The 736th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 454th Bombardment Wing at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, where it was inactivated on 2 July 1969 as the United States reduced its inventory of older Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses.. The squadron was first activated in June 1943. After training in the United States with the Consolidated B-24 Liberator, the squadron deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, participating in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. It earned two Distinguished Unit Citations for its combat operations. Following V-E Day, the squadron returned to the United States for conversion as a very heavy bomber unit, but was inactivated instead. The squadron was activated in the reserves in 1947, but does not appear to have been fully staffed or equipped. In 1949, it moved to Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, where it became a corollary of the active duty unit there. It was mobilized for the Korean War in May 1951, but its personnel were used as fillers for other units and it was inactivated. It was redesignated the 736th Troop Carrier Squadron and again activated in the reserve in 1952, but was inactivated the following year and its personnel and equipment transferred to another unit. In 1963, the squadron returned to the heavy bomber mission and was activated at Columbus as part of a Strategic Air Command program to continue the histories of World War II combat units. History World War II The squadron was first organized at Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico on 1 June 1943 as one of the four squadrons of the 454th Bombardment Group. It trained with Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers. After completing training, it left for the Mediterranean Theater of Operations on 8 December 1943. The squadron arrived in Italy in January 1944, settling in at its combat station, San Giovanni Airfield, by the end of the month. Its primary focus was on long range bombing missions against industrial targets such as enemy oil refineries and munitions and aircraft factories. It struck transportation targets including harbors and airfields in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Greece and Rumania The squadron received a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for a raid on an airfield at Bad Vöslau, Austria on 12 April 1944. The squadron earned a second DUC during an attack on a steel plant at Linz, Austria, as