398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association


S/Sgt. James Lafayette Holloway's Diary
Tail Gunner 601st Squadron

Thinking Back

I was asked one time by a young lady school teacher how the war affected me? My first answer was: “Very little”. However after giving it further thought, it was true long term, but during combat each mission flew made me more nervous. When one considers the odds with each succeeding mission that we would be shot down, and I would be wounded or killed, grew greater. I was no Einstein but I could see that my luck could, and probably might run out at any time.

This continued to increase the pressure on me. We came back from one of our later missions and when I walked into the barracks there was a letter laying on my bunk. I sat down, opened the letter and tried to read it but my hands was shaking so bad I couldn’t. It made me kind of mad. I slapped it down on my leg, took my hands off of it and read the dam thing that way. I have heard my brother, who saw combat at Cassia Blanca, Kaserine Pass, Tunisia, Italy, say this also wore on his nerves more than any other single thing.

Notes:
  • S/Sgt. James Lafayette Holloway was the tail gunner on James Womeldurf's 601st Squadron crew.
  • The above transcription was provided by James Lafayette Holloway.
  • This transcription is a careful reproduction of the original except for occasional spelling and punctuation changes. In some circumstances, based on relevancy, some material may not have been transcribed.
  • Clarification of acronyms or special words or guesses of certain words are shown in brackets [ ].

The above diary entry has been placed on the 398th Bomb Group Memorial Association web site to share our history with a wider audience. You may view, download, print, copy and link to our content as you wish as long as the uses are personal or educational. 398th Bomb Group Memorial Association web page content cannot be used for commercial purposes nor placed on other web sites whether commercial, personal or educational, unless authorized in writing by the 398th Bomb Group Memorial Association Official Board and/or the author.