Lt. Robert J. Beckley's Diary

398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association

**Lt. Robert J. Beckley's Diary**
Navigator, 600th/601st Squadron

Beckley's Mission No. 32

**4 December 1944**
**Target:** **Marshalling Yards, Soest, Germany**
No. 32. Soest, December 4, 1944: 8 hours 45 minutes flying time. Bomb load 10 five hundred pound GP bombs and 2 five hundred pound IB. The target was the marshalling yards of a small town about forty miles west of Kassel. There was complete cloud coverage over the target so we bombed by GH. There was no flak encountered by our group throughout the entire mission, and the Luftwaffe didn’t show their noses, so we had our first milk run in quite a while. The crew finished up on this mission and though I’m glad for their sake, that they’re going home, I know I’m losing a good crew. Missions to date Rogers - 35; Brown - 35; Rebillot - 35; Cook - 35; Bongiani - 35; Clack - 30; Hatcher - 30; Brokaw - 26; Lawler - 21.

Notes:

Lt. Robert J. Beckley was the Navigator for the Linn R. Rogers crew.
The above transcription was provided by Ann Collins, daughter of Phillip Collins, Ball Turret Gunner on the 601st Saul Marias Crew.
This transcription is a reproduction of the original. Spelling and punctuation changes have been made to improve readability. In some circumstances, material may not have been transcribed or was rewritten.
Clarification of acronyms or special words or guesses of certain words are shown in brackets [ ].

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