Donald Macrae mission June 24, 1943

June 24 - Was a fine day. Much like any other day but today we were going to be the first American heavy bombers to bomb Nazi airfields in Greece since Greece had fallen to the Axis (Germany and Italy).  We also carried heartening propaganda telling the Greeks that since Africa had been freed they were next. It made me feel (and I don 't think I was alone) that we are actually bringing hope (by our actions) to a sorely tried and brave people.  The raid was on an airfield near Salonika and it was a "bucksheesh" raid.  No enemy interception - no anti-aircraft.  We took off at 8:20 and headed for a point midway between the heel of Italy and Greece and then headed for Mt. Olympus and then make our uninterrupted bomb run on the target.  A short way out from our base we came across a pillar of smoke and a large oil slick in the water and a number of small objects.  Something had sunk just a short while before our approach. Greece is a beautiful country - green hills and valleys and rivers and lakes and heavily indented bays and inlets with lots of harbors.  There are many small is1ands and to me the whole place is steeped in ancient history.  These ancient people brought Western Civilization to the world.  We dropped our pamphlets all across Greece.  It was comfortable flying – flew about 18,000’ in a diamond position on the 2nd element. The Colonel was leading A section.  Just as we hit the coast of Greece we came across a coastal convoy of some 7 - 10 ships.  Made a good bomb run on the target 2 minutes.  The 98th hit the ______ about the same time as we did and there were some 50 large bombers in formation over Greece. I trust it brought new hope to the impoverished people.  It was an uneventful trip back.  The water around the coast of Greece was slightly green blue in contrast to the blue around Italy’s shore.  On approaching the field to land at our base the dust was so thick that it obscured everything and we had to make several passes at the field unti1 we were able to set down. It was a good raid. I was hungry and tired and to bed around 9:00 pm.