398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association


Lt. Robert H. Dee, Jr.'s Diary
Co-Pilot, 601st Squadron

Dee's Mission No. 17

13 January 1945
Target: Bridge, Germersheim, Germany

No. 17
Jan. 13, 1945

The target was Germersheim. The MPI was a bridge. The object was to stall supplies to the front lines. We missed the 398th (our squadron) at the buncher, so we hooked on to Ridgewell. We carried 6X1000 Lb. bombs. A few minutes before “bombs away” a close burst underneath us knocked out my oxygen, knocked out no. 1 turbo, put holes in the oxygen tanks which exploded, tore up the engineer’s parachute, and hit the radio operator in the back. I waited until “bombs away” and went back to help the radio operator. I cut his shirt and other clothes, laid him on the floor, and put sulfa in the wound, and put a bandage on it. I was more scared than he was, as there was quite a bit of blood. I wrapped him up and put him on the floor. The field was socked in so we landed at Steeplemorton, and an ambulance took Oliver to the 163rd base hospital. We ate, and came back here in a track. Flak (red, white, and black flak) was moderate accurate, and there were fighters in the area, but we didn’t see any. A ship blew up behind us.

Notes:
  • Lt. Robert H. Dee, Jr. was the regular Co-Pilot for the Byron L. Magness 601st Crew. On occasion, he flew with other crews.
  • The above transcription was provided by Marty Dee, brother of Robert H. Dee, Jr.
  • 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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