The Trip Over
(12-2-42 to 12-30-42)
NOTE: The following are excerpts from one of my father's personal diaries during the WWII years. This is purposely not a carbon copy of the original. My intention here is to provide an insight for readers into the life of an Army Air Force soldier, his work with B26 Martin Marauder light bombers (with specific aircraft identified, which may be of interest to some), and his comments about buddies and acquaintances in the service (which may be of interest to those named who are still with us, and their descendents). Whenever one encounters brackets, "[" and "]", around text, that text was added by myself, either for clarification, or to omit text not pertinent to the purposes listed above. -Joseph B. Sheppard.
12-2-42: Left Morrison Field [West Palm Beach]. Arrived at Boringuen Field, Puerto Rico.
12-3-42: Brake control line out on airplane.
12-4-42: Airplane still out. Went to town (Agudillia, Puerto Rico).
12-5-42: Airplane out.
12-6-42: Airplane out.
12-7-42: Airplane out.
[page ends in original diary]
12-8-42: Airplane repaired. Prepared to leave tomorrow.
12-9-42: Left Boringuen Field. Arrived at Atkinson Field, Georgetown, B.G., S.A. [for aerial photo of Atkinson Field at that time see: ( http://320thbg.org/phbaselife_43.html)
12-10-42: Went to “Non-Coms” club at Atkinson Field.
12-11-42: Left Atkinson Field. Arrived at Belem, Brazil, S.A.
12-12-42: Worked on airplane.
12-13-42: Left Belem. Arrived at Natal, S.A. [Brazil].
12-14-42: Worked on airplane.
[page ends in original diary]
12-15-42: Pulled 100 hour inspection on airplane.
12-16-42: Prepared to leave.
12-17-42: Left Natal. Arrived at Ascension Island.
12-18-42: Left Ascension Island. One airplane in our flight, the one next to ours, disappeared while we were coming up through the overcast. We arrived at Accra, S. Africa [Ghana]. The other airplane never showed up. B. Lenoir [Bruister H. LeNoir], and Lt. Telesmanic [William R.] were in the ship. [I have also been informed by Dave DeSantis, son of T/Sgt. Pat DeSantis (Marauder turret gunner/radioman - 444th), that his father’s dear friend, Sgt. Joe Hunter (turret gunner/radioman), also was lost in the same aircraft (RIP)].
12-19-42: We went on a searching mission for missing airplane. No trace.
[page ends in original diary]
12-20-42: Heard that oil slicks had been found near Ascension Island where airplane disappeared, so we gave them up for lost.
12-21-42: Went to Accra (English, Gold Coast, British W. Africa) [now Ghana]
12-22-42: Went to town with Frank Fillion.
12-23-42: Left Accra. Arrived at Roberts Field, Marshall, Liberia.
12-24-42: Went to native village and saw them dance and heard them beat the jungle drums.
12-25-42: Christmas Day. Flew to Bathurst, English field, steel runways.
[page ends in original diary]
12-26-42: Flew to Marrakech [Morocco]. Met some French soldiers. Went to town, drank champagne and had good French food at a French hotel.
12-27-42 to 12-30-42: [No entry] [page ends after 12-19-43 in original diary] [elsewhere in diary Dad says that he arrived in Oran, Algeria on 12-30-42].
 |
|