MISSION NO. 45 - Foggia, Italy Airdrome. Wed. August 25,1943.
0630 Briefing this morning, and then off to Italy, as per usual. We carried “frags” (fragmentation bombs), and had a P-38 fighter escort, which was comforting. Major O’Connor led the Squadron, and the Group, and he did a good job.
The weather was good en-route - and over the target. Moe lost an engine before reaching our Initial Point (to start our bomb run), and another engine after we left the target. I saw him flying thousands of feet below us on two engines, and still losing altitude. Four P-38’s were flying protection for him.
I didn’t notice any flak, but they threw plenty up at the Squadron behind us. I saw two German fighters, and they both came in at us. One of them was at our level and coming at us head-on. The German pilot and I were firing our guns point blank at each other. I could see my 50 caliber tracers (every fifth round) ricochet off his wing as he rolled and did a split “S” underneath and to our rear. He came so close that I could see that he needed a shave. This is my lucky day! The squadron shot down a ME 109. I don’t think it was the same one that I fired on. I think that one was a FW-190.
Bomb load 24 frags (2880#). Mission time 07:00 hours.
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That was 64 years ago today! I never knew how horrific these experiences during war time were for you. They must have been very frightening to say the least. You should share your survival and coping skills on how you got through all of this and remained stable emotionally and such a loving person.
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