546th Bombardment Squadron  The 546th Bombardment Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 384th Bombardment Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, where it was inactivated on 1 September 1964. The squadron was first activated during World War II as a heavy bomber unit. After training in the United States, it moved to England, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. It earned two Distinguished Unit Citations during combat over Europe. It remained in Europe after V-E Day, and was inactivated in France in 1946. The squadron was again active in the reserve from 1947 to 1949, but does not appear to have been fully manned or equipped. The squadron was activated by Strategic Air Command at Little Rock in 1955, and served as part of SAC's strategic deterrent force until inactivating as SAC phased out the Boeing B-47 Stratojet. The squadron was first organized at Gowen Field, Idaho on 1 December 1942 as one of the original four squadrons of the 384th Bombardment Group. It moved the next month to Wendover Field, Utah, where it began training with the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. It completed training in May 1943, and began its move to the European Theater of Operations. The ground echelon departed Sioux City Army Air Base, Iowa for the Port of Embarkation at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey on 10 May and sailed on the on 23 May 1943. The air echelon staged through Kearney Army Air Field Nebraska starting on 3 May and ferried their B-17s via the northern ferry route. The first planes arrived at RAF Grafton Underwood on 25 May 1943. The squadron arrived at its combat station, RAF Grafton Underwood on 6 June 1943. It flew its first mission on 23 June, a diversionary strike against the Ford and General Motors plants at Antwerp. The squadron primarily flew missions in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, striking air bases and industrial targets in France and Germany. Targets included Orleans/Bricy and Nancy/Azelot Airfields, an engine manufacturing factory at Cologne, a coke distillation facility at Gelsenkirchen, an aircraft component plant at Halberstadt, a steel manufacturing plant at Magdeburg and the ball bearing factory at Schweinfurt. The squadron participated in a raid on aircraft factories in Germany on 11 January 1944 for which it was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC).