A View From the Tail - Clifford W. Taylor

Erie, PA

Cliff Taylor enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps on Jan. 16, 1944, prior to graduating from high school. World War II was in full swing. He went to boot camp in Miami Beach, Fla. They were housed in the Hotel Essex. Cliff graduated from high school while in the Army. He was home on leave at graduation, and sat in the middle of his class in uniform during the graduation ceremony.

After boot camp at Miami Beach, he went for training at Laredo, Texas. Cliff actually intended to train as a pilot, however there was a greater need for gunners - so Cliff was “volunteered” as a tail gunner in a B-24 bomber. After training he was deployed to Lincoln, Neb., where crew assignments were made and they were then shipped to Topeka, Kan., for further training. From Topeka they were shipped out to Europe. He was part of the 15th Air Force, 55th Wing, 465th Bomb Group, 780th Squadron. He attained the rank of staff sergeant. Cliff was discharged at Tucson, Ariz. after his return stateside. He married Helen Clemens on Aug. 7, 1948.

On Nov. 20, 1999, Cliff set forth in writing his memories of the hardest (and scariest) combat mission he flew during World War II - exactly 55 years earlier on Nov. 20, 1944. His memories are entitled “A View From the Tail” and are reproduced herewith exactly as written by Cliff.

A View From the Tail
Memoirs of Staff Sgt. Clifford W. Taylor
Nov. 20, 1999

On this day, this date, I want to record some information I remember and have recorded at different times on the hardest, scariest combat mission that I flew during WWII.

It started about 4:30 am (Italy time), November 20, 1944, 55 years ago. The clerk from operations, I believe he was a corporal, came to our tent and awoke all of our crew. When we were all dressed we headed down the hill to the mess hall for breakfast. We had coffee, fried Spam, which wasn’t anything like today's or back-home Spam, and fresh eggs. The eggs were the tipoff that a bad mission was coming up. Older crews told us of this and we had had eggs before a Munich mission. That made eggs twice within a week due to the Munich mission being only four days before the 20th.

After breakfast we went back to our tent, emptied our pockets of everything. The only thing you would carry was a pocketknife, an Army-issue compass and in my case my Bible. Then we would put on our shoulder holster, put a full clip of ammo in the 45 and put it into the holster. We would then go up the hill a little ways to Headquarters Building of the 465th Bomb Group for preflight briefing.

Bombardiers and navigators had separate briefings, but the rest of the crew sat together. The briefing officer would raise a curtain exposing a large map of Europe. On the map, ribbons would be tacked to the map showing the course we would fly and the target we would be going after. The target was Blechhammer South Oil Refinery in Germany.

The night before I had gone down to the Operations Building. The front office of Operations had a counter inside the door on the right side. On the left wall was a large blackboard with 10 or 12 horizontal lines and about 12 vertical lines. This is where the crewmen who would fly the next day were listed.

The 1st vertical spaces listed the pilot, the 2nd the co-pilot, the 3rd the navigator, the 4th the bombardier, the 5th the engineer, the 6th the radio operator, the 7th the top turret gunner, the 8th the nose turret gunner, the 9th the ball turret gunner, the 10th the tail turret gunner, the 11th the position information and the 12th the plane you would fly. Ours that night looked like this:

1) Pilot / Dawson 2) Co-pilot / Harbin 3) Navigator / 4) Bombardier / McClosky
5) Engineer / Boozer 6) Radio / Bland 7) Top Turret / Bohlen 8) Nose Turret / Holdsworth 9) Ball Turret / Reid 10) Tail Turret/ Taylor 11) Position / A3 12) Plane / R-H (this would be on one line.)

This showed that we would be flying in the morning and we would fly Red H, Agony Wagon, in Able 3 position. We would be flying without Kaiser our navigator. Kaiser was assigned to fly with Lt. Norman’s crew in Able 4 position.

