| OVERSEAS DIARY of HERSCHEL D. DAVIS |
| Donor | Original Source | PIMA ID | Donor ID | Category |
| Richard P. Ellinger | Herschel D. Davis | na | G-DA-114 | G-DA-OCR |
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Following is a transcription made in 1994 by Herschel D. Davis of the diary that he kept beginng January 28, 1943 until June 13, 1944 covering his service in the Mediterranean Theater with the 17th Bomb Group. This is provided here as an OCR scan (Optical Character Recognition) of the original dot matrix transcription and does have some typo errors that are characteristic to OCR scans. |
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1st LT. HERSCHEL D. DAVIS 17TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP 95TH BOMBARDMENT SQUADRON (MEDIUM) MARTIN B-26 (Part 2 - Jan 1, 1944 to June 13 1944) go to part 1 - Jan 28, 1943 - Dec. 31, 1943 |
| 1-1-44 -- New Years day--Cold , raw, cloudy & a strong gusty wind. Managed to get an hour & forty minutes transition time with Saunders this morning. Shot one pee-poor take off [darn near killed us] and landing and then did a I i ttle better on the next try. It was too gusty to shoot any good takeoffs or landings. Tomorrow a big raid must be on tap. We're carrying 1000 pounders. It will probably be the steel mill on the Coast near Ceccina.--Probably beaucoup flak. 1-2-44 Flew over San Stefano M/Y and RR bridge. Easy target, no flak and no + i ghters. I t was a beaut i f ul tr i p , cl ear as a bel I . Coul d see almost to Spain on one side and Italy on the other. The Alps looked nearer than ever before, especially when we got to the target. We bombed the target of San Stefano which is very near the French Border. It was more of a joy ride than a bombing raid. Hope more of my sorties are like that. [No. 19] 1 -3-44 The Group bombed Pistoia again today, no fIak no fighters. Did a good job too. I went on a gunnery mission this afternoon but the tow target JU-87 didn't show up so we came home early. I'm on for tomorrow though. 1-4-44 Went to Rocca Secca highway bridge but there was a solid overcast over the whole area. Only a few snow covered mountain tops were visible. The air was very rough after takeoff and before landing just under the clouds. Well, anyway, Im over the hump now; only 20 missions to go. No mission scheduled for tomorrow 1-5-44 Nothing unusual happened today. No mission and yet we had pretty nice weather. Tomorrow we are sending out 24 planes loaded with #500 lb. bombs; will probably be that same bridge at Rocca Secca. I am supposed to shoot some more transition tomorrow with P.K. Young. 1-6-44 Group went over the M/Y at Pontedera and did a good job. No fIak and no fighters. I fIew 2 1/2 hours of [right seat] transition and shot three take offs and landings. They weren't too bad or too good but could have been much better. Especially the last landing--it was putrid. Not scheduled tomorrow. 1-7-44 Group went over Foligno today and did a fair job of bombing. They encountered six Me-109s and some flak but not too much. I don't think any planes were lost- We sure have had good weather lately, I hope it holds out for quite a while. I'm on the schedule for tomorrow & it will probably be a lulu!. 1-8-44 Didn't fly today but am on the list for tomorrow for sure. Hope we don't hit Rocca Secca again. Today the Group did a fair job on Lucca M/Y. Weather doesn't look too hot tonight, Hope it's clear for tomorrow. |
| 1-9-44 Today I am 24 years old. WOW! What an old man I am. Ye Gods, I act younger than most of these kids 20-21 years old. No mission today but I got in a couple hours transition. Made one good take-off and landing. Had to quit early because of a big blister on the nose wheel. Rocca Secca is fini now. 1/10/44 Group didn't go out again today. Seems like the weather is bad on the mainland but it has been nice here. There is a reputed uprising of the Italians around here but so far nothing has happened. We're all carrying our weapons [45] just in case. 1-11-44 No mission again today due to bad weather here. We were supposed to go after a big dam near Rocca Secca but it didn't pan out. Don't have any idea how long this bad weather will last. Cant even get in any transition while it's like this. 1-12-44 Flew over the Liri River dam near Isoletta today. It was one of the toughest [missions] I've seen in a long time. We split up into three waves of twelve, 15 minutes apart. I was in the second wave and we could see the flak hitting all around the first bunch. After they had crossed the target and were almost to the coast line one plane got a direct hit in the left wing tank and practically exploded. It went down in two pieces, big balls of fire. Poor devils didn't have a chance.Our planes got through OK but most of the planes had beaucoup holes in them. I don't think we hit the dam and it was important too because it was supposed to flood the Germans out of their positions. [No. 21] [If my memory serves me correctly, that flak was so intense and accurate that not only could we see it as a thick layer, but also we could hear it, feel it bounce the plane and smell it. It was horrible!] 1-13-44 Group bombed the A/D <N) Ciampino south of Rome. Did an excellent job according to reports. Only encountered moderate flak and no fighters. B-17s went to the Liri River Dam today. I sure hope they got it because we will have to go back again. Brrrr. [Every type of bombing aircraft including P-47 dive bombers took a crack at that dam but no one could hit it because it was in a steep canyon having extreme air currents that threw the bombs off.] Hope the raid tomorrow is easy for a change--I'm on the schedule. |
