398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association


S/Sgt. Kenneth A. Green's Diary
Gunner, 603rd Squadron

Green Mission No. 8

27 September 1944
Target Cologne, Germany

September 27, 1944
Mission: Cologne, Germany

This is a target that we have been dreading. We bombed PFF marshalling yards and the city in general at 26,000 feet, and got good results. The temperature was - 44 degrees. We were airborne 6-1/2 hours with oxygen 4 hours. We had a little battle damage with #2 engine being hit, but it did not affect its performance. I was missed by two pieces of shrapnel while in the waist gunner’s position. One piece bounced off my gun, and the other piece missed my left foot by a quarter of an inch. It had bounced off of Lucas’ ball turret, and came up through the floor at the right waist gun. A piece of flak hit Bourquins’ radio receiver also. They had us zeroed in for a few seconds of that mission. Battle damage to the plane was light, however. It was a very rough target, and also a poor bomb strike.

Notes:
  • For the first part of his tour S/Sgt. Kenneth A. Green was a Gunner on Kenneth S. Hastings' 603rd Squadron crew.
  • The above transcription was provided by Joe K. Mansell.
  • 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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