I was surprised to see our crew on the board because of the missions we had flown in the last few days. On November 16 we had flown to Munich. On this mission I saw Blue L blown up, then we got a direct hit in the right outboard engine. This rolled us over and we lost about 10,000 feet before we leveled out. We flew home alone on three engines low on fuel and oxygen. We had to climb to get over the Alps and unknowingly flew over a corner of Switzerland, a no-no. When we got back and debriefed, the interviewer said we were reported shot down over the target. The temperature at 21,000 feet was –48 degrees.

On November 17 we flew to Vienna where the flak (anti aircraft) was heavy intense and accurate; quite a few holes in the plane.

On November 18 we went to Udine to bomb airfields. The flak was moderate but again we had the #1 engine shot out. Anti aircraft, German 88s also hit some of our bombs right after bombs away, exploding them; made us bounce around a bit.

On November 20, after the briefing the enlisted men of the crews would leave. The pilot and co-pilot would stay for further briefing, and three or four crews, six men per crew, would be taken down to the planes by truck. The engineer would start the put-put, a small gasoline engine driving a generator to provide power prior to when the main engines were started. This allowed each of us to pre-flight (our) turrets, the radio operator to turn on the radio and check it out and the engineer to pre-flight the plane. We would check our ammunition; the bombs in the bomb bay and the oxygen supply.

When all pre-flights were completed we would get our parachute bags, (large canvas bags dropped off at the plane,) containing our flight suits, Mae West, flak suits, parachute and parachute harnesses.

The first thing was to put on our electrical heated flight suits, pants first, then boots and snap the electrical connection of each boot to the snap on the legs of the pants. Then the flight jacket, making the electrical connection from the jacket to the pants, gloves snapped to jacket. The jacket had the cord to plug into the outlet in the turret. We would put on our Mae West then over this the parachute harness and place the parachute, a chest chute, on the floor of the plane near the back escape hatch. We would put on our flak suit once we were over enemy territory. You couldn’t wear the chest chute in the turret. Our clothing under this would be regular underwear, long johns, our one piece flight suit, a sleeveless sweater Mom knit for me and a long sleeve sweater, GI issue. The ball turret gunner had a backpack parachute as did the pilot and co-pilot. The ball turret gunner could bail out right from his turret.

By then the officers had come to the plane and did their pre-flight and started the engines. We would put on our flight helmets that had earphones and have the oxygen mask hooked to one side, then place our throat mikes on and wrap a GI bath towel around our neck as a scarf. When you got to altitude, the exhaust from the oxygen mask came back at your neck and made a buildup of ice. The towel took care of this problem.

Flying A3 position we would be the third plane to taxi to the runway and third to take off. On an earlier mission I was assistant engineer so I had to ride on the flight deck during take off helping the engineer keep track of the engine gauges. It was on an early mission, November 6th that I was on the flight deck at take off. We were turning onto the runway, running the engines up to full power, brakes on, waiting for clearance from the tower to take off. The plane in front of us had just left the ground, and it blew up. 2800 gallons of 100-octane fuel along with several of the 500-pound bombs that were on board. They held us up for a few minutes while the smoke blew aside and then cleared us to take off.

One of my jobs as assistant engineer as I left the flight deck after clearing takeoff was to turn off the auxiliary electrical power, the put-put that was located under the flight deck right in front of the bomb bay. On our previous mission, I believe November 4, we had flown the plane that had blown up on that takeoff. When I had turned off the put-put on that mission, the switch drew an ark, a large electrical spark. When I reached the tail turret I called the engineer and told him about the spark and suggested he put it in his report. There were always gas fumes in the bomb bay and this switch could have caused this plane to blow up.

On the November 20 mission as on every mission, once the squadron had formed Box formation and the Boxes had formed Group formation, we would be out over the Adriatic Sea heading north. All gunners would prepare and fire their 50 caliber machine guns in a test firing. Continuing north, we would continue to gain altitude as we crossed Yugoslavia. About this time we would have been at 21,000 feet, then cross Austria and Czechoslovakia close to Prague. We bombed the airfield in Prague on March 25, 1945. On the Prague mission I flew in the lead plane of the 55th wing. Col. Campbell was the lead pilot. He gave me a tough time on keeping the formation tight.

