S/Sgt. Ellsworth Wright's Diary

Ball Turret Gunner, 603rd Squadron

Mission #1 - May 11, 1944 Target Thionville, Germany

Editor’s note:

The 398th target this day was Sarreguemines, France. Lt. Walter E. Marsh, the Cullinan bombardier mission’s list shows Bettenbourg, Luxemburg. Further investigation is needed. It is possible Thionville, Germany was an alternate target or specific to just the Cullinan aircraft.

Hours – 7:00.
Altitude – 20,000 ft.
Target – Rail yards.
Attacked by FW 190’s and ME 109 fighters, about 20. Flak and rockets seen.

Bomb load 12-500 lb. Bombs.

Mission #2 - May 13, 1944 Politz, Germany
Hrs. – 9:30.
Altitude – 25,000 ft.
Target – Synthetic Oil Refinery near Baltic coast of Stettin.

FW 190’s seen.

Heavy Flak.
Bomb load 38 – 100 lb. GP Bombs.

Mission #3 - May 19, 1944 Berlin, Germany
Hrs – 9:15.
Alt. 25,000 ft.
Target – Factories and Rail yards.

Enemy fighters seen. Heavy flak. Two flak holes in Ball Turret and wing. One bomber lost (600 Sqdn).

Bomb load 38 incendiaries. All bombs dropped.

Mission #4 - May 27, 1944 Ludwigshafen, Germany
Hrs. – 9:00.
Alt. 26,000 ft.
Target – Rail yards and Chemical Plant.
Fighters seen.
Heavy flak. Some holes in ship. Nine parachutes opened near Rhine River. Bomb load 12 – 500 lb. GP bombs.

Mission #5 – May 28, 1944 Ruhland, Germany
Hrs. 9:00.
Alt. 23,000 ft.
Target – Synthetic Oil Plant.

Heavy flak seen. One hole in tail section. Fighters seen.

Bomb load 42 – 100 lb. GP bombs.

Mission #6 – May 29, 1944 Posen, Poland
Hrs. 10:40.
Alt. 23,000 ft.
Target – F.W. Factory [Focke-Wulf].

Good escort, no enemy fighters seen. Heavy flak over Denmark coming back. One hole in upper turret, Engineer has flak souvenir. Returned with 165 gals. of gas. Eight hours on oxygen. Nine chutes opened over the North Sea near Denmark. This is our Air Medal Mission. Came out o.k.

Bomb load 38 – 100 lb. Bombs.

Mission #7 – June 2, 1944 Boulogne, France
Hrs. – 5:00
Alt. 20,000 ft.
Target – Costal Gun Emplacements

No flak. No enemy fighters. First invasion tactical raids.

Bomb load 12 – 500 lb. bombs, all dropped.

Mission #8 – June 5, 1944 Trouville, France
Hrs. 5:00.
Alt. 27,000 ft.
Target – Gun Emplacements.
No flak or enemy fighters.
Bomb load 12 – 500 GP bombs.

Mission # 9 – “D-Day” June 6, 1944 Courseulles, France
Hrs. 6:00.
Alt. 19,000 ft.
Target – Transportation and road center.

Woke up at midnight for important briefing. Started engines at 4:00 a.m. Heavy clouds obstructed any observation of operations. Sky constantly filled with bombers and fighters. No flak.

Bomb load 38 – 100 lb. GP bombs.
All available planes were flying today. We bombed through clouds.

Mission #10 - June 7, 1944 Kerlin Bastard, France
Hrs. 7:30
Alt. 22,000 ft.
Target – Air Base.

Light but accurate flak. One hole in left wing. No enemy fighters. Great fires seen.

Target completely destroyed.
Bomb load 12 – 500 lb. bombs.

Mission #11 – June 13, 1944 Beauvais, France
Hrs. 7:30.
Alt. 22,000 ft.
Target – Air base.

Heavy flak seen along Seine River. Flew 20 miles from battle area.

Bomb load 18 – 250 lb. bombs.

Mission #12 – June 15, 1944 Bordeaux, France
Hrs. 8:00.
Alt. 25,000 ft.
Target – Air base.

