I. Wayne Eveland
Commanding Officer, 614th Bombardment Squadron

Lt. Colonel I. Wayne Eveland was the original Commanding Officer of the 614th Squadron and led the Squadron in training and into combat.

On the Group’s tenth mission (Cognac), flown on 31 December 1943, the B-17 in which Colonel Eveland was flying was shot down by fighters. Six members of the crew, including Colonel Eveland, parachuted to safety and subsequently escaped from France by walking over the Pyrenees mountain range to Spain.