44th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron The 44th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron is a provisional United States Air Force unit attached to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing . It was last known to be stationed at Al - Udeid Air Base , Qatar , where it engaged in air refueling operations in support of United States Air Forces Central . The earliest predecessor of the squadron was the 44th Troop Carrier Squadron , which served in the European Theater of World War II and the Mediterranean Theater of Operations during World War II , where it earned three Distinguished Unit Citation s . After the war , it served briefly as an airlift unit in the United States and Hawaii . The 44th Air Refueling Squadron served with Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) from 1953 to 1964 with Boeing KC - 97 Stratotanker s , at Chennault AFB , Louisiana and Selfridge AFB , Michigan . The two squadrons were consolidated into a single unit in 1985 . History . World War II . The 44th Transport Squadron was activated in June 1942 under I Troop Carrier Command at Patterson Field , Ohio . It trained at various stationd in the southeast and Texas with Douglas C - 47 Skytrain transports . The squadron , by now the 44th Troop Carrier Squadron , deployed to Egypt in November 1942 as part of President Roosevelt ' s decision to aid the Western Desert Air Force of the Royal Air Force . There it became part of the newly established Ninth Air Force , headquartered in Cairo . The 44th transported supplies and evacuated casualties in support of the British Eighth Army , operating from desert airfields in Egypt and Libya . It was reassigned in May 1943 to the Twelfth Air Force in Algeria , where it supported United States Fifth Army forces in the Tunisian Campaign . The squadron began training for the invasion of Sicily . It dropped paratroop s over the assault area of the island on the night of 9 July . It carried reinforcements to Sicily on 11 July and received a Distinguished Unit Citation ( DUC ) for carrying out that mission although severely attacked by ground and naval forces . It dropped paratroops over the beachhead south of the Sele River on the night of 14 Sep 1943 . The squadron remained in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations until February 1944 , when it again joined Ninth Air Force in England . It became part of IX Troop Carrier Command , participating in the buildup of forces prior to the Allied landings in France . . The Squadron 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 DUC 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 Operation Market Garden , the airborne attack on the Netherlands . In December it participated in the Battle of the Bulge by releasing gliders with supplies for the 101st Airborne Division near Bastogne . The squadron returned to the United States in May , 1945 , becoming a domestic airlift squadron for Continental Air Forces . It was reassigned VI Air Service Area Command in Hawaii in September 1945 , where it operated until being inactivated in early 1946 . Cold War . The 44th Air Refueling Squadron was established as a Strategic Air Command KC - 97 Stratotanker squadron , providing aerial refueling for Boeing B - 47 Stratojet s of the 44th Bombardment Wing . With the retirement of the B - 47 at Chennault AFB in 1960 , the squadron moved to Selfridge AFB , Michigan as part of SAC 4045th Air Refueling Wing . It was inactivated in 1964 . Modern Era . The squadron was converted to provisional status and reactivated as the 44th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron , an Air Combat Command McDonnell Douglas KC - 10 Extender air refueling squadron in 2002 as part of the Global War on Terrorism . Lineage . 44th Troop Carrier Squadron 44th Air Refueling Squadron