Memorial

More information

T/Sgt (Radio Operator) John L. Susan relates his experiences: "'Miss Dolores' took a hit, and we started to fall behind as one of our left side engines was out. (Lt R.I. Brown's ship). 'Wing' had recently declared by a directive that Radio Operators could not man the top turret on this mission, but the flak burst had also hit Gib. He took some metal in his knee and he came tumbling down out of the turret. He motioned to me that I should get into the turret, and I did. But unknown to me was the fact that the flak burst had also knocked out the intercom! Everyone, therefore, was on his own.
When I got into the top turret, we were already a sitting duck as we were falling behind the formation due to that lost engine. And my guns would not fire between the two vertical stabilizers for some unknown reason. I kept cussing as I would bring the guns down to shoot at as many as six following Jerries, who were taking pot shots at us from the rear. I don't know if our tail turret guns were functioning or not. But soon our left wing started on fire, and it was time to get out."