man was made I asked if they could pass me on to another B26 man they knew. It was slow, it was hard work and the results low in comparison with the number of letters written. Over the years the contacts increased, the information began to connect and make sense and the picture began to build. In forty-eight years I have probably written 25,000 letters to B26 men alone. What kept me going simply my great interest and the marvellous people I came into contact with. Many are no longer with us, but I remember them still for their kindness and warmth. As young men they fought bravely in a bloody environment, many giving their lives others gravely injured, the survivors as they aged remembered and cared deeply. I ask only one thing from those seeking help, I am an historian and always looking for new information. It is surprising where this sometimes comes from, and sometimes even the smallest piece of information can complete a jigsaw. So if you have photographs, old orders, diaries etc, why not let me have a look at them. Computer scanning of photographs and documents is so easy these days. I am not asking you to give your precious keepsakes away, just that we may have copies. More information |
