Diary – August 9

Mon, August 9, 1943

Well this morning was taken up with getting equipment ready for our mission. At 2:30 we went into briefing and at 5:17 we took off and had our rendezvous at 7:00 with the fighters. Boy they looked good coming up out of the clouds. There were plenty of them. We crossed the coast between Dunkirk and Calis. There we ran into ack ack again 1/2 way between the target. But when we opened the bomb bay doors we really got it heavy. I was at the waist taking pictures but the clouds obscured the target so none of the ships dropped their bombs. We were over the target area 8 mins and the anti aircraft was really on the beam. Almost everyone of the ships had flack holes in them. We landed at 8:30 and then after interrogation ate and then developed our film so it could go to London in the morning. I had fighter shots & formation shots, 200 ft., but not being able to see the target I got no ground shots. We worked in the darkroom until 1:00. Right after we went to bed several “Jerries” came over in a sneak raid and dropped their bombs about 3 miles from here. One laughable thing occurred today. Sgt. Hussey was going to take the takeoff in color & wanted a formation over the flag pole. He set up and after waiting a couple of hours they dug up the pole to set it in cement & the only time he noticed it was when they were lowering the pole. He was asking himself questions and answering them the other night. I think we are all getting a little nuts. “Oh well”