Our engineer on this mission was Sam Bernstein. On an oxygen check where each crewman would check in to make sure everyone was OK, Bernstein did not answer. I called the flight deck to find out why he did not answer and they said he had gone back to the waist to check the waist guns. I normally was the only one in the back of the plane, behind the bomb bay, so I turned around and looked up to the waist position and there was Sam laying on the floor of the plane. I called the flight deck and let them know I would check on Sam.

Sam’s oxygen mask had come loose and he had passed out, I put his oxygen on free flow so it was blowing in his face and tightened his mask. He was blue, so I pushed on his chest several times and he came around, in several minutes he was OK and went back to the flight deck. The lead plane had a radar ball in place of a ball turret, so no ball turret gunner, making me the only one in the back of the plane.

After this mission, our pilot Maj. Dawson told me that Col. Campbell told him he was going to turn me in for a Distinguished Flying Cross for saving Sam and performing as I had on that mission. About a month later Dawson told me that Col. Campbell was killed on his next mission and had not turned in the paper work for the DFC.

Back to November 20: leaving Czechoslovakia we flew to our target, located along the Polish/German boarder. On each mission the bombers headed for a spot about ten to fifteen miles from the target, called the Initial Point or IP. At the IP the pilot would turn the plane directly at the target. The bombardier would take over, open the bomb bay doors and with the combination of the Nordon Bomb Sight and the plane’s automatic pilot fly the plane to the target.

As we turned at the IP we kept turning and started gaining altitude. The lead plane radioed that we were at 21,000 and were supposed to bomb from 22,000 so we did a 360-degree turn to gain 1,000 feet in site of the target. As we got close to dropping our bombs there was no anti-aircraft flak and we started to feel pretty good, then I could hear the explosions of 88MM shells outside our plane. I would describe it as Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! The 88s were four-gun batteries. I then heard the rattle of the flak hitting the plane. When you could hear the explosion, it was near and you could expect some damage to your plane. Looking to my left I could see holes in our right vertical stabilizer, then I felt heat, I thought our plane was on fire until I saw the lead plane beside us with flames pouring out of it. We turned left and the lead plane rolled over to the right and started down. I wrote in my notebook the following:

November 20th:
The heaviest flak I’ve ever seen, two planes went down in flames, they had Able Box dead center with their first rounds. Col. Locker was in Able 1, lead plane, going down in flames (see page 133 of my Squadron Book). Able 4 with our navigator on board started down but leveled out and headed for Russia on three engines and one of those engines not at full power, Able 5 went down in a flat spin. He was flying right behind us. We fell in beside Deputy Lead, Able 2 Blue C not knowing he had his rudder shot out and couldn’t turn to get out of the flak. Baker 1 went down in flames, diving right through our Box. We still had all four engines and although you could see holes all over, there didn’t seem to be any severe damage. We left Able 2, which headed for Russia and Able 6&7 and the rest of Baker Box fell in with us making us Able 1, to lead home without a navigator.

Our bombardier did a good job of getting us home. He was Jim McCloskey. Jim was killed March 1, 1945, over Marlboro, Yugoslavia. When we got over the Adriatic Sea, Red I, named Alley Oop, radioed he was low on gas, one engine out another failing and loosing altitude. Our pilot, Capt. Dawson, told the leader of the second element, Charlie 1, to take over the lead of the 465th Bomb Group and take them home. We left formation and joined Lt. Cambell, flying Red I and stayed with them. The second engine quit, they started losing altitude faster. As we came close to the Italian shoreline, just a short distance from our base, Red I was at 800 feet. The pilot ordered the crew to bail out.

We watched as the first three out landed in the water. The chute of the first one out never opened. The rest of the crew landed on land. The last one out, Sgt. Thompson, had his chute open about 50 feet from the ground; he swung once, then hit the ground breaking his ankle. The plane crashed into the hillside. Lt. Bernstein's chute didn’t open. He was buried at the military cemetery in Bari, Italy.

