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

I asked the crew to check in. I was worried about our tail
Gunner, "Dutch" Reich from my old crew (Bramble's). He said he
was okay but couldn't see how they missed him. Him. After we
landed he had several holes in the tail cone and we had a hole
from the 20mm cannon shell in the left horizontal stabilizer.
Neither of these was significant.
In 1945, I was in Las Vegas and ran "Dutch" Reich from my old
crew. He was still in the service and in uniform. I noticed he
had and Oak Leaf Cluster on his Purple Heart ribbon. I recalled
he had received a Purple Heart on an earlier mission and I asked
him where and when he got the Oak Leaf Cluster. He admitted that
he had been wounded on the Gutersloh mission but didn't report it
at the time. He reported it when he got back to the States.
It was sad but both the element leader and right wing men were
shot down. There were other casualties.
In addition to these losses, the High Flight I had joined when I
left the Spare element, was the 401st Squadron. Two more B-17s
were lost on this mission from the 401st on this mission to
Gutersloh.
I corresponded with the pilot of Miss Ouachita after the war. I
didn't think to ask him how his airplane got its name.
You had to have a little luck on these missions. Or maybe it was
a little help from an unexpected source.
Regards, Phil Mack
22 Feb. 1944: Next day, the 22nd, Oschersleben and Bunde were
targets of attack, both in Germany. This was the third mission in
so many days against the Germans in their own country. Seven of
our ships took part as follows: Ship #746, Lt. Kolts and crew,
ship #965 Lt. Harding and crew; ship #761, Lt. Wood and crew;
ship #815, Lt. Sutherland and crew; ship #585, Lt. Bradford and
crew; ship #774, Lt. W. E. Reid and crew; and ship #939,Lt.
Maziarz and crew. Ship #761, Lt. Wood, Pilot, aborted and
returned to base after getting far into enemy territory. Three
ships completed the mission and returned to base. One was
compelled to ditch in the North Sea, fifty-five miles from the
coast of Holland and two were shot down by enemy fighters.
Ship #815 was last seen going down near Gutersloh, Germany. It
had been badly damaged by fighters. Crews who returned reported
that numerous fighters were seen in that area attacking their
formation, and especially striking our ships that were already in
trouble. The following crew is carried missing in action. 1/Lt.