DECEMBER 1943

1. Leverkusen was the designated target for seven of our ships flown by: Capts Alexander and Shenk, with Lts Cahow, Gleichauf, Klein, Hansen, Schultz, while Crozier flew a  532nd ship and crash-landed en route, after six bailed out.

5. The French capital of Paris was the target for today's mission, when seven of our ships took part, flown by Capts Shenk and Alexander, plus Lts Cahow, Schultz, Gleichauf, Hansen and Deering.

7. New crew assigned were: 1st Lt Billy F. Chason, 2nd Lts Henry B. Mickelson, Lawrence D. Walker, Americus J. Gentile; S/Sgt Robert F. Vollbrecht Jr., Sgt Howard J. Greenwood, S/Sgts Curtis W. Hickman, Thomas R. Cobb, Sgts Raymond W. Martin and Steve A. Kudla. 

11. The German port of Emden received another visit from the group, nine pilots from this squadron taking part, two borrowng ship from other squadrons. Leading the squadron was Capt Shenk, along with Lts Bill McDaniel, Gleichauf, Klein, Hansen, Perot, Fridgen, McEvoy, Chelf.

13.  Bremen was the designated target for today's mission when the squadron sent ten ships, three from other squadrons, when saw Capt Shenk in the lead, with Lt Clore, other pilots were Capt Alexander  and Lts Cahow, Klein, McEvoy, Deering, Fridgen, Hansen, Butler and Perot. All returned safely with no casualties.

16. Yet again Bremen was the target for 33 aircraft of this group, the 533rd providing seven pilots: leading was Capt Shenk on his 25th mission, with Lt Fridgen; the others being Capt Alexander, Lts Schultz, Cahow, Klein, McEvoy and Crozier.

20. For the third mission in succession Bremen was the target, this time the squadron sent six aircraft, flown by: Lts Cahow, Gleichauf, Deering, Crozier, Hansen, McEvoy. The commanding officer, Lt Col Nazarro was on a 532nd ship, which had to land at Mildenhall, an RAF base a few miles away.

22. Huge formations of Fortresses assembled today to drop tons of explosives on the industrial centre of Osnabruck. Flak was moderate but German fighters were numerous as the bombers played Go-in-and-out-the-window over the target, while hundreds of American fighters played tag with the Nazi defenders.

Leading the formation was Lt Col Conway Hall, and under his handling the group made an accurate attack, while the P-47s and P-38s held most of the opposition at bay. Directly over the target Col Hall experienced an uncomfortable moment, when two of his engines suddenly went dead. "The RPM dropped to nothing. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. This is no time for playing games, but the next minute they started turning, and there wasn't any further trouble."

Our six pilots were: Lts Gleichauf, Deering, Cahow, Schultz, McEvoy, while Crozier aborted on a 532nd ship.

23. Another crew joined the squadron: 1st  Lt George K. Sandman, 2nd Lts Richard W. Coyle, John J. McDonald, Adam A. Mackow; Sgt Oren T. Evans, S/Sgt Harold L. Jernigan, Sgts Neil R. Perry, Casimir C. Palermo, T/Sgt Alfred Nayduck and Sgt William Pruzan.

24. A short trip to the French coast, to hit rocket gun installations at Cocove, was the object of today's mission, the squadron proving eight ships plus two from the 535th.

Col Hall again led the mission, with his pilot being Capt Marvin D. Lord, aboard "Big Time Operator". The formation of 27 ships of the 381st encountered a large amount of flak but saw no enemy fighters.  Despite the AA from the ground, one of the squadrons made three runs over the target and two others went over it twice in an effort to strike the aiming point itself.

Lead bombardiers were doubtful concerning results, with the exception of 1st Lt Lawrence J. Potenza, who was of the opinion the target had been hit. "I saw one burst hit right on the button, thick, brown smoke came billowing up as we passed over the target. The rest of the bombs dropped in the target area."

Those pilots taking part were: Lts McDaniel, Gleichauf, Schultz, Perot, Klein, Stuart Hanson, Butler, Fridgen, but George Hansen aborted.

27. A new crew joined today: 2nd Lts Hal Roling, (no C-P), John R. Jackson, Milton Soled; Sgts Asbury M. Thompson Jr., John Jemiolo, William M. Ruark, Othel L. Martin and Robert D. Eggert.

28. Two more joined: 2nd  Lts  Ned  W.  Renick,  Lloyd  S.  Ricks,  Ray  N.  Solveson, Nicholas M. Donnatuono; S/Sgt Robert A. Nunn, Sgts Claud F. Caffey, Robert A. Conklin, Victor C. Pillott, Ralph J. Powell, Cpl Richard W. Smith.

2nd Lts  Bayard R. Nelson, Carl M. Clark, Leonard M. Obler, Frank M. Cowan; S/Sgts James J. Calderaro, Joseph M. Schwartz; Sgts Clarence S. Emmons, Charles F. Harrington, Harold E. Hepfinger and Johnnie S. Nosal. 

30. Huge formations of American "heavies" flew 1090 miles today to smash Ludwigshafen, led by the group commanding officer, Lt Col Joseph J. Nazarro.

The 30 ships which made up the 381st contingent encountered little opposition, but reports indicate that the formation behind were not so fortunate. The lead groups experienced no fighter attacks on the way in although they saw a large number of dog fights taking place in the distance.

Nine ships from this squadron were part of the formation, the pilots participating were: Lts Gleichauf, Butler, Chason, Crozier, Parsons, Nason, Fridgen, Klein and Stewart Hanson. One of our men, radio operator S/Sgt Curtis E. Hickman died of anoxia on the return trip. His body was taken to the 121st Station Hospital at Braintree, a few miles away.

31. To round off the year, there was a very long trip to hit the airfield at Chateau Bernard, near Bordeaux, seven ship of this squadron taking part: Lts Sandman with Major Shackley in the lead, the others being: Lts Nasen, George Hansen, Deering, McEvoy, Larson and Perot.