Minimally edited extract from diary of Alfred B. Colwell,jr., Nav/Bomb. provided by his sister, Mrs A. E. Seitz, Houston, Texas via Lawton Howell, 823rd Squadron. The 5th Air Force lost more planes this day than were lost in combat in any one day.

The author,Mat Gac, of this article joined the Photo Section of the 38th BG in Australia in June 1942 and this is his account of the early days.

Mission flown 7/31/45 to the coast of Korea but the weather forced the Group to hit secondary targets and the one that hit Nagasaki was a was a surprize. Taken from an Article by Everett P. Brady

Aircraft B-25D-1 #41-30221 flew out of Durand Field on August 2nd, 1943 on a Japanese barge sweep and failed to return from this mission along the coast of New Guinea in the Lae to Saidor area. The weather was good and there was excellent visibility.

This mission was flown from Okinawa on 5 August 1945

Mission: Tarumizv, Kyushu
By Jack Cox 405th Sqdn  (This is Jack's memory of August 5, 1945, some details maybe affected by the passage of time)

The night before the mission, after having seen I our names on the next day's mission list, we all met in the Group Headquarters tent on Okinawa, for briefing. You were always uneasy after seeing the mission list, not knowing what to expect, but that evening things didn't get any easier when the briefer stepped up to the map and pointed the next day's target—Kagashima bay!

The Japanese never again attempted to reinforce New Guinea from Rabaul

BATTLE OF BISMARCK SEA

The month of March saw the 38th settled into 17 mile Airdrome, but still operating with only two Squadrons. It was to be a very busy month for both the 71st and 405th. The Japanese had lost the battle of Buna and were running short of supplies due to the incessant raids by the 5th AF on supply dumps and harbor installations at Lae and Finchaven.

29th MISSION OF JACK H. BLEULER- TAIL GUNNER
38TH Bomb Group, 822nd Squadron
March 20, 1945
SHIPPING-CHINA COAST

Frank Lee was the pilot and my diary reads “We hit a Jap convoy off the China coast, two destroyers, one destroyer escort and two merchant ships. I saw two of our planes go down in flames, although one ditched in the center of the convoy. Ack-ack was terrific. One destroyer tracked us with a 75 mm all the time we were coming in and breaking away. He was just one shot behind us every time. They were throwing everything from broadside at us. We skip bombed with two 1000 pounders and the two transports were damaged."