Donald Macrae mission May 6, 1943

May 6 Today went on a mission to bomb ammunition carrier ship in the harbor of Regio dt Calabria on the southern tip of the toe of Italy.  Just Opposite Messina.  Was up 6:30 AM, had breakfast.  Briefed 7:00 AM.  Took off 9:00 AM.  Flew co-pilot with Colonel Compton.  Had a new ship and used demand type oxygen mask.  Had a good trip to the target.  The Colonel was a good chap to fly with, he flew pretty good - let me fly part of the way.  Arrived at the target around 12:30 AM local time.  Was a beautiful sight to see Italy and Sicily from the air.  It is a shame we had to be bombing.  Mt. Etna was snow covered and stood up there - a magnificent sight.  Also saw Messina just as clearly as if it were a relief map.  Ships were in the Straights of Messina (surface vessels).  Ack ack was fairly accurate but did not harm us.  Some fighters attacked us but had no damage (on our way from the target).  There was a complete overcast some distance from the coast of Africa that stretched for miles.  Back to the base at 4.  Landed, were briefed, had supper with 514th Sqdn.  Felt pretty poorly - have some sort of intestinal flu.  Had a letter from June and I sure like to hear from her.  Had a miserable time until I finally fell off to sleep around 11:00 PM.  Bob was alert officer tonight and slept at Group Hq.