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

William H. Olsen; Radio Operator, George C. Dacey; Gunners; Sgt.
Bernard F. Scharf; Sgt. Clemith B. Lamen; and Sgt. Clifford C.
White.
Pilot, F/O, Donald F. Bridwell; Copilot, 2/Lt. Forrest B. Drewry;
Navigator, 2/Lt. Robert W. Ward; Engineer, S/Sgt. Robert L.
Phelps; Bombardier, 2/Lt. Milton Bastwirth; Radio Operator, Sgt.
Shasten L. Bowen; Gunners - S/Sgt. Clarence A. Gluck; Sgt.
Raymond W. Paul, Sgt. James F. Zeiser, Sgt. George Sherman.
Due to a record number of missions flown during the month, many
individuals completed their tours of duty. They are still on the
field, awaiting assignment to duty elsewhere. With replacement
crews coming in all the time and none being transferred out,
there has been a difficult housing problem for solution. It has
not caused a hardship on anyone except the inconvenience of
reshuffling personnel from one place to another in attempts to
make more room for incoming personnel.
Two hundred fourteen sorties were flown during the month without
loss of ships or any casualties except that of S/Sgt. Parisy on
th the 20 . The record of abortives was remarkably low for the
number of sorties flown. There were only six for the entire
month. In regard to battle damage to the ships, #7625 was so
th
severely damaged on the mission of the 19 that it was taken off
ops.
The squadron participated in twenty-three operational missions
th
during the period of June 2 to 28 , inclusive although, the
majority of them were tactical targets and considered easy in
comparison to harder ones at Schweinfurt, Berlin, Bremen and
others, it is still true that a record amount of work was done by
the squadron. The devoted and persistent effort of the ground
crews of the ships and that of all ground personnel made it
possible for our combat men to stay in the air and achieve a
record of which any organization may well be proud.
th
This was the month of months in this war. The 6 being “D-Day”
when our troops broke into western Europe for the final showdown.
The sense of getting this done successfully, tended to affect the
morale of the men as a whole. Members of the squadron feel their
part in a tremendous event, and though it may be a small part in
comparison to the total effort of the entire USAAF, this squadron
has had a chance to show what can be done and has done it well.
rd. 323 JULY 1944 as prepared by Capt. Lawrence E. Baird
1 thru 3, July 1944: There were no operational missions. Combat
Personnel engaged in ground school and training activities. On
nd
the 2 , five ships flew locally, three hours each, and seven