One of my jobs on landing was to be in the waist and check each main gear to see that they were down and locked. There was a large pin that fell into place when the gear is locked down and you could see this from the waist windows. I checked and they were down and locked. The right main ties looked odd, not normal. I intercommed the pilot that the gear was down and locked, but the right main tire looked odd. He radioed the tower and asked if they could see anything. They reported a possible hole in the tire.

Dawson brought the plane in with the right wing a little high, we landed on the left main and nose wheels, keeping the right main off the runway as long as possible. When we went down, it was flat. Dawson braked hard on the left, throttled up on the 2 right engines and kept the plane on the runway until it was slowed down enough to let it go off the runway on the right, into the field. We got out and were amazed at the holes in the plane. It looked like an 88 went through the right main tire; up through the wing between 2 main wing gas tanks and never exploded. There were over 100 holes of one inch or larger in the plane. Over the target the oxygen in the nose was low, so Dave Holdsworth, the nose gunner, went up on the flight deck so there would be enough oxygen for the bombardier. He sat on the floor of the flight deck with his parachute sitting on his lap. He had his GI shoes tied to a handle of his parachute in case he bailed out. He would have regular GI shoes instead of flight boots to walk in.

As Dave started to put on his GI shoes he let out a yelp, took off his shoe and pulled out a piece of (flak) stuck into the heel on the inside of his shoe. Dave was shot down two days later flying with another crew. He bailed out over Yugoslavia and got back to Italy 6 weeks later. He told us not to bother tying our shoes to our parachute as when his chute opened, his shoes just kept going down.

When I finished my missions, I had flown twice leading the 55th wing. 14 missions in Able 1 leading the 465th Bomb Group, and 5 missions in lead of the other Box formations, B1, C1, and D1. Agony Wagon went on to fly 96 missions and was shot down with another crew.

After each mission a truck would take us up to Headquarters to be debriefed. As you got off the truck you first got in the line to get two donuts and a cup of very good coffee from the Red Cross, it sure tasted good! After debriefing, we would go down to the medic’s tent and they would give each of us a double shot of American whiskey, we then went back to the tent to lay down, relax and say a prayer of thanks.

You knew odds were against you when reports came out that tail gunners had the highest mortality rate, when you saw a plane shot down or when planes’ wings broke off due to turbulence. You didn’t like flying tight formation when you saw two planes too close together come together and go down. Takeoffs became harder after that plane blew up on takeoff on November 6. Landings became tougher when you watched some of the crash landings with the plane bursting into flames. The only time I remember not sleeping at night was the night after we returned from a mission. We were in the truck riding up to Headquarters driving by some of the 464th Bomb Group hard-stands. I watched a plane parking, the bomb bay doors opened, a flight crewmember climbed out, turned and ran forward rather than to the back of the plane. The #2 engine was still running and he ran into its prop. The top third of his body disappeared.

Overall, flying combat was not that bad. It had some very scary moments, but it had a lot of good moments. Flying over the snow-peaked Alps was beautiful most of the time, but sometimes they looked like a graveyard. Seeing Rome, the Tower of Pisa, the Blue Danube, the country and the coastline of the Adriatic and Mediterranean Sea were beautiful sites. Coming back from a mission with all four engines purring, lowering to 17,000 feet as we approached the Adriatic Sea, Dawson would come on the intercom and say, “We’re at 17,000, Cliff.” This meant that I could take off my oxygen mask and light a cigarette, turn up the heat in the heated suit and relax as the sun shown in my turret., sometimes reading my Bible.

