398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association


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

Dee's Mission No. 29

9 March 1945
Target: Factory near the Marshalling Yard
Kassel, Germany

No. 29
March 9, 1945

The target was Kassel. The MPI was a factory near the marshalling yard. The flak was intense and accurate. A piece came through my window and out Magness’ window. A piece cut Magness’ parachute harness straps. One piece just shunned the tail gunner’s hand. It cut my oxygen hose off, and I had to use walk around bottles for the rest of the mission. No fighters. Saw one ship blow up. One of our ships went down with an engine on fire.

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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