Dailies of the 323rd - the 91st Bomb Group!

ombers have had the assistance of a strong fighter escort which
has helped in keeping losses of ships and personnel to a minimum.
29 March 1944: Brunswick, Germany was attacked on the 29th. While
there was a 10/10 formation of clouds over the target and bombing
results could not be observed. All ships succeeded in dropping
their bombs and returned safely to base. Not without considerable
enemy opposition, however, for a change they sent up quite a few
number of fighters in an attempt to deal with our bombers and
escorting aircraft. No ships or crew members were lost from this
squadron, but they reported the opposition a lot stronger than it
had been for some days.
The following ships and their crews represented this squadron:
Ships #563, Lt. Gorby and crew; #151,Lt. Sheriff and crew; #909,
Lt. Hackleman and crew, #075, Lt. Register and crew, #542, Capt.
Ranzoni and crew, #513, Lt. Pryor and crew; #636, Lt. James and
crew.
30 March 1944: On the 30th, there being no operational mission on
our schedule combat crew members engaged in ground school and
training activities. One crew went out to the skeet range; the
synthetic trainers were all in operation; Radio operators
attended classes,; and there was a good attendance at Aircraft
recognition classes. Four ships flew locally for a period of
about two hours each.
31 march 1944: There was a mission scheduled for the 31st and
everything made ready for the takeoff, but, due to the inclement
weather prevailing (one of the few snow squalls of the whole
winter) this mission was scrubbed. Crews returned to their
barracks after getting their equipment properly stored for
another day, and made ready to attend ground school.
Pay Formation was held at 1400 hours.
T/Sgt. Roy J. Schleich, Jr. Destroyed one FW-190 on March 2,
1944. He was flying as waist gunner on Ship #774.
S/Sgt. Merritt Hetager destroyed one FW-109 on 29 March 1944. He
was flying as Ball Turret gunner on Ship #075.
S/Sgt. Christopher A. Belmonte damaged one FW-190 on 29 March
1944. He was flying as Tail Gunner on Ship #513.
In the past the tour of operational duty for combat crew members
has been twenty-five operational sorties over enemy territory.
Recently, this policy has been changed so that an individual must
complete at least thirty. He is then given a period of rest and
may then be reassigned to do more missions. The idea is to
utilize services of trained men more efficiently. At the time