During the spring and summer of 2007, Cliff decided to organize his World War II records into one comprehensive document. It is reproduced below. It is a detailed log of his service from enlistment to discharge. It also includes several articles he wrote for publication in “Flight Line,” a newsletter of the 780th Bomb Squadron, as well as a copy of the June 2007 issue of “Flight Line.”
Service Of Clifford W. Taylor in WWII
Tailgunner in the 780 Sqdn, 465 Bomb Group
The fowling information covers a large portion of my service time in WWII .Some of the pages are articles I wrote for the 780 News Letter. The information comes from my Official Flight Record, some from notes I kept while in Italy and also from the book written by Maj. Davis on the History of THE 780 Sqdn.
The history of the 15 AAF started when my brother-in law, John C. Clemens, arrived in Haifa (now in Israel) in the spring of 1942 as a Ground Chew Chief of a B. 24. Before becoming the 98 B.G. of the 15 it was in the 9 AAF, the 11 AAF and then the 15.
As Montgomery pushed Rommel back across Africa the 98 moved its bases west, providing support to Montgumary and destoying the German supply lines. Port terminals and his supply bases. In August of 1943 they were in Bizerte. the same air base we landed at on our way overseas and our return trip to the U.S. From Africa the 15 bombed targets in Sicily, Italy and started the bombings of the Ploesti Oil Fields in Romania, which supplied Germany with 1/3 of it’s oil supply. On one of these missions the 15 lost 57 planes.
Around Thanksgiving the 15 moved to Italy. The 98 set up its base at Lecce in the heel of the Italian boot. All but one Bomb Group of the 15 were flying B24s. They flew faster, had a longer range and carried a 1/3 larger bomb load than the B17s.
The 465 Bomb Group and the 1 members of the 780 arrived Mar. 15th 1944 to build the base at Pantanella .Their 1 mission was May 5 1944 .They flew 7 missions to Ploesti the final one on Aug. 18 when all of the refineries were finally completely destroyed. They also hit oil refineries in Giurgiu Rumania, Balaruc France and flew their 1 mission to Blechhammer Ger. Oil Refmeries on June 3 1944. Ten more missions the last two Dec. 1 7 and 18 when fmally the Blechhammer’s Oil was shut off.The 780 lost 3 Planes over Blecbhammer , the 465 many more.
We continued after oil at Brux Ger. , Odertal Ger. , Moosbierbaum Aust . ,Vienna Aust. ,then in 1945 the majorty of our targets were marshalling yards and other transportation targets. The missions ended on Apr • ,1945. On Apr. 25 we flew to Linz Aust.where Lt. Shreve’s crew was shot down. A good friend of mine in the 78ls Sqdn , Bill Snow, lost his life when their plane was shot down. The crew bailed out but when captured they all were hung.
We left Pantanella on May 23 ,1945.

World War II
Clifford W. Taylor
Dec.1943 to Oct.1944
Dec. 11,1943 Enlisted in the Aviation Cadet Program of the Army Air Corp
Dec.31,1943 Birthday
Jan.11, 1944 Received notice to report for Active Duty on Jan.! 6
Jan. 16 Sworn into Service . Left at 6PM via PRR for New Cumberland
Jan. 1 7 to 2Pt New Cumberland Pa.
Jan.21 to Jan.23 Train to Miami Beach Fla.
Jan.23 to Mar. i6 Basic Training at Miami Beach, lived in Essex House Hotel.
Mar. l 19 Pullman Train ,Miami to Laredo Tx.. Bunked with Bill Snow.
Mar. l May 16 Gunnery School at Laredo Air Base.
May 15 Promoted to PFC.(One Stripe)
May 15 I was offered a Gunnery Instructors job. Turned it down.
May 16 & 17 Laredo to Lincoln Neb .Air Base.
May 17 to 20 Processing.
May 2 June 5t1 Furlough in Erie Pa.
June 5 to 17 Crew Assignment , Assigned to !st Lt. J.P.Dawson’s Crew as Tailgunner.
June l 20 Pullman Train from Lincoln to Tucson Arz.
June 2 Aug. 26 Crew training at Davis Monthan Air Field.
Aug.25th Promoted to CpL (2 stripes).
Aug. 26 Sept. 5 Furlough in Erie.
Sept.5th to 16 Topeka Kan.Air Base. Overseas staging area. Crew assigned a B-24 J to
fly to Italy.
Sept. 16 to Bradly Field Conn.
Sept. l Gander Newfoundland. Engine trouble ,there to the 27
Sept 27 Azores.
Sept 28th Azores to Marrakech Morocco.
Sept. 29 Marrakech to Tunis . In Tunis to Oct.4th.Visited Carthage.
Oct. 4 Tunis to Gioia It. Stayed in Gioia to the 8
Oct. 8 to Pantanella Air Base Italy.
Oct. 10 Promoted to Sgt. (3 stripes).