| Raid was called off for today due to bad weather over the target which was to have been the dock area at Piambino. I got in some more transition time today and made some good landings and takeoffs from both seats. Sandy says I'll be checked out as soon as I get some single engine operation and a couple more landings. 1-15-44 Bombed the R/R bridge near Orvieto again today and encountered no f I ak nor f i ghters. However , the 319th bombed another br i dge SW of us and got quite a bit of flak. I flew with Maher again and it was his last m i ss i on . Burkhardt [Group Intel 1 i gence] tol d us th i s morn i ng that al I the water behind the Liri River dam had been let out so we won't have to go though that again. [No. 221 1-16-44 The gang bombed a M/Y and a bridge in the Orvieto area again today. The 37th got shot up quite badly & were jumped on by fighters. Those fighters won't attack unless there are stragglers. I shot a couple of hours of left seat transition today. 1-17-44 The Group got shot up a bit today but did a swell job of bombing the bridge at Orvieto. I got some more left seat transition too and am now officially a first pilot. 1-18-44 Today we finally slapped the Steel Factory at Piambino & did a pretty good job of it. There was only a little flak & no fighters. We got a couple of holes in our plane but nothing to worry about. The lead plane got part of his hydraulic system shot out and had to land with his tail on the ground and his nose wheel in the air. [No. 231 1-19-43 [44] Another milk-run for the 17th today. It was.the A/D at Viterbo. Good coverage and about 95X accuracy. Our Group has been about 64% accurate which is supposed to be the best bombing in the theater. Last week a Colonel from the 8th Air Force was down here to check our style of bombing de technique. He says the Jerry Fighters are a litle more agressive here than in France and Germany. If that's true, he hasn't seen much because those Jerries during the Tunisian Campaign were hot-rocks from way back [compared to these]. Big deal tomorrow--we're going out with 48 ships. Probably we will split up into 2-24 groups and get the dickens shot out of us. 1-20-44 Well-we got shot up badly as I expected. Target was a highway bridge at Pontecorvo which is on the front lines. Another plane got a direct hit & went down flaming I piloted during the bombing run and most of the trip out and back. Fauts got a flak hit right alongside his neck only it was stopped by the window and [just] showered glass on him. This was really a rough raid. [No. 24] 1-21-44 Another milk run for the Group on my off day. No flak and no fighters. It was at Orvieto north, but the 319th or whoever hit at the south bridge got flak beaucoup and lost one ship, a flamer. Tomorrow an amphibious landing is coming off. In fact it will be in six hours and fifteen minutes, or, at 02:00. There are several divisions of the 6th Corps landing just south of Rome & which are to move inland to high ground behind the main German forces. The French are driving a wedge in the middle to help trap them. Meanwhile a diversion[ary] landing will be feinted in the Leghorn area to keep the German troops bottled up in that area. |
| This bombing our Group & especially our Squadron has been doing is the best in the Air Force. We are getting commendations from all the Big Shots. Incidently, this type of bombing we have done has served the purpose of cutting off supplies to the I ines and preventing their escape. [Howcome no one told us, the medium bombers, that we had developed the tactics of "interdiction" to a f ine point. Oh well , we wouldn't likely have known what the word meant even if they had used it on us.] Well , tomorrow should go a long way toward ending the Ital ian Campaign. 1-22-44 The landing seems to have come off ok and our troops are pouring inland. They should have taken all their objectives by tonight. The raid today was over a road bridge at Ceprano in the Rocca Secca area. Flak was intense as usual [at that bridge] but none of our planes were lost. The 319th lost another one in flames. Probably we will go back there tomorrow and get shot up badly again. 1-23-44 Today the 95th SNAFUed again. It seems that our bombs dropped behind our own lines but no one can make up their mind for sure and it can't be decided if we get a sortie or not. No flak and no fighters were encountered. The target was just north of Sora. [No. 253 [What happened is that the lead navigator, Roberts, went screwy and after we left landfall he took us on a diagonal south from where we should have gone. Then by sheer coincidence, when we got to what he thought was the IP there was a town exactly in place. So we turned North and started toward the AP. Again, by coincidence a town was in the right place and to compound it all, a roadblock like the one we were looking for was in the right target spot. So, we let go all bombs. Later we found that Gen. Mark Clark had all his 6th (?) Army bigwigs very near there holding a strategy conference. Luckily we didn't blow them away.] 1-24-44 No mission today. Was cancelled due to weather. Got in a couple of hours transition with Webster. Our troops which landed at Natuno have established a good, big beach head and seem to be holding fast. |
| 1-25-44 Went out today despite bad weather and took a look see at Terni but it was overcast so we went down to the new beachhead & bombed a road [near Sezze] just past the lines. We got slight inaccurate flak & no fighter opposition. The flight to and from the target was pretty rough [air]. I don't know if I will fly tomorrow or not--I hope not--I-'m too tired. [No. 261 1-26-44 It's very windy today but until this afternoon it was clear. Target for today was to have been the bridge at Orvieto north, or the road at Sezze but weather was bad. I was on spare today. We wiII probably get beaucoup flak when we do go there. 1-28-44 Yesterday we bombed the R/R bridge at Ceprano again and I mean we really got knocked around. No ships were lost but one of our turret gunners [ on another plane] was killed instantly by a big piece of flak. We had to land at Pomigliano A/D which is just outside of Naples [low on gas] so we stayed all night and came back here this morning. [No. 27] . Don't know where the raid was today but I will before long. I will be on again tomorrow & we will get shot at something horrible.--Found out that the raid today was over Orvieto North. No flak, no fighters. That means we go to the hot spot for sure tomorrow. [The bridges at Orvieto and Ceprano were vital to the German supply system. Every time we knocked them out the Germans would have them repaired in short order. Note that it was only five days between bombings at Orvieto and three at Ceprano.] 1-29-44 Strangely enough we went on a milk run today and never saw a bit of flak or a fighter. The target was a RR bridge outside of Civita Castellana de just North of Rome. Rome was practically underneath us. It's a wonder we didn't see the pope somewhere. I guess we will hit the hot spot tomorrow for sure. [No. 281 1-31-44 No raids the last two days. bad weather over there and fog here, The raid was to have been just inside the 1 ines near the NE end of the invasion salient. Got in a couple of hours of left seat formation today. Tough work af ter f lying from the right seat so long. Were due to hi t the hot spot tomorows! ! |
