Donald Macrae mission August 19, 1943

August 19, 1943  Today we went on a mission to Foggia in Southern Italy and bombed a marshalling railway yards with 500 lb. Bombs. Briefing was at 7:00AM. K.P. Iverson, my pilot who is now Operations officer said if I did a1right on the mission he would see that I got checked out. Seems like fate was against me. It had been only a few times that I had f1own at altitude. The plane was a difficult one to handle. Even K.P., who is a good flyer, had a hard time. The leader of our formation was a hard man to follow and ever since my illness haven't had much strength. I just didn't do so well. Altitude was 20,000 ft. Ack-ack was heavy in spots but we missed it. As we left Italy and headed towards Sicily, which is now in our hands, the fighters hit some of our stragglers. Looking back I saw the bursting shells of the enemy fighters and a B-24 started to leave the formation smoking. Parachutes blossomed out as the men left the ship. Final1y saw a burst of flame. Then I couldn't see any more. One of the other fellows saw it final1y hit the water and explode. Headed home without any further trouble. Arrived OK, were briefed. It had been very dusty but the wind had let up. Had supper, read and to bed 11:00 pm.