\Combat 15 Air Force
780 Sqdn. 465 Bomb Group 55 Wing
Group Formation Box(Sqdn.) Formation
Baker Box Dog Box Fox Box 2 5
Abel Box Charlie Box Easy Box 1 4 7
3 6
A-lLead of Group , Able Box ,l Plane
78O Red Sqdn. 782” Sqdn. R-MPlane M from 780
781 Blue Sqdn. 783T Black Sqdn.
Formation Sortie Mission Plane
Position Credit Credit Flown
Oct. 20 Munich Ger. (Marshalling Yards) A-3 1 2 R-M
Light Flack, no fighters
Nov. 4 Linz Aust. (Benzol Plant) A-4 1 2 R-S Moderate Flack
Nov. 6 Vienna Aust. (Railroad Bridge) C-1 1 2 R-I Light Flack, Temp. —36. Plane right
ahead of us on take off blew up.
Nov. l6tI Munich Ger. (Marshalling Yard) A-4 1 2 R-M Flack heavy ,intense and accurate
# 1 engine shot ,lost 10,000 ft.
Came home alone.Blue L went
down in flames
Nov.l7t Vienna Aust.(Oil Refinery) C-1 1 2 R-R Flack heavy, intense and accurate.
Flack holes all over plane.
Nov. 18 Udine It. (Airdrome) A-1 1 2 B-Q Moderate Fkack,# 1 engine shot out.
Flack exploded some of our bombs right after bombs away.

Nov. 20 Blechhammer Ger.( South Oil Refmery) A-3 1 2 R-H
The heaviest flack I had ever seen.465th
Lost 4 planes.We had over 100 flack holes
Of 1” or larger.Right main tire flat from 88
going through it.
Dec. 6 Bratislava ,Slovakia (Marshalling Yard). C-2 1 2 Y-Q
Hit by 25 ME 109s. They went after the
464 B.G., they came under us for cover.
780 lost one plane,464t lost 3. Our
gunners shot down 3 464 downed.
I didn’t get a shot.
Dec. 15t1 Amstetten Ger. (South Oil Refinery) A-1 1 2 R-C Milk Run
Dec. 17 Blechhammer Ger. (South Oil Refinery) C-2 1 2 R-C Flack, heavy, intense, not as accurate.
Tough formation flying, weather.
Dec. 18 to Dec.26th Rest Camp , Isle of Capri.
Beds with mattresses pillows and sheets.
Food fit to eat, some very good.
Dec. 28 Amstetten Ger.( Marshalling Yard) A-1 1 2 R-M Target was Brux, Bad weather.
Dec. 29 Promoted to S/Sgt.(3 stripes & rocker)
Dec. 3 1 Celebrated 19 birthday.
Jan. 19 Zagreb Yugoslavia (Marshalling Yard) C-2 1 2 ?
Jan. 1 Moosbierbalm Aust.(?) A-1 1 2 ? 780 lost 3 planes to engine trouble.
Feb. 8 Vienna Aust. (South Goods Depot) A-1 1 2 R-Y Flack heavy, intense and accurate
Blew cylinder in # 4 engine, Couldn’t feather, vibration was bad.
Feb. 15 Wiener-Neustadt (Marshalling Yard) B-1 1 2 R-D Milk Run

Feb. 20 Trieste It. ( Shipyards) Each bomber
Made it’s own bomb run. A-1 1 1 Y-U
Feb. 25 Linz Aust. (Ordinance Depot) A-1 1 2 Y-Y
Flack heavy intense and accurate.
Feb. 28 Vipiteno It. (Marshalling Yard) A-1 1 1 B-Q Very accurate flack, most holes since
Nov. 20
Mar.14th Novezamky Hung. A-1 1 1 R-U A-2 in Red Force went down, we took
his place.

