A connection that spans generations, that’s what Thomas and Linda Rowley share with other families and veterans of the World War II 384th Bombardment Group when they attend its reunions.

For the last 10 years, the Rowleys have paid homage to Linda Rowley’s uncle, William I. Sellers, by attending these events. Sellers was a sergeant, radio man and waist gunner in one of the 384th’s B-17 aircraft.

He was killed Aug. 3, 1944, during a test flight over England. The only survivor from that crash was co-pilot Jim Vranna, who is now 89 and living in North Dakota.

Recently the Rowleys traveled to see Vranna in North Dakota and another veteran in Montana and took with them a B-17 wing panel for them to sign.

The panel has been traveling around the country for the last 14 months, accumulating signatures of veterans from the 384th. According to the group’s website, the 384th “flew 316 combat missions over Europe during World War II as part of the Mighty 8th Air Force’s strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany.”

This Veteran’s Day, the Rowleys hope to get the word out to other veterans who might not know about the traveling piece of history that speaks to the story of the 384th members.

There are 40 signatures on the panel today. It appears at reunions of the 384th all over the country. So far it has traveled to 11 states.

The Rowleys got the panel from someone in Reno, Nev., and it travels next to Texas. The final destination will be a museum, although when the panel stops traveling and which museum it will go to will be decided by officials of the 384th Bomb Group. There is a museum with information on the 384th at Hill Air Force Base near Salt Lake City, Utah.

There are many family members of veterans helping with these efforts. They call themselves the Nextgen group, Thomas Rowley said.

“There’s more of us now than veterans; they’re getting old and they need family to help them travel,” he said.

At the last reunion at The Double Tree Hotel in Tukwila in early October, Rowley said, three members of the 384th showed up the group didn’t know were in the area.

He said the project was important because veterans of this era,”They all know they’re running out of time, so they’re interested in telling their stories and they enjoy being around each other.”

Rowley said that he, too, enjoys connecting with the veterans and their families. He and his wife have met several veterans that were at the Grafton Underwood base the night of the crash that killed Sellers, Linda Rowley’s uncle.

Sellers went off to war two years before Linda was born, but his death was devastating to Linda’s mother, Seller’s sister.

Linda’s mother didn’t talk about Sellers much, which prompted the Rowleys to do their own research, eventually leading them to the 384th group.