| 2-2-44 The bitterest pill of all was swallowed today when they told us that from now on we had no definite amount of missiions to go on. It will be anywhere from 40 ---- ?. The worst part is that some guys Iike Fauts and Rayner onIy had one or two to finish up . It seems Iike everything depends on us being good boys and getting some replacements in. There have been no raids at all the last three days. 2-3-44 Sad news--the latest dope is that Capt. Kundrath, A Baker and A Armer. will not ever be promoted because we dropped our bombs in the wrong place [on Jan. 23]. 1 think Capt K. will lose the Squadron too. Poor Devil, hes a swell fellow to have such a jolt as that handed to him. Today we started on a mission to Frascati but were called back--don't know why. 2-4-44. Sour weather today so no flying. Major Harrold is our new C.O. Capt. K says that with 40 missions we had a 75% chance of coming through but now it will be much less. Woe is me, will I ever see home again? 2-6-44 Sour weather today, but we took off anyway. Fauts and I came in early because our right engine was cutting out. The rest of the outfit is just now coming back and I don't think they got very far 2-7-44 Finally got that 29th mission in today when we went over Viterbo M/Y. There was no enemy opposition at all but the weather was sour. We were at 12,500' for nearly three hours and the temperature was -15 o C. There was ice all over the windshield on my side & I could hardly see to fly formation. [I simply took a swipe at the ice with my jacket cuff leaving a hole about four inches in diameter to see thru. It was hairy!!] Fauts and I had a little trouble with our right prop so we came in on fixed pitch. Boy what a sweat job. 2-8-44 The "going home" situation has been clarified somewhat in that we have to go 45 missions and then it's up to the Doc. It's "p" poor but we can do nothing about it. The raid today was uneventful except that six or seven Me- 109s jumped the formation. Target at Civita Castellana was destroyed. 2-9-44 Pretty sour situation over on the new beach -head It Iooks Iike Mark Clark has SNAFUed again and almost as bad as at Salerno. We sent 24 planes to the area this af ternoon & now. they are going to have to stay at Naples overnight. I imagine we will be sending out two formations per day until this is all over. I'm afraid the situation is bad. |
| 2-10-44 Situation is still bad at the beach head. Our troops are getting shoved around. Today I was spare ship to a troop concentration near Anzio. The rest of the Group couldn't make it because of weather. The 24 ships that went out yesterday landed at Pompeii and went out today but the* to, came home because of weather. 2-11-44 Dud weather--more sack time. No mission today. Cold front moving in wi th lots of snow, hail, sleet, ice, thunder & lightning. It's beautiful while it lasts. 2-12-44 Still dud weather. Had snow flurrys all day long. Group took off to bomb near Anzio again but couldn't get bove the clouds. They came home from 50 miles out to sea, on the deck, & arrived here in a snow storm. Two planes are still missing. Right now it's raining again. 2-13-44 Still bad weather but the group went to Bucine vaiduct anyway. Our Squadron came home from just off the coast of Elba Island because their windows were all iced up. Early morning briefing tomorrow, probably a toughy again. 2-14-44 More sour stuff. We took off about 10:30 and tried to make it up to the Bucine viaduct but the cloud wall was above 11 500 4 t . on the eastern coast of Corsica so we had to return early--no sortie. No briefing up yet but it will be to the Anzio beach head now that the weather has cleared. 2-15-44 Went to two targets today. One was at Perugia where Major Downey was shot down but we didn't drop bombs until we got to the M/Y at Monte Pescali. We got quite a little flak from the A/D at Perugia. No fighters however. The weather was p. poor. [No. 301 2-16-44 Another milk run today. No flak and no fighters. Dropped delay [fused] 500 lb. bombs on albinia R/R bridge. Were supposed to hit the bridge at Marsciano but it was clouded over. In fact the whole area was pretty well socked in. [No. 31] Tomorrow weve got frag bombs so it will probably be the troop concentration area near the bridge head. Now that Cain, Woody and PK have gone home Ive moved into a new tent with Johnson, Teifert and Rober ts. Don't get along with them as we11 as with the other guys but everything's ok. They're pretty good fe11ows. [I can't beIieve what I said is what I meant. I liked and got along beautifully with Vose new feIIows. , and am stiII friends with Johnson today, Roberts and Teifert are both dead.] |
2-17-44 Was supposed to have gone out as spare today but bitched my way out of it. That spare got a sortie too, darn it. The raid was on the front lines all right & some of the ships got banged up quite a bit. I'm on for tomorrow and it will probably be the same place. I got a couple of hours transition today. 2-19-44 No flying yesterday. It rained all day. Today the weather was clear here but socked in over on the beachead [sic]. We will probably go there tomorrow as the Germans are attacking again. Beaucoup flak! over there. The weather is trying to sack in here, too, now. 2-20-44 Another rough one again today. We bombed a troop concentration at Campoleone R/R station. Beaucoup flak. One plane got hit and dived straight "in". One man bailed out, lucky fellow. We got hit several times and even our aerial was shot away. I took snapshots of it all. I'm "on'' tomorrow. [No. 321 2-21-44. A milk run today--over the bridge at Montalto Di Castro. There was a solid 10/10 overcast all the way there & back except for two large holes. No flak, no fighters. [No. 333 2-22-44 Target today was the M/Y in the center of Rome but it was overcast and the flight went to the R/R bridge at Albinia & Montalto Di Castro. I'll be "on" for tomorrow & the target will be there again I imagine. Beaucoup flak and fighters. 2-23-44 No mission today. Bad weather over Italy. 2-24-44 Mission cancelled again. It was to have been #3 Auxilliary field at Orvieto. I think we will hit the bridghead [sic] tomorrow even though or bombing there the other day was a bang-up job. Shot a pee poor couple of hours of transition. 2-26-44 Mission cancelled yesterday and today. Flew two hours of formation. |