Mar. 15th Graz Aust. (Marshalling Yard) B-1 1 2 ?
Heavy accurate flack, got a few
Holes.
Mar.25 Prague Check.( Letnany Airdrome) A-1 1 2 B-Q
Led 55 Wing, 781 crew,Don’t know
Pilots name, Co-Pilot was Col. Cambel.
He gave me a tough time on how all of the
Formation was flying.Broght engineer back
from anoxia ,mask came loose.
Mar. 26 Wiener-Neustadt ( Marshalling Yard) A-1 1 2 ?
Heavy Weather. Lost inverters , engins
ran away, left formation, came home alone.
Apr. 5 Ora It.( Marshalling Yard) C-2 1 1 R-D
Apr 6 Ora It. (Warehouses) A-1 1 1 ?
Apr. 9 Northern Italy (German Troops) C-2 1 1 R-D
Apr. 10 th Northern Italy (German Troops) A-2 1 1 R-Q
9th and 10 same mission. Direct
support of British 8 Army.Bombed
right across the front lines.
Apr.14th Ossopo It.(Motor Transit Depot) A-1 1 1 R-E
Milk Run.
Apr. 16 Bologna It. (Military Target) A-1 1 1 R-Q
Direct support of American 5 r)
Apr. Rosenheim Ger. (Marshalling Yard)
Bad weather.
Apr.26th Malcontents It.(Marshalling Yard( A-1 1 1 R-Q
Milk Run. R-Q was a B24 M, no
Tail turret,blister with twin 50s
Total 31 50
16 of 31 sorties in A-i Position Normal # of B-24s assigned to a Bomb Group was 48. In the time I was in combat, ii Mo, the 465 B.G. lost 38 bombers.

World War II
Clifford W. Taylor
May 23,1945 to November 1 , 1945
May 23’ Left Panella Flew to Mandurea It. For staging and processing.
May 23 to June 3 in Mandurea.
June 3fh Flew to Gioia It. Physical and shots.
June 6 Gioia to Marrakech Morocco.
June 7 Marrakech to Azores Island.
June 8 Azores to Stevensville.
Bad iceing, lost 2 planes.
June 9 Newfoundland to Otis Air Base Cape Code Mass.
June 10 and 11 at Camp Miles Standish Mass.Next to Otis A.B.
June 12 and 13 at Fort Dix.
June l July 15th Furlough in Erie.
July lStht 19 at Fort Dix.
July l9t to July 31st furlough in Erie.
July 3l P.R.R.to Phillie, train to Washington D.C. Taxi tour of Washington. Train on to Greensboro N.C.
Aug 1 to 12 at Greensboro for reclassification and assignment.
Treated like royalty, all the food you could eat and milk you could drink. Red Cross took us on a tour including a movie where we all had to stand and be honered. We were then taken on a tour of the Camel Cigarette Plant.
Aug. 11 Offered Gunnery Instructors Job at Laredo Tx. . Said no.
Aug. 12 Train to Turner Field, Albany Ga. I was assigned to the Post Library as Asst. Librarian.. Tough job, some weeks I had to work 30 hrs.
Aug. 31 to Sept. 19 furlough in Erie..
Sept. 20 to Oct.29 at Turner Field.
Oct. 29 Train to Wright-Patterson Field, Dayton Oh .Processed for discharge.
Nov.1,1945 Discharged after 1 year 9 mo. and 14 days. Two months before 20
Birthday. Points for discharge dropped from original 85 to 65 on Nov. 1st. I had 30 points for service and 35 for Medals.
Nov. 1 Train to Erie.

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