2

12
his tour.
30 Missions b/Rto Raydon(d-4)
Just prior to D-Day we flew missions
at a rate of two some days. The Traffic
in and around or out of Raydon continued
to Reach a high volume. Escort during the
day then a bomb run of our own during P.M.
31 D-Day
D-Day we were ready. We repainted our
ships - did not let anyone see what we
were doing and early (before daylight) on D-
Day we guided ships to runway with flash
lights and got them in the air before
daylight. Explosions could be heard by the
men at Raydon. Some say we could not have
heard from that distance but I and others
on base surely did! The first day we
flew three or four missions as would be
the story for two or three weeks. Bombing
and strafing would ne the main order.
Trains were top targets along with tunnels.
I feel we did a very good job on this. When
the breakout occurred, we had a wider
range of targets. When Patton started
around Paris, my pilot, Curtiss, was after
trains and tracks in that vicinity and
was hit by A.A. and knocked down.
He got with Free French and was picked
up by a group of Patton's men. He returned
to our base in about one week. He
was sent home. As the lines stretched