| 2-27-44 New Officers Mess and Club opened up last night. I went to the movies instead. It's a nice building which we had a contracter build.--very very nice. 1 0411 the officers chipped A $5.00 apiece and with that fund we built a concrete block building with a marble top bar, running water, shelving and indirect lighting. A professional bartender was rounded up from among the EM and we stocked the bar with every kind of booze imaginable. The mess was at the other end of the building with its own ranges, equipment and personnel. Very POSH.] No mission today. 3/1/44 Yesterday was a pretty tough day for us. One plane crashed and blew up on takeoff. One got shot down over Viterbo, one bellied in at Borgo in Corsica and over half of the rest of us landed at Elmas [Cagliari] because the field here was socked in. Our target had no flak but Maj. Buchert had to cut across the 319th target to get away & there's where he got hi t [with a bomb I think] and went down. We didn't do much good outside of knocking out about 8 airplanes. [No. 341 Today we were to hit a troop concentration at the Anzio beach head but weather held us back. We will go tomorrow if there is no-bad weather & we will get beaucoup flak. I'm sure the beachead situation is precarious because they have eleven divisions against our five. I think we will have to give up that area shortly because it's too costly in materiel and men. 3-2-44 1 guessed correctly about the raid but it wasn't as rough as anticipated [Caraceto troop concentration] That was because there was about a 5/10 overcast. We dropped our bombs but on the wrong target. Chances are we will have to go back again tomorrow because our troops are in serious trouble. I saw no flak or fighters until after we turned & came off the coast. [No. 351 3-3-44 Again our bombing [yesterday] did the trick St our group was instrumental in breaking up the enemy attacks. Today the target was the Ostiense M/Y in S. Rome. Very good coverage of the choke point & warehouses. Very little flak was encountered & no fighters--probably due to the fact that it was partially overcast again. 3-4-44 Bad weather no mission. Were briefed to go to Orvieto N. but it was cancelled at the last minute. |
| 3-5-44 Ice-sleet, snow & hail mixed with rain today. Very strong cold front system. I think we're slated to hit some target in the Nice area tomorrow or the next day. 3-6-44 More bad weather today. Target was Rome, &, as the same bomb load and schedule is up-we will probably go there--I hope. 3-7-44 Bombed the Ostiense M/Y in Rome today. My flight SNAFUed because the leaders bombs wouldnt drop. No fighters encountered and only 3 bursts of flak. Boy what a milk run. I'm on again for tomorrow. I No. 361 3-8-44 Our milk run today turned out to be pretty rough on us. We bombed the docks at Porto San Stefano which is part of the peninsula of Orbetello. The Germans have been using it as one of the more important ports north of Civita Veccia and South of Leghorn. Anyway, up until about a week ago there was only slight flak encountered. Today however, we expected little flak & they fair shot our fanny off, Capt. Craig in the 34th went "in" and blew up. On engine was shot clear out. It was plenty rough while it lasted. [No. 37. Ken Craig and two of his crew bailed out and were captured.] 3-9-44 Target was Montalto Di Castro today and we were 95% accurate which is darn good. I'm not on again tomorrow for a change. 3-10-44 Milk run outside Orvieto N.again but results were poor due to overcast. Slight flak encountered from A/D at Orvieto. 3-11-44 The famous art center of Florence was our target today. We--in B-26s-- were chosen to bomb the M/Y because of our accuracy. Of course the B-17s wi 11 get credit for it like they did when we bombed Rome, the beach head, Piambino & countless other targets. According to reports one would think that there was nothing but B-17s & B-24s in this whole theater--well, anyhow we were the ones that hit it & there was no flak or fighters. [No. 38] 3-14-44 Went to the R/R bridge at La Spezia yesterday [my flight log says the 12th] & there was moderate to intense flak encountered, Cohen and I had to I and at Borgo to refuel . [No. 391 Today we started for Rome but the engines weren't putting out all the necessary power. |
| 3-15-44 Well I finally got number 40 in. We bombed the town of Cassino. [WRONG! it was the Monastery of Monte Cassino] It seems that 16 groups of heavy and medium bombers were dropping on that place trying to knock out the Germans. We haven't heard the results yet. It was surprisingly easy (except for the usual bad weather). No flak and no fighters. 3-16-44 Raid today was the town of Piedmonte which is part of the Hitler Line. Our troops are supposed to be advancing. We returned early because we thought our engines were cutting out but it turns out to be two ships exploding after colliding in mid-air. They were both out of the 37th. I'm on as spare tomorrow. 3-17-44 Didn't get to fill in today --- because it was an easy target. It was Orvieto NW bridge. It's beginning to rain tonight we may not have to go tomorrow. 3-18-44 Bombed Orvieto bridge again. That thing must have close to a thousand bomb craters on and around it. The Krauts are beginning to put flak up around it now so it's a pretty warm target. Moderate flak and plenty of fighters in the area but theyre all busy elsewhere--thank goodness. [No. 411 3-19-44 Group day off today no flying. Oh box, a real rest for us. 3-20-44 Target was supposed to have been a milk run to a viaduct near Florence but they flew to Piambino and got shot up pretty badly. They used the new 1-ton bombs on the docks and nearly blew 'em apart. 