Accurate flak, two holes in ship. Were over battle area and saw many thousands sea crafts in channel. Good fighter escort.
Bomb load 39 – 100 lb. bombs.

Mission #13 – June 19, 1944 Cazaux, France
Hrs. 8:30.
Alt. 30,700 ft. over clouds at 23,050.
Target – Air base.

Flak barrage over Bordeaux, none over our target. No enemy fighters and little escort.

Bomb load 38 – 100 lb. GP bombs.

Left large bellows of smoke, seen for 50 miles.

Mission #14 – June 21, 1944 Berlin, Germany
Hrs. 9:00.
Alt. 28,000 ft.
Target – Largest industrial Center in the city.

Heavy flak, two holes, at least 50 fighters. Seen other group attacked. Many Forts and enemy fighters went down. Three 47’s blew up.

Editor’s Note:

47’s would be P-47’s, though this aircraft was generally used for ground attack. Perhaps another interpretation of the handwriting is “Three 17’s blew up”. This would be three B-17s. The 398th lost one aircraft that day, but many Bomb Groups participated.

Bomb load 6 – 100 ob. bombs. (Could mean 36 – 100 lb.)

Mission #15 – June 24, 1944 Crepy, France

Editor's note:

The 398th target that day was Belloy-sur-Somme, France. Lt. Walter E. Marsh, the Cullinan Bombardier mission list shows Crepy, France also. Further investigation is needed. It is possible Crepy, France was an alternate or specific to just the Cullinan aircraft.

Hrs. 4:45.
Alt. 25,000 ft.
Target – Pilot-less planes installation – “Doodlebugs” in other words. Heavy flak.

One plane went down from group. Didn’t drop bombs because of heavy clouds.

Bomb load 18 – 250 lb. bombs brought back.

Editor’s Note:

No record of 398th BG plane lost this day, plane may have been from another group.

Mission #16 – June 25, 1944 Toulouse, France
Hrs. 10:45.
Alt 23,000 ft.
Target – Airfield near Pyrenees mtns. 60 miles from Spanish Border.

Heavy flak in costal area over target. One plane lost by 602 Sqdn. Two enemy fighters seen being chased by P-38’s.

Bomb load 18 – 250 lb. bombs. Scored direct hits.

Engineer (Ben Mendes) was almost overcome by anoxia because of faulty oxygen equipment and long hours on oxygen.

Saw heavy artillery guns blazing. Bombardment on a town near French Coast by Battle Ships in the channel.

Mission #17 – July 6, 1944 Nouncq, France

Editor’s Note:

The 398th target that day was Cauchie D'Ecques, France. It is possible this unfamiliar name could not be interpreted from the diary script or the S/Sgt. Wright tried to spell the town name phonetically.

Hrs. 4:30.
Alt. 22,000 ft.
Target – Airfield.

Light but very accurate flak, several holes in ship.

Bomb load 18 – 250 lb. bombs “GP”.
One ship fell out with feathered prop.

Editor’s Note:

Perhaps this was the aircraft that crashed landed at Penhurst.

Mission #18 – July 7, 1944 Hamelin, Germany

Editor’s Note:

The 398th target that day was Leipzig, Germany. Lt. Walter E. Marsh, the Cullinan Bombardier mission list shows Leipzig, Germany. Further investigation is needed. It is possible Hamelin, Germany was an alternate target or specific to just the Cullinan aircraft.

Hrs. 8:45.
Alt. 21,000 ft.
Target – Rail Junction.

Intense flak, several holes in our ship.
Bomb load 12 – 500 lb bombs.

This was our last resort as our original target was Liepzig where we got all the flak. Enemy fighters seen in dogfights. We lead our squadron, our right wing man [probably the 603rd Boyd A. Nisewonger Crew] got its wing blown off between no. 1 and 2 engine. He was a new replacement crew on his third mission. Seven men bailed out. Another Fort went down and blew up. A piece of flak came thru the waist between the Waist Gunners.

Mission #19 – July 12, 1944 Munich, Germany
Hrs. 9:45.
Alt. 25,000 ft.
Target – Aircraft Engine Plant.

Heavy flak enroute and over target.

Bomb load 6 – 400 lb incendiaries and 6 – 500 lb GP’s.

