Tail gunner - part I

Air Classics, Jan 2003 by Mitchell, Henry J

A day finally came when the weather cleared and we made a 5.5-hour flight to a place called Valley, Wales. The plane was turned in and we were sent to a replacement center at a place called Stone. I think it referred to their beds. We got a taste of what British military had to put up with. The weather was damp and cold; the barracks the same. So were the beds and also hard. Instead of pillows they had what are called bolsters - a rather hard roll about nine inches in diameter that your head was supposed to rest on. I'm glad I can't remember what the food was like. This was a former English army base "given" for our use (all the bases we used there the US paid a lease fee for. Just because we were Allies and were there to help the British save their little island did not entitle us to free room and board, as the Brits saw it).

Here is where we were assigned to the 96th Bomb Group, except Lewis, the bombardier, who went elsewhere. We went by train to the base located in East Anglia north and east of London. The region was crowded with AF bases, the cause of many air to air crashes there during the war. The nearest city was Norwich; the nearest small town, Attleborough, about three miles from the base. The base name was Snetterton, since it was on what was called Snetterton Heath. The Group took the name: Snetterton Falcons. It had been in England since spring of 1943, flying its first mission over occupied France in May and had flown 281 missions before we joined them in the air.

The group had a mascot; a jackass. "Lady Moe" was picked up by one of the crews on a shuttle mission to North Africa (actually two missions, one on each leg of the trip). As a baby, the donkey flew back wearing an improvised oxygen mask. She was the only such mascot in the 8th AF. Lady Moe had full freedom to wander about the base and it is a miracle she did not walk into a whirling propeller. She would walk into buildings if the door was open, including barracks.

We were settled in so-called "Nissen" huts in the 338th Squadron, one of four that constituted the Group. Each hut accommodated 20 - the six enlisted men of three crews with room for a couple spare men. It was heated by a small coal burning stove in the center. The coal was in compressed coal briquettes about twice the size of those we now use in BBQs. The officers were in similar huts close by. There was a latrine building with toilets and wash basins close by but showers were in a building some distance away. Several bomb shelters were scattered around the area. There was also squadron headquarters and a few other buildings for squadron needs.

A quarter-mile away were the Group Headquarters and other buildings used by all such as the PX (post exchange, store), recreation hall, officers' club, NCO club (for sergeants), Red Cross Club (for anyone), and operational buildings for mission briefings, etc., and the base hospital. Most important, of course, were the various mess halls and their kitchens. The officers had their mess hall and combat crew enlisted men, like us, had our own mess hall apart from the ground personnel. Why such discrimination? Because we were special!