489th Bombardment Group The 489th Bombardment Group was a unit of the United States Army Air Forces . Its last assignment was to the IV Bomber Command , stationed at Drew Field , Florida . It was inactivated on 7 November 1945 . During World War II , the group was an Eighth Air Force Consolidated B - 24 Liberator unit stationed at RAF Halesworth , England , in May 1944 . It returned to the United States in November 1944 and converted to a Boeing B - 29 Superfortress group , but the war ended before the group could deploy to the Pacific . Lieutenant Colonel Leon R . Vance was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery and actions on the day before D - Day , 5 June 1944 over Wimereux , France . It was the only Medal of Honor awarded to a B - 24 crewman for an action flown from England . Enid Air Force Base , Enid , Oklahoma was renamed Vance Air Force Base in memory of Col . Vance on 9 July 1949 . History . Constituted as 489th Bombardment Group ( Heavy ) on 14 September 1943 and activated on 1 October 1943 at Wendover Army Air Field , Utah , the group trained with B - 24 ' s . It completed unit formation and combat training and departed Wendover on 3 April 1944 . The air echelon flew to the UK via the southern ferry route . The ground echelon sailed from Boston on USS " Wakefield " on 13 April 1944 . Moved to RAF Halesworth , England , April – May 1944 , and assigned to Eighth Air Force . The group was assigned to the 20th Combat Bombardment Wing and the group tail code was a " Circle - W " . The group entered combat on 30 May 1944 , and during the next few days concentrated on targets in France in preparation for the Normandy invasion . In an attack against coastal defenses near Wimereaux on 5 June 1944 , the group ' s lead plane was seriously crippled by enemy fire , its pilot was killed , and the deputy group commander , Lt . Col . Leon R . Vance Jr . , who was commanding the formation , was severely wounded ; although his right foot was practically severed , Vance took control of the plane , led the group to a successful bombing of the target , and managed to fly the damaged aircraft to the coast of England , where he ordered the crew to bail out ; believing a wounded man had been unable to jump , he ditched the plane in the English Channel and was rescued . For his action during this mission , Vance was awarded the Medal of Honor . The group supported the landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944 , and afterward bombed coastal defenses , airfields , bridges , railroads , and V - weapon sites in the campaign for France . Began flying missions into Germany in July , and engaged primarily in bombing strategic targets such as factories , oil refineries and storage plants , marshalling yards , and airfields in Ludwigshafen , Magdeburg , Brunswick , Saarbrücken , and other cities until November 1944 . Other operations included participating in the saturation bombing of German lines just before the breakthrough at Saint - Lô in July , dropping food to the liberated French and to Allied forces in France during August and September , and carrying food and ammunition to the Netherlands later in September . Selected for redeployment to the Pacific theatre and became non operational on 14 November 1944 . Relieved of assignment on 29 November 1944 , and returned to the US The aircraft were reassigned to depots or other units in the UK . The 489th Bomb Group and its associated 369th Air Service Group returned to Bradley Army Airfield Connecticut at the end of December 1944 , where all returning personnel were given 30 days leave for " rehabilitation , recuperation , and recovery " while the group redeployed on paper to Lincoln Army Airfield , Nebraska . When they reported to the Second Air Force on 22 January 1945 , they were informed that previous plans for refresher training had been cancelled and instead both groups were to be re - trained as B - 29 Superfortress combat and support units . However Second Air Force did not receive redesignation orders for the group until 17 March , until which time they were compelled to maintain duplicate rosters and tables of organization , one for a heavy bombardment group of four squadrons , and one for a very heavy bombardment group of three squadrons . The readiness date for the group air echelon was set back from 1 March to 1 August 1945 . The group moved to Great Bend Army Airfield , Kansas in mid - February to re - equip with the B - 29 , and was redesignated the 489th Bombardment Group ( Very Heavy ) in March . The group was alerted for movement overseas in the summer of 1945 , but with termination of hostilities with Japan ended while the group was still at its port of embarkation . Inactivated on 17 October 1945 .