· RUEL SK

118 CRUEL SKY
William Rand pulled everyone out of the burning wreckage. Henry Puto was saved from
severe head wounds by his flak helmet. Nose gunner, S/Sgt. Clifford N. Stromberg, had a
sprained ankle. Engineer, T/Sgt. Donald R. Bugalecki. had minor cuts on his legs when he
was pulled from the plane. James Paul had a badly mangled leg and radio operator, T ISgt.
John Cadden, was seriously wounded.
AFTERMATH
The trucks had picked up the remnants of the 44Sth Group. The survivors had now to
report the "unreportable." They had to tell intelligence officers why the hardstands were,
and would remain, so desperately empty. Thirty planes had disappeared as if they never
existed.
Ground crews were still expecting their returning planes but they heard no roar of
approaching ships, except for stragglers returning to nearby fields. Contemplating the
empty hardstands was especially agonizing for the crew chiefs.
The survivors walked to the locker room to take their heavy flying gear off, the
burden of their recent mission weighting heavily on their minds. The trip back to the hut
seemed longer than ever, even ifthey were glad to see the Nissen again. In somber silence,
each one fell on his sack, surrounded by empty bunks.
During the fight, radio operator Robert Sims had thought his ship would be the next
ship to fall, but at the time it really didn't bother him. Now that the mission was over, this
probability scared him. Ten hours ago, his barrack housed 36 men but now there were 30
empty bunks because the Uebelhoer crew was the only crew to come back. Paul Swofford
and his navigator, Henry Dobek, were the only ones to make it back to their 12-man Nissen
hut.
When the survivors went to the chow hall for the evening meal, food had been
prepared for 400 people, but only about two dozen arrived to eat. Disbelief again when
they told the guys they were all that was left. The meal was a quiet and solemn one in the
big empty mess hall. Noone was talking.
The FRENCH crew
After they dropped below the clouds, Herbert Schwartz and the waist gunners were