In the winter, predicting target weather conditions four hours away was a guess. Even on a mission in which opposition over the target was slight, you could not completely relax until you were well out in Adriatic Sea. Even then, it did not necessarily mean you were home free.

One day the pilot asked the engineer to check the fuel supply. The engineer's reply was, "We are almost on empty." Thanks to quick work by the navigator and engineer, we were able to reach a landing strip on the beach of Italy. Several times our flight had antiaircraft fire in an area where there was not supposed to be any. By D-Day, the German Luftwaffe was pretty well knocked out of the air.

All everyone in the 15th Air Force ever heard was how terrible missions from England were. In the spring of 1944 an 8th air Force pilot came to the 724th Squadron for a second tour. After he had gone to Vienna, Munich and Polesti, he was saying we had some targets as bad as any targets the guys flying from England had.

Bolzano Pass is the mountain pass between Austria and Italy. The only railroad and highway to Italy was through this pass and the Germans made every effort to keep it open. Of course, the 15th Air Force was doing it's best  to keep it closed. Something that important does not take much imagination to conjure up it's defense.

On March 29, 1944, the 451st Bomb Group's target was the Bolzano marshalling yard. Briefing said we could expect ten enemy aircraft, flak would be intense, accurate and heavy; escort would be 62 P-38s. The mission was eight hours long and each plane dropped 12 500-pound demolition bombs.

In the spring as you approached the Yugoslavia coastline from Adriatic Sea the cumulus clouds would be built up to 30,000 feet. As a result, we were not able to get above the clouds. This particular day, the plan was to fly through these clouds in formation. It seems like were in the clouds for hours, but it couldn't have been very long. The main thing was you could not see the plane off your wingtips. That will make an old man out of you fast. Upon coming  out of the clouds, B-24s were circulating around like a stirred-up hornets nest.

Crew Nine could not find the 451st Bomb Group, so we tacked onto another Group flying by. Over the target, the plane just off our right wing took a direct hit by antiaircraft fire. The plane was afire almost immediately from the nose to the tail. It seemed to shudder and pause in space. The plane began to spin to the right when the right wing came off at the fuselage. Then the plane began spinning to the left and the left wing came off at the fuselage. After this, the plane nosed down and started straight for the ground. There were no parachutes.

This flak was the most intense and accurate I saw. On several occasions there was more flak but none as accurate.

The Group had landed by the time Crew Nine returned to base. We were not missing long enough for people start claiming our belongings.