3-22-44 Milk runs for the group yesterday and today but I wasn't on either one. It has been beautiful weather and I changed into sun-tans. 3-28-44 I'm at the rest camp on the Island of Capri today and have been here since last Friday eve. What a wonderful place. Meals served in bed, waiters running around everywhere, nice rooms & beds. Box, what a knockout joint this is. Only two things wrong with it and that is that there is no heat in the hotel except on Wed. & Sat, and the other thing is that Vesuvius has been erupting lately & the wind is blowing all the smoke, dust and ashes over here. This island has a history that goes back to the Cretans which predates the Greeks by about one thousand years ... There are evidences of all three cultures, not including that of [from] the 12th century to date. Today I visited the Villa Jovis built by Emperor Tiberius. It is in good shape but nothing to compare with that of the Timgad ruins. |
| 3-31-44 Leaving Capri tomorrow & expect to stay a couple of days in Naples. [I should have mentioned that we visited the "Blue Grotto", and the tower of San Michaele on the cliff above Anacapri--both of world fame.] 4-1-44 Made Ist Lt. today after all these months. It may be an April Fool joke. I just flew in from Naples & haven't had time to check up on it. (It was for real!!!] 4-3-44 Did a lot of useless flying today. Went out as spare but filled in on the raid on the bridge at Pontedera. It was 10/10 overcast at the Target so we went to the alternate target at Leghorn which was also overcast. However, we got about 20 bursts of flak near us. We didn't drop our bombs. [No. 421 4-4-44 Went to a bridge N of Orvieto & surrounding vicinity today with no results. It's still socked in over there. However, one Me 109 jumped us & shot out one gunner's eye but no other damage resulted. Those Krauts are getting tough. [No. 43] 4-6-44 Flew as spare to some bridge near Orvieto & didn't fill in. Am on for tomorrow again. 4-7-44 Didn't fly today after all. Had a touch of the GIs last night so I decided it would be best not to fly. The target was at Borgo Di San Lorenzo just north of Florence. 4-10-44 Had bad weather for the last few days but went out today over the Arezzo Viaducts. After making a grand tour of Italy we found the target & ---- --- missed it completely. I had to land at Ghisonaccia for gas. [No. 44] 4-11-44 Had a milk run today as far as enemy opposition was concerned, but the weather was stinko all over Italy & the air was rough on the way home. It was over in the Ceccina area where we turned back. [No. 451 4-12-44 Another milk run today. We bombed the R/R bridge at Imperia again. No flak & no fighters. Weather was a little bumpy on the way home but other than that i t was ok. The 319th got beaucoup flak down near Nice but didn't lose any planes. [No. 46] 4-13-44 No mission today-bad weather. 4-14-44 Mission today was the viaduct at Arezzo. No encounters. 4-15-44 thru 4-19-44 No Mission-Bad Weather |
| 4-20-44 Arezzo viaducts & Bucini viaducts today Got slight heavy, accurate flak. Opdyke was hit in the face by flak. 4-21-44 No mission. Weather is pretty poor but we could have a mission. I'll be back on flying status tomorrow. The Doc. says my throat is ok now. [I had severe tonsillitis]. In a day or two the Group is sending two ships home and I think Dilworth will get to go. I'm not on the list 'I'm pretty sure. Golly, Ive never felt so low in a long time. If Dilworth is really on the list then I'm certainly going to find out why I wasn"t. I've got two months more time overseas than he has. 4-22-44 Another milk run went sour on us today when we bombed the viaducts at Bucine and Arezzo. We got moderate & accurate fla, even big red bursts of it and one ship got hit rather badly. So Harris and I fell on his wing and flew into Borgo with him. We had two holes in our plane. [No. 471 4-23-44 Milk run over Incisa in Valdarno. 4-24+44 Target at Arezzo again but my plane came home early due to a gunner being ill. 4-25-44 Went on a weather mission in the Ceccina area & shot up a couple of factories an the coast.Scared some Eyties [sic] to death nearly. More fun!! [No. 48] [We all would "kill" to get to go on a weather mission even though in their way they were more dangerous than a regular mission. In this case we were to fly on the deck up to the I tal i an coastline south of Leghorn then turn south and fly a certain distance then come home. Supposedly the Germans wouldnt jump us if that's all that we did. But, being young and daredevilish, we seldom played by the rules. So, we headed inland while the navigator who was in the nose went crazy trying to talk us into going home. When we hit the shoreline the pilot turned north but I grabbed the controls and spun us off to the south because we would have gone headlong into the harbor of Leghorn and really got shot up. We stalled over a hill and went by a Villa so low that we could look in the windows.--Scared hell out of both of us. Then we spotted an extremely tall smokestack and tried to shoot it down with our package guns. At the last second we rolled over and went by it in a vertical bank. The navigator, still in the nose went berserk. He crawled up to where he could see me and stuck his 45 A my face telling me he would kill me if I didn't let him out. In sheer bravado, I told him to go ahead and that would get us all killed because I would fall on the controls & we would crash. I said, limber up the flexible nose gun and shoot at something. He did and the thing jammed almost immediately. He became -a basket case so I let him crawl back up onto the plane. lie ratted on us to the CO but we never got called on the carpet for it. |