We dropped bombs on city and flattened it because of 10% overcast. Heavy trails from other bombers over target, but our group never left a single trail.

Mission # 20 – July 13, 1944 Munich, Germany
Hrs. 9:30.
Alt. 27,000 ft.
Target – The City of Munich.

We saw many fires through the break in clouds.

Bomb load was 6 – 400 lb GP’s.

This was the third consecutive raid on Munich. Enemy fighters, but we had good P-51 escort. They shot down a few enemy fighters. We led the group with Capt. Dave as Co-Pilot.

T.K. Foster and crew blew up going over Brussels. The tail section blew off by flak and the tail gunner fell out without a chute. They were a swell crew and we all felt plenty bad.

Editor’s Note:

Perhaps Captain Dave was a nickname for Davidson, Captain James G. Davidson was the CA of High Group A with Cullinan as pilot that day. Captain Davidson would have sat in the co-pilot’s seat.

Mission #21 – July 19, 1944 Ulm, Germany

Editor’s Note:

The 398th target that day was Lechfeld, Germany. Lt. Walter E. Marsh, the Cullinan Bombardier misson list shows Lechfeld, Germany. Further investigation is needed. It is possible Ulm, Germany was an alternate target or specific to just the Cullinan aircraft.

Hr. 8:30.
Alt. 25,000 ft.
Target – Rail Junction Yards.
Bomb load 42 – 100 lb, incendiaries.

Dropped bombs on target of opportunity. Plenty of flak over primary target. We led our group with Capt. Hopkins [as CA]. Our primary was an airfield at Lechfeld. We had our pictures taken after landing as group lead. Our Co-Pilot John Hobbs flew tail position [for formation control]. The group lost one plane from the 601 Sqdn.

Mission #22 – July 20, 1944 Dessau, Germany
Hrs 9:30
Alt. 25,000 ft.
Target – Aircraft Assembly Plant and Airfield.
Bomb load 10 – 500 lb bombs.

Very heavy and accurate flak. Our oxygen system on left side was shot out. Tail Gunner was quiet and it scared the waist gunner so he went back to see the trouble. Plenty of enemy fighters all around. They attacked a group to our left from 5 o’clock high and our P-51’s came right under us dropping spare tanks and drove the Jerries away. Four Forts went down in flames and three Jerries were shot down by gunners on Forts. We flew Deputy Wing Lead on Col. Hunters wing. Capt. Davidson with us again. We lead the 1st Bomb[ardment] Wing.

Mission #23 – July 24, 1944 Montreuil, France

Editor’s note:

The 398th target that day was Montreuil area, St. Lo, France. The Cullinan bombardier, Lt. Walter E. Marsh's mission list shows St. Lo, France. Bombing coordinates show Montreuil though it seems somewhat distant from St. Lo area.

Hrs. 6:00.
Alt. 16,000 ft.
Target – Enemy lines.
Light flak.
Bomb load 40 – 100 ob. frags.

No bombs dropped because of clouds over bomb run and our troops were near by. We led our group.

Mission #24 – July 25, 1944 St. Lo, France

Editor’s note:

The 398th target that day was St. Lo, France which matches S/Sgt Wright’s diary entry. However, Lt. Walter E. Marsh, the Cullinan bombardier mission’s list shows Montreuil, France. Further investigation is needed. It is possible Montruil is just a more specific part of St. Lo or the locations are alternate targets or specific to just the Cullinan aircraft.

Hrs. 6:00
Alt. 12,000 ft.
Target – Enemy lines again.
Bomb load 38 – 100 lb. bombs (frags).

We dropped bombs 1500 yards ahead of our troops. They moved in five minutes later. We got accurate flak off the island of Jersey in the Channel on our way back – unexpected and we were at 8,000 ft. We led the group again with Capt. Davidson as Co-Pilot [and also performing as CA]. Entire 8th Air Force hit the same target. On July 29th our Pilot [Steve Cullinan] was promoted to Captain.

Mission #25 – August 15, 1944 Cologne, Germany

Editor’s note:

The 398th target that day was Ostheim, Germany. Lt. Walter E. Marsh, the Cullinan bombardier mission’s list shows Ostheim, Germany. Further investigation is needed. It is possible Ostheim is just a more specific part of Cologne or the locations are alternate targets or specific to just the Cullinan aircraft.

