HELL FROM HEAVEN

Chapter 31

Mission 27 - Another Quirk of Fate - April 9, 1945

By Leonard Streitfeld, Bombardier, 600th Squadron

My twenty-seventh Mission was on Monday, April 9, 1945 and I was assigned to fly with another crew. They were eager to fly their first mission and consequently were asked a lot of questions about what to expect.

I did my best not to rattle them with too many details about our crew's nerve-racking experiences. I pointed out to them that with the war drawing to a close, they would not be flying many more missions. I’m sure that these comments made them feel better. 

The target for the day was an airfield about fifteen miles from Munich. It was another long mission but everything went smoothly with meager and inaccurate flak encountered.

We really plastered the airbase and it was one of the most successful missions I was on. I was able to take many pictures to add to my growing collection for which I have always been grateful.

When we landed, the crew wanted a picture taken in front of the plane they flew on their first mission. I took the picture and felt certain that it was a good one similar to one that was taken of my crew two months earlier when we had just come back from bombing Nuess on January 23.

Our crew did not fly the next day and we spent the time playing soccer on a field next to the base with some young English lads. It was a lot of fun and we took pictures of us running around the field including our little black dog. Of course, while we were doing this, many crews were on a mission since almost every day the Bomb Group flew.

I was thinking about the crew I flew with the day before and was wondering how they made out. That evening, I was looking for them in the Officer's Club and did not see them. I finally asked someone about that crew and was shocked to learn that they never made it back. They were shot down over the target by an enemy fighter plane.

This news shattered me since I recall the crew being so happy about their first mission and they were in such good spirits just the day before. I felt just plain lucky that I was not on their plane that day instead of the day before. Again I had the strange feeling that someone was watching over me. 

It was becoming more apparent that we would lose many more planes and lives before the war ended.

 

HELL FROM HEAVEN by Leonard Streitfeld, Hammonton, New Jersey. Library of Congress Catalogue card number: 94-092215. HELL FROM HEAVEN is available in the 398th PX.

 

Personal History Information
  1. Veteran: Leonard Streitfeld
  2. Bombardier, 600th Squadron
  3. Date of Personal History: January 2004 Web Page submission. Excerpted from HELL FROM HEAVEN by Leonard Streitfeld.
  4. Author: Leonard Streitfeld
  5. Submitted to 398th Web Pages by: Leonard Streitfeld