Friday

In England, Verne writes in his diary . . . .

02-23-45

We were duty crew today and they kept us plenty busy cleaning up the area and generally wasted time messing around. Received a letter from Bob¹ and one from dad. Mission of today ran into a lot of bad weather and dropped bombs in a field by mistake. Waste of time and money.

Three squadrons from the 390th Bombardment Group (H) departed Station 153 late due to bad weather. Two of the squadrons bombed the marshalling yard at Treuchtlingen which appeared to be full of railway cars, and the third bombed a secondary target, the Nordlingen marshalling yard.²

Notes & Commentary

¹ Wayne and Verne’s younger brother, Robert Searls Gray, who was serving with the 835th Aviation Engineer Battalion in Italy.

² “390th Bomb Group Intelligence Report – Treuchtlingen Mission of 23 February 1945”. 390th Bombardment Group (H) History, February 1945, Headquarters 390th Bombardment Group (H), 26 March 1945, microfilm B0426, Maxwell AFB, AL: Air Force Historical Research Agency, 1973, frame 1274.