| The mission today is in the Arezzo area. 4-26-44 & 4-27-44 No mission, bad weather. 4-28-44 Mission in the Incisa in Valderno area again No losses but lots of flak. 4-29-44 Bombed Pontasieve bridge which is just outside of Florence. Really did a good job of it too. Plenty of flak but it did very little damage to us. (No. 491 4-30-44 had to go on the mission today because one of the fellows was sick land I replaced him]. It was an easy target over Cortona bridge, no flak and no fighters. [No. 501 5-1-44 Target was Florence but clouds obscured most of it so no one dropped there. Slight flak was encountered. 5-2-44 Bombed Florence again today but did a rather poor job of it. Weather wasn't too bad & only about 8 or 10 bursts of flak came up. [No. 511 5-3-44 Fauts and Rayner went home today, and now Silverthorne, Lydeen, Boren, Harris & Teifert are on some orders to go home. If those orders go through the Doc says I'll be on the next ones. Im not counting on it too much though. Today the bunch hit the Taggia River bridge. No flak and no fighters. 5-4-44 No mission today. Bad weather over Italy but its clear here hot ! 5-5-44 Same as yesterday. Some sad rumors floating around which say that the last bunch of [rotation] orders won't go through. Golly but that would be a disaster. 5-6-44 Same as yesterday. Had a big party at the club last night and i t was a success. It ended by Capt. Neal getting shot by one of the local gooks. So, Roberts up and shot the gook full of holes. |
| 5-7-44 Still bad weather in Italy. Went fishing yesterday but didn't catch anything. Will try f I ies next time because there are lots of speckled [German Brown] trout in these streams. 5-8-44 No mission. Went fishing, no luck. 5-9-44 Tried to bomb Arezzo but the weather was 0-0. Worst weather I've been in in a long time. [No. 521 My log says this was on the 7th???] 5-10-44 flew to Pomigliano today via Sicily. Not much in the way of excitement. The big invasion, or, an invasion of some sort is due to start before the month is out. All the transports have been called into service for the Troop Carrier Units. All sorts of preparations are under way. 5-11-44 Teifert and the rest of the gang are on their way home as of today. That 1 eaves me on top of the 1 i st f or the next sh i pment . I sure hope I get out of here before the big invasion starts. 5-12-44 Well the overture for the big show started last night at 11 o'clock. All day long our artillery has been pounding the German lines. We bombed a bridge & HO C.P. at Pico which is just NW of Pontecorvo. Not as much flak as we expected. [No. 53] 5-13-44 The group bombed Cortona & got 100% accuracy for it. I found out for sure that my orders will go in in about two weeks. We got four pilots and four copilots plus a couple of radiomen in today. 5-14-44 Hit the wrong target today, big fanny chewing by Big Sam [Group Commander Col Don Gilbert] Another Crew came in today--oh boy! 5-15-44 Bombed a R/R bridge at Pisa again today. No flak came up but the B- 17s got intense flak about a week ago. [No. 541 5-16-44 Finished off the bridge at Pisa today. Still no flak. Found out that the 17s used Leghorn as their IP and got all their flak from there. 5-17-44 Hit the front I ines today. Intense, fairly accurate flak. I think all the ships got home ok. Last night the CO said he had a crew all made up to send home. I'm sure hope I'm on it. |
| 3-18-44 Bombed Orvieto bridge again. That thing must have close to a thousand bomb craters on and around it. The Krauts are beginning to put flak up around it now so it's a pretty warm target. Moderate flak and plenty of fighters in the area but theyre all busy elsewhere--thank goodness. [No. 411 3-19-44 Group day off today no flying. Oh box, a real rest for us. 3-20-44 Target was supposed to have been a milk run to a viaduct near Florence but they flew to Piambino and got shot up pretty badly. They used the new 1-ton bombs on the docks and nearly blew 'em apart. 3-22-44 Milk runs for the group yesterday and today but I wasn't on either one. It has been beautiful weather and I changed into sun-tans. 3-28-44 I'm at the rest camp on the Island of Capri today and have been here since last Friday eve. What a wonderful place. Meals served in bed, waiters running around everywhere, nice rooms & beds. Box, what a knockout joint this is. Only two things wrong with it and that is that there is no heat in the hotel except on Wed. & Sat, and the other thing is that Vesuvius has been erupting lately & the wind is blowing all the smoke, dust and ashes over here. This island has a history that goes back to the Cretans which predates the Greeks by about one thousand years ... There are evidences of all three cultures, not including that of [from] the 12th century to date. Today I visited the Villa Jovis built by Emperor Tiberius. It is in good shape but nothing to compare with that of the Timgad ruins. 3-31-44 Leaving Capri tomorrow & expect to stay a couple of days in Naples. [I should have mentioned that we visited the "Blue Grotto", and the tower of San Michaele on the cliff above Anacapri--both of world fame.] 4-1-44 Made Ist Lt. today after all these months. It may be an April Fool joke. I just flew in from Naples & haven't had time to check up on it. (It was for real!!!] |
| 4-3-44 Did a lot of useless flying today. Went out as spare but filled in on the raid on the bridge at Pontedera. It was 10/10 overcast at the Target so we went to the alternate target at Leghorn which was also overcast. However, we got about 20 bursts of flak near us. We didn't drop our bombs. [No. 421 4-4-44 Went to a bridge N of Orvieto & surrounding vicinity today with no results. It's still socked in over there. However, one Me 109 jumped us & shot out one gunner's eye but no other damage resulted. Those Krauts are getting tough. [No. 431 4-6-44 Flew as spare to some bridge near Orvieto & didn't fill in. Am on for tomorrow again. 4-7-44 Didn't fly today after all. Had a touch of the GIs last night so I decided it would be best not to fly. The target was at Borgo Di San Lorenzo just north of Florence. 4-10-44 Had bad weather for the last few days but went out today over the Arezzo Viaducts. After making a grand tour of Italy we found the target & ---- --- missed it completely. I had to land at Ghisonaccia for gas. [No. 44] 4-11-44 Had a milk run today as far as enemy opposition was concerned, but the weather was stinko all over Italy & the air was rough on the way home. It was over in the Ceccina area where we turned back. [No. 451 4-12-44 Another milk run today. We bombed the R/R bridge at Imperia again. No flak & no fighters. Weather was a little bumpy on the way home but other than that i t was ok. The 319th got beaucoup flak down near Nice but didn't lose any planes. [No. 461 4-13-44 No mission today-bad weather. 