Hrs. 8:00.
Alt. 27,000 ft.
Target – Airfield.
Moderate flak, no holes in our ship.
Bomb load 4 – 1000 lb. GP’s and 4 – 500 lb. incendiaries.

We led our group. We were forced to drop from formation; our bomb bay doors wouldn’t open. Deputy lead took over. We cranked doors open and picked a target of our own, which was a bridge. We scored a direct hit then rejoined our formation. “Sack Time Walt”, our Bombardier [1st Lt. Walter E. Marsh], was O.K. at his job.

Mission #26 – August 26, 1944 Essen, Germany

Editor’s note:

The 398th target that day was Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Lt. Walter E. Marsh, the Cullinan bombardier mission’s list shows Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
Investigation of the 398th Mission Narratives by Kevin Marsh indicates the 603rd overshot the target and dropped on a target of opportunity. Perhaps this Target of Opportunity was Essen, Germany.

Hrs. 7:00.
Alt. 29,000.
Target – Synthetic Refinery.

Heavy wide spread flak, unaccurate because of our very high altitude.
Bomb load 8 – RDX bombs.

We led the group. Hobbs flew 1st Pilot for a new crew. Our Navigator [probably Lt. Lloyd M. Sundheim] didn’t fly due to they made him Sqdn. Navigator, so Lt. Timbrook flew his last mission with us. Lt. Moskowitz was Bombardier this mission. “Jack” for short.

Mission # 27 – Sept. 3, 1944 Ludwigshafen, Germany
Hrs. 9:00.
Alt. 25,000 ft.
Target – Experimental Chemical Plant.
Bomb load 4 – 1000 lb. GP’s and 4 500 lb. Incendiaries.

I flew with Lt. Newman as Ball Turret Gunner. Their gunner was sick [probably Arnold Money, the Newman crew regular ball turret gunner]. I didn’t know it but this was my last mission – HURRAH! Plenty of flak and damn accurate. We got a dozen holes. Our bomb bay doors froze up so the engineer [probably Cornelius Harrington, the Newman crew regular ball turret gunner], cranked them down and we dropped our bombs on a village. We flew over Paris at 10,000 ft., it’s quite a sight believe me. It sure seemed good to roam all over France at low altitude and not to worry about flak or fighters. We had plenty of P-51’s and P-47’s and P-35’s as escorts on my last mission.

I never knew until September 20th when our Pilot [probably Captain Stephen P. Cunningham] told us all we were done and asked how we felt. He didn’t have to ask really from the roar and handshakes, and then a few mumbles with a big burst of laughter to wind it all up. I’ve sure as hell seen enough for one war so send me home to the ones I love.

“AMEN”

Kevin Marsh, son of Walter March, the Cullinan bombardier provided the following additional information:

The Cullinan crew flew two more missions without Ellie Wright as ball turret gunner. These were September 10, 1944 to Stuttgart Germany and September 17, 1944 to the Eindhoven area of Holland.
The last 13 missions [for the Cullinan crew] were as lead or deputy lead and credit for two sorties given for each mission.

Kevin adds: This above sentence on “The last 13 missions” was a hand written entry at the end of the typed copy of Wright’s journal I received. I do not recognize the handwriting, I assumed it meant that Lead and Deputy Lead crews received credit for two sorties for each mission they flew, due to the hazardous duty. It is confusing because of the notation on the back of my father’s Lt. Walter E. Marsh’s mission card about additional number of sorties is two as determined by TWX dated June 20, 1944. I assumed that meant they were given credit for 2 sorties for missions already flown, and not credit for two missions for flying lead of deputy on their last 13 missions. But that conflicts with only flying 27 missions instead of the required 35 to complete their tour of duty.

Notes

S/Sgt. Ellsworth Wright was the Ball Turret Gunner for the S.P. Cullinan 603rd crew.
The above diary transcription was provided initially by Ellsworth Wright's wife and then re-typed in electronic text by Kevin Marsh, son of Walter March, the Cullinan's crew bombardier.
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 [ ].