398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association


S/Sgt. James Lafayette Holloway's Diary
Tail Gunner 601st Squadron

Holloway Mission No. 9

5 March 1945
Target Chemnitz, Germany

March 5, 1945 – Mission #9, target Chemnitz, 9/10 cloud coverage, no flack, 27,000 feet. A long haul and me getting tired and a little quick. We flew our first deputy lead (if the lead plane of the squadron was disabled we would take over lead). Our crew had a good record and this was a step up the ladder if you were looking for glory, which I wasn’t. There was already to many dead heroes. The trouble with lead and deputy lead was that all those German anti aircraft gunners were aiming at the lead planes and they had a lot of practice by this late in the war.

Notes:
  • S/Sgt. James Lafayette Holloway was the tail gunner on James Womeldurf's 601st Squadron crew.
  • The above transcription was provided by James Lafayette Holloway.
  • This transcription is a careful reproduction of the original except for occasional spelling and punctuation changes. In some circumstances, based on relevancy, some material may not have been transcribed.
  • Clarification of acronyms or special words or guesses of certain words are shown in brackets [ ].

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