4-14-44 Mission today was the viaduct at Arezzo. No encounters. 4-15-44 thru 4-19-44 No Mission-Bad Weather 4-20-44 Arezzo viaducts & Bucini viaducts today Got slight heavy, accurate flak. Opdyke was hit in the face by flak. 4-21-44 No mission. Weather is pretty poor but we could have a mission. I'll be back on flying status tomorrow. The Doc. says my throat is ok now. [I had severe tonsillitis]. In a day or two the Group is sending two ships home and I think Dilworth will get to go. I'm not on the list 'I'm pretty sure. Golly, Ive never felt so low in a long time. If Dilworth is really on the list then I'm certainly going to find out why I wasn"t. I've got two months more time overseas than he has. |
| 4-22-44 Another milk run went sour on us today when we bombed the viaducts at Bucine and Arezzo. We got moderate & accurate fla, even big red bursts of it and one ship got hit rather badly. So Harris and I fell on his wing and flew into Borgo with him. We had two holes in our plane. [No. 471 4-23-44 Milk run over Incisa in Valdarno. 4-24-44 Target at Arezzo again but my plane came home early due to a gunner being ill. 4-25-44 Went on a weather mission in the Ceccina area & shot up a couple of factories an the coast.Scared some Eyties [sic] to death nearly. More fun!! [No. 48] [We all would "kill" to get to go on a weather mission even though in their way they were more dangerous than a regular mission. In this case we were to fly on the deck up to the I tal i an coastline south of Leghorn then turn south and fly a certain distance then come home. Supposedly the Germans wouldnt jump us if that's all that we did. But, being young and daredevilish, we seldom played by the rules. So, we headed inland while the navigator who was in the nose went crazy trying to talk us into going home. When we hit the shoreline the pilot turned north but I grabbed the controls and spun us off to the south because we would have gone headlong into the harbor of Leghorn and really got shot up. We stalled over a hill and went by a Villa so low that we could look in the windows.--Scared hell out of both of us. Then we spotted an extremely tall smokestack and tried to shoot it down with our package guns. At the last second we rolled over and went by it in a vertical bank. The navigator, still in the nose went berserk. He crawled up to where he could see me and stuck his 45 A my face telling me he would kill me if I didn't let him out. In sheer bravado, I told him to go ahead and that would get us all killed because I would fall on the controls & we would crash. I said, limber up the flexible nose gun and shoot at something. He did and the thing jammed almost immediately. He became -a basket case so I let him crawl back up onto the plane. lie ratted on us to the CO but we never got called on the carpet for it. The mission today is in the Arezzo area. 4-26-44 & 4-27-44 No mission, bad weather. |
| 4-28-44 Mission in the Incisa in Valderno area again No losses but lots of flak. 4-29-44 Bombed Pontasieve bridge which is just outside of Florence. Really did a good job of it too. Plenty of flak but it did very little damage to us. (No. 491 4-30-44 had to go on the mission today because one of the fellows was sick land I replaced him]. It was an easy target over Cortona bridge, no flak and no fighters. [No. 501 5-1-44 Target was Florence but clouds obscured most of it so no one dropped there. Slight flak was encountered. 5-2-44 Bombed Florence again today but did a rather poor job of it. Weather wasn't too bad & only about 8 or 10 bursts of flak came up. [No. 511 5-3-44 Fauts and Rayner went home today, and now Silverthorne, Lydeen, Boren, Harris & Teifert are on some orders to go home. I+ those orders go through the Doc says I'll be on the next ones. Im not counting on it too much though. Today the bunch hit the Taggia River bridge. No flak and no fighters. 5-4-44 No mission today. Bad weather over Italy but its clear here hot ! 5-5-44 Same as yesterday. Some sad rumors floating around which say that the last bunch of [rotation] orders won't go through. Golly but that would be a disaster. 5-6-44 Same as yesterday. Had a big party at the club last night and i t was a success. It ended by Capt. Neal getting shot by one of the local gooks. So, Roberts up and shot the gook full of holes. |
| 5-7-44 Still bad weather in Italy. Went fishing yesterday but didn't catch anything. Will try f I ies next time because there are lots of speckled [German Brown] trout in these streams. 5-8-44 No mission. Went fishing, no luck. 5-9-44 Tried to bomb Arezzo but the weather was 0-0. Worst weather I've been in in a long time. [No. 521 My log says this was on the 7th???] 5-10-44 flew to Pomigliano today via Sicily. Not much in the way of excitement. The big invasion, or, an invasion of some sort is due to start before the month is out. All the transports have been called into service for the Troop Carrier Units. All sorts of preparations are under way. 5-11-44 Teifert and the rest of the gang are on their way home as of today. That 1 eaves me on top of the 1 i st f or the next sh i pment . I sure hope I get out of here before the big invasion starts. 5-12-44 Well the overture for the big show started last night at 11 o'clock. All day long our artillery has been pounding the German lines. We bombed a br i dge & HO C.P. at Pico which is just NW of Pontecorvo. Not as much flak as we expected. [No. 53] 5-13-44 The group bombed Cortona & got 100% accuracy for it. I found out for sure that my orders will go in in about two weeks. We got four pilots and four copilots plus a couple of radiomen in today. 5-14-44 Hit the wrong target today, big fanny chewing by Big Sam [Group Commander Col Don Gilbert] Another Crew came in today--oh boy! 5-15-44 Bombed a R/R bridge at Pisa again today. No flak came up but the B- 17s got intense flak about a week ago. [No. 541 5-16-44 Finished off the bridge at Pisa today. Still no flak. Found out that the 17s used Leghorn as their IP and got all their flak from there. 5-17-44 Hit the front I ines today. Intense, fairly accurate flak. I think all the ships got home ok. Last night the CO said he had a crew all made up to send home. I'm sure hope I'm on it. |
