Compiler's notes: After review of the original journal there are still some entries that are not clear. These have been marked with a "?" Information in brackets "[ ]" is to clarify abbreviations or add other relevant information. The notes in brackets interspersed throughout this log, and following the last of the entries, came from copies of Dick Culbert's service records and saved letters.]
15 June 1944: Left Camp Kilmer at app. 1500 by train to Hoboken - boarded ferry to pier. Red X [Cross] had coffee + candy for us here. Embarked about 1800 - assigned to cabin with 12 officers. Ship USS William Mitchell. 0200 [16 June] left dock and at daybreak was out of sight of land.
21 June 1944: First V-1 fire on London - heard news in ship's paper.
29 June 1944: Arrived in harbor at Mersey, Eng. - debarked the next day - Red X on hand again - entrained immediately for Stone (NW of Birmingham). Arrived there at midnight - reception pool - first time in an Eng[lish] pub. Also first mail from home here.
3 July 1944: Arrived at Bovington, near London, for ten day course. Met Cosgrove here. Spent July 4 in Watford on pass with crew - went bicycling.
15 July 1944: On train to Polebrook - had several hours off in Birmingham the way. Barreau + Clint Hammond's crew with us - Finney went to Deenethorp 10 miles away.
[Stationed in England at Station #110, near Peterborough, England.]
25 July 1944: Bud Walton [friend from Collingswood, New Jersey] shot down in Austria - heard about it one week later from home.
28 July 1944: First operational mission [#1] - I flew with another crew - Ed [Hennegan] as copilot on another - target synthetic oil plant Merseburg [Germany] - near Leipzig - undercast PFF.
29 July 1944: Our crew all together on this mission [#2] except George [Adams - copilot] - Merseburg again - good results - high box hit by fighters at tgt. [target] George [Adams] came back on 2 eng [engines] on the deck.
30 July 1944: [#3] Chateaudun near Orleans, Fra. [France] Light airfield - no flak - a milk run.
1 August 1944: Gene [Saur] and Ed [Hennegan] in hospital with dysentery - George [Adams] in Scotland - I flew with another crew - [#4] tgt. Stuttgart [Germany] - fall weather - hit airfield.
2 August 1944: Went to London for 2 days with the crew - stayed at Strand Palace near Piccadilly Circus. Westminister Abbey - Tower of London - Parliament.
5 August 1944: Ops. [#5] - tgt. Caen front lines - screwed up affair.
7 August 1944: Ops. [#6] - pillbox forts at Brest - flak light - good results.
8 August 1944: Ops. [#7] - tgt. Munich - 10/10 over tgt. - bombed tgt. of opportunity - Luxembourg MPI center of city.
11 August 1944: Ops. [#8] - tgt. Louviers, Fra. - near Rouen - bridge over Seine. Flak holes in nose cone too close for comfort.
16 August 1944: Ops. [#9] - Leipzig [Germany] - Airfield on edge of city - flak very heavy - lost a prop. [propeller] on the [brief?] run and lost formation - fire in eng. [engine] Lost another eng. later - Emer. [emergency] land. [landing] at Norwich.
17 August 1944: Ops. [#10] - called out of classroom - no briefing or maps - tgt. Namur, Belg. [Belgium] Flew as bomb. [bombardier] nav. [navigator] Nose gunners hit - did 360 [degrees] ov. [over] tgt. Our crew didn't fly.
20 August 1944: Ops. [#11] - Weimer (Leipzig) [Germany] - ordinance factory in woods - P. Finney + crew shot down today.
21 August 1944: Ops. [#12] - Peenemunde - near Barth - V-1 exp. [experimental] station - saw Sweden - did 360 [degrees] over tgt. heavy flak.
23 August 1944: Ops. [#13] - Ludwigshafen [Germany] - oil plant - PFF - hit Mannheim instead. Next day went to Leeds with the crew for two days.
26 August 1944: Ops. [#14] - Celebrated birthday [22nd] over Germany - Ludwigshafen again - good weather today. Squadron party in club at night - had a good time.
10 September 1944: Ops. [#15] - Merseberg - oil - flack heavy - very bad weather. Detoured around it almost to Switzerland - gas very low.
[From service records - 19 August 1944: awarded Air Medal with 2 oak leaf clusters "for meritorious achievement while participating in sustained combat operations over Germany and German occupied countries..."]
Links
