Homeward Bound!

   After a week and a half they sent me back to the squadron. I flew one more mission with a strange crew just to get my four hundred hours. My flying was completed with a total of 404 flying hours of combat. The flight surgeon grounded me and said he would notify Headquarters to ship me back to the states. All the other enlisted men on the crew had already completed their time and were waiting to be shipped out. McCormick had already gone, had some sickness. Miller was shipped back as they had a surplus of bombardiers. The two pilots were still there when we left. We were told that as soon as space was available on a C-47 cargo plane we would take off. In the meantime be ready to go on an hour’s notice. Believe you me we stayed READY.

   The day before we left we heard there were some replacement crews coming in that afternoon. We hitched a ride out to the runway to meet them. As they were getting off their plane I recognized one of the crew. He had been my instructor when I was going through gunnery school in Ft. Myers FL. What a Small World! Of course he had a thousand questions, and of course I delighted in giving him graphic details of all the hell he could expect. By the time I finished he probably thought, as I did, “What the hell am I getting into?”

   The next day we met our plane and off we went, leaving the old 436th Squadron behind. Our first stop would be Karachi India. We would gas up and head for Cairo Egypt. Next stop would be Casablanca, Morocco. In Casablanca we received some bad news. There would be no flights back across the Atlantic for at least two weeks. A bad hurricane was brewing between Africa and the United States. Later a notice was posted asking anyone with orders to return to the states to report to the 1st Sergeant. We were told there was a troop ship in harbor ready to set sail for NY. We had a choice, leave immediately aboard ship or wait two weeks for a plane. We all took the ship. The first couple of days out were as pleasant as could be expected, and then we hit it. That ship rolled, tossed, turned, and did everything but stand straight up. There were only 500 troops on the ship and I believe over half of them were sick. We finally broke through the rough seas and it was smooth sailing all the way into NY. Harbor. The Captain had notified us the Statue of Liberty would be in sight about 9 AM. You can bet we were all at the rail watching for the sight. DAMN SHE IS BEAUTIFUL. What seemed like hours later we disembarked. It was sure a good feeling to get some good old U.S. soil under our feet. We were then loaded on a bus for Camp Kilmer, NJ. We spent a short time at Camp Kilmer and were given orders to report to Miami Beach in three weeks. This would give me some time to go home for a while. I arrived home on Xmas Eve of '44.

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Men of the 7th Bomb Group