5-18-44 thru 5-20-44 Haven't been on a mission in four days. Don't know for sure whether I am finished up or not. I sure am sweating it out though. 5-21-44 Mission was over near Ceprano again but the gang didn't take off until after 5:00. Got back just before dark. My orders are in Group and have been there for five days. They are being held up for some reason. 5-23-44 Pretty rough mission up near Rome. Group got jumped by 15 Me-109s. We lost no one but got credit for 3 probables. 5-24-44 Group tried to bomb the same target they bombed yesterday but no soap. Weather socked in all over the water. I flew [with Rondey Webb] to Capodochino and picked up a load of delayed action fuses. On the way home I had to get down on the deck and f 1 y on i nstrumen ts most of the way. [What happened was that we had been briefed that a cold front was just off the French coast but we would be home before i t got here. BUT we were delayed for about four hours getting the fuses and took off late in the PM. We had to make a long curving run to become airborne because of a short f ield and barely got over the poplars at the end. Then over Capri I tried signall ing Webb's girl friend by osci I lating the prop p i tch . OH BOY! Both props ran away and we almost ditched before they caught again. Then just as we had all under control, we hit the clouds. I went from -50-' on the altimeter to well above 5000 and couldn't get out of the soup. After about 45 minutes I told Webb we are in trouble because we should have made landfall by now and if we are off course to the north we are gonna splatter all over the Sardinian cliffs. Just about then the clouds broke and we had unlimited horizontal visibility, BUT no island in sight. Neither Webb nor I nor the radioman could remember the frequency of a low power radio-beacon at Villacidro. BUT, the engineer did. So we homed in on it and found that we were due south of Sardinia about 100 miles! Obviously there was a 90 degree wind shift as well as a barometric pressure change when we went thru the front and fortunately for us it blew us south instead of north. Can you believe it--the Sq CO gave Webb his instrument card for that flight and I was the one who did it all.] Looks Iike things went kaput on my orders. I’m on the Iist for tomorrow. |
| 5-25-44 Not a bad mission today, only sl ight but very accurate flak from around Lake Albano. We bombed Valmontain road and town. [No 55] 5-26-44 An easy mission into an old hot area--Capestrello. No flak but two fighters jumped us. [No. 56] 5-27-44 Milk run just east of Florence. [Campobasso] No flak, no fighters and good weather. [No. 57] I got a raw deal again today on this going home business. For some reason Group picked Webb to go in my place!! [Webb was my be'te noir but one of my closest combat friends. At 54 missions I was top man so they took me off f I y i ng. But when AF HO cal I ed to recheck , Webb had flown two or three missions and was now top man with 55. So, they sent him home. That tee'd me off so for several days when the flight schedule was posted, I would find a pilot on it that I wasn't afraid of and replaced his copilot's name with mine. This way I got in six quick missions including the above three before the CO told me to knock it off and relieved me from flying.] 5-28-44 Mission was near Terni today but things got Snafued and everyone missed the target. The Squadron is authorized six flights now. I guess they're trying to build up enough crews to make a fifth squadron. Now things look blacker than ever on getting to go home. 5-28-44 [???] Another milk run to some bridges SW of Narni. No flak and no fighters. 5-29-44 Same target as yesterday. A milk run de lux [sic] [No. 581 5-30-44 Another soft touch today. Bombed a bridge just SW of Rome [at LA Bufolara] on the Tiber River. Did an excellent job of bombing. [No. 591 5-31-44 Bombed the town of Genzano on the edge of Lake Albano today. Beaucoup flak. Several planes got shot up. Lamperti [in #2 slot just above my #4 diamond slot] got several splinters of flak in his legs and had to belly in at Pomigliano. I flew cover for him and watched as on final approach his badly shattered windshield collapsed in his face. Despite a cut Achilles tendon he took her around, got in the right seat and safely bellied her in. He got the Silver Star for it.] Lt baker got hit in the chest with a big chunk of flak also but it didnt hurt him much. I got in # 60 today so now I wont have to fly too much until 1 get to go home. |
| 6-1-44 Target was near Valmontone. Ph& last 18 ships got shot up but our nine ships were ok 6/2/44 Target-Pi son i ano-very near the front I ines. Heavy inaccurate flak. Big push seems to be going strong. We have taken Frosinone, Velletri, Sora and Valmontone. In this captured territory lies our old rough targets of Rocca Secca, Isoletta, Ceprano. Pontecorvo, Cassino & the Anzio Nettuno beach head. That's a relief but the Krauts have lots of flak in reserve. 6/5/44 Haven't flown in a couple of days but no telling when I'll have to fly again. I think it will be one out of every four or five missions. |
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| 617144 Just came back from a cross country to Telergma. The old joint hasn't changed much. [What a dumb thing to say, Telergma had become a huge Quartermaster station . WhiIe there , I traded two fifths of bourbon from my combat rations for a new field range burner, several gallon cans of bacon and synthetic butter, sane baTes of GI sox and pants, canned orange and grapefruit juice for the bar etc, etc.] The big invasion of France has finally started. Troops were landed from Bordeaux to Caen and the Loire River about an 80 mile front & 10-20 miles deep. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 6-13-44 Am finally on my way home My orders came through this morning & I'm at Elmas now waiting for plane to Naples. |
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