MacArthur's Airmen - Fred E. Rydberg
 Staff Sergeant Fred E. Rydberg served as a gunner on the B-24 Lady Luck II of the 868th Bomb Squadron, the “Snoopers.” Rydberg was an appliance salesman living in Mantiwoc, WI, when he joined the U.S. Army
in January 1943.
He is pictured above receiving the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters from Lt. Col. James M. Johnson, an instructor at Blackland Airfield, Waco, TX, in 1945.
SSgt. Rydberg flew more than 40 missions in the Pacific, compiling some 600 combat hours. He died in 1990.
 The “Snoopers” were a special night-fighting unit assigned to Thirteenth Air Force, their mission
being to attack Japanese shipping exclusively at night. In order to find targets and navigate in the dark, their B-24 Liberators were equipped with special radar, allowing them in essence to fly blind. They became so adept at their task that the Snoopers soon were having more success in their night-time attacks, than comparable heavy bomber units were having during daylight hours; and the Snoopers were doing so with far fewer planes.
 For the period October 1944 through the end of the war, the 868th accounted for 119 ships sunk, 31 more probably sunk, and 322 ships damaged.
SSgt. Rydberg’s heated flying suit is on exhibit in MacArthur’s Airmen.
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