Held over today because of bad weather last nite. Just hanging around hotel. Weather looks bad, I hope.

Looks like we're finally going tonite. Figured up my expenses and money on hand and I am 6d to the good ????

Finally took off at 11:20 pm. Beautiful ship and beautiful gal aboard. C-87 - converted B-24 with seats.

Arrived Casablanca 8:15 am to eat chow and leave soon. All flights postponed. Bought khaki pants and shirt at PX - went to town all day. Very beautiful city, modern buildings, garden spots, inlaid marble work, many exceptionally pretty young French girls. Many historic statues and carvings and hand work in building arches and gates and window, etc. Many Am. cars and converts. Outside cafes and tables. Much growth of plants. White buildings - fancy staircases and banisters. Horses and buggies galore. Stayed at Italian Consulate. Carried Ish and C.E. home. Bought several leather items as gifts - discontinued money record. Too much spent. Wrote Adele. Asleep 11:30 pm. Tired feet.

Awakened at 5:30 for 6:45 takeoff. Joke - hung around until 10 a.m. at line before takeoff. Sister Evie's 18th birthday. Arrived at Algiers at 3:30 p.m. Ate junk at snack bar. Departed Algiers 4:30 p.m. nice ride. Nice sleep to Tunis at 7:30 p.m. Dropped woman passenger at Algiers.

Went to town of Tunis; walked around; dark, not much doing. Max's Cafe. Had G.I. band playing "Dinah" and "St. Louis Woman." Sounded good. First big town with no blackout. Bright car lights; houses lit up; looks good to see it all.

Alerted for a.m. Mosquito netting, etc., once again.

Stayed overnight at De Gink Hotel - Room 133.

Changed planes from plush job to Cargo C-47. Took off at 8:45 a.m. for Naples.

Buggar loses camera. Passing Sicily and boy this "blue" Mediterranean is really blue - no joke. Arrived Naples 11:45 a.m. Large bombed up town. Ate chow with pretty Italian girls waiting on tables - beans, corn, stewed meat, lemonade, peanut butter. Good too.

Took off 1:35 p.m. for Bari. In Tunis picked up knob in cockpit of Macchi 202. Arrived in Bari 2:30 p.m. Many Spits and captured DO 217 - P-39's - P-38's. Put in hotel in town. L'Oriente. No water, no nothing. Eating in big fancy restaurant now. Pork chops and Ice Cream. Saw movie W. Beery and M. Main in "Rationing." Amusing. That's all folks; there is no more.

Ate breakfast this A.M. Shaved without water; no baths; move bowels without water. Some fun. Took off about 10:30 a.m. by G.I. truck for our camp of San Pancrazio at about 12:30. 93 miles to the SE of Bari. Made nice time.

This place looks like the middle of the desert. Sand all around. Tents. No water; heat; dusty.

They tell us it's a good deal. Put in large double tent. Dirty with junk left by guys homeward bound.

Expect credit for 24 missions, I hope. Met Carl Hupman and Al Sudin.

Slept all morning. Quite chilly at nite. Meeting with Capt. Mullins at 1:00 p.m. Ran into Richard Durbin - old time Madison pal. Good to see him. Married to Esther Berl.

To use mosquito netting again. Met doctor who gave us talk on V.D. Armament guy, talk on guns, etc. S-2 officers. Talk on censoring, interrogations, etc.

Heard about invasion. Great news. Hope it works. Got shaved by ITU for 10 lire - 10 cents. Paid $20.00 for club dues. Ridiculous but true. Drank coke at club. What a joint. 6 miles to shower.

Talk this morning by P-38 pilot shot down. Slept all afternoon as it is very hot. Sun really gives out. Supposed to have meeting s but the big shot's nowhere to be found so we slept all day after chow.

No breakfast today. Dick wanted me to go swimming at 1:00 p.m. with him but I thought I had these damn meetings so I didn't go. Tonite we went to a GI-ITI (Eye Tie) show. Very good; singing; dancing, tap; juggling, etc. Excellent swing band. Comedians, pretty girl soloist sang American songs. Imitations. Best juggler I ever saw, no kidding.

Fisher had to test hop a plane today. This is the first place that they didn't require a navigator on every trip. Good. Started reading "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," but fell asleep. Woke up about 4:30 when at 4:45 we went over to meet the C.O. Lt. Col. Beir. What a good egg. He met us in his underwear shorts. that's all he had on. Looks about 26 - nice guy. Gave us some rules and regulations. Said he would see what he could do about getting us promotions. Spent some time at the Club reading Life and Reader's Digest. Also wrote letters to Adele, Aunt Fay and Aunt Sylvia. Quite chilly out tonite. Good for sleeping.

Got up and had breakfast - pancakes, oatmeal, tomato juice. Pretty good.

Had a boring lecture about escape and P/W all morning. Then again all afternoon - same old stuff. Took shower after lectures. Sure feels good after a thorough washing.

Had a punk meal tonite for chow. Baked ham, squash, peas, coffee, applesauce. Feh.

Drew personal flying equipment credit for 24 missions. Alerted for the morning. Got all my stuff ready tonite. Hope it is a nice easy one to start off with. Could be. Yeh man!

Mission #25 - was supposed to be oil refineries at Trieste, N. Italy. 9/10 undercast so we went south to Ancona - screwed up deal. No hits on nothing. Total time 6 hours - oxygen 3½ hours. Visibility good except primary target. Missed everything on secondary. Hupman and Sudin leading.

Woke up late this a.m. - 4:00. Briefing at 4:15 a.m. Got in on tail end of it all. Bomb bay doors wouldn't close. Takeoff delayed 20 min. No. 1 engine feathered for a few minutes.

Started building floor in our new tent. Tired out tonite. Alerted for tomorrow. Nothing more to write. Today was a milkrun. Hope this is an example of all the rest of our missions.

Mission #26-27 to Constanta, Rumania. Oil storage plant on edge of Black Sea. South Rumania. Long haul and clouds partially over target but hits good. Time 7:40 on oxygen 4½ hours. No fighter opposition. Plenty of P-38's, they sure look swell against the blue. Slept most of the afternoon and then in the evening went to the movies with Bray, Buggar and Salmon. Saw Red Skelton in "Whisting in Brooklyn." Good show. Took the gold bar off my hat and sat with EM's after which we went to the Jr. N.C.O. Club and drank wine and sherry brandy. Swell time had by all. Didn't write to Adele today. Much sorry.

Big celebration today. 2nd year overseas for the Group. Standown. Air show. Fisher and I worked on our floor until 3:00 p.m. Still not finished. Running out of ambition and wood too. Mostly ambition. Anyhow, later in the afternoon we finished the floor or until we ran out of boards. Need about 3 more to finish. Fish and I are now moved in. Swell place.

Altered again for tomorrow. That Spam on yesterday's trip made me and most of the guys sick. Today had the GI's. Taylor grounded for tomorrow. Been here a week today. 3 missions. Not good, not bad. We'll wait and see. No mail.

Mission #28-29 to Bentz Motor Works in Munich, Germany. Total time 8:45, on oxygen 4 hours. Had oil and gas leaks all the way up and back. Had to emergency land at Bari, 93 miles from home, and refuel. Intense but inaccurate flak at target. No fighter opposition. Carried 6 x 1000 GP , dropped 4 in Alps to lighten load to stay in formation.

No mail yet but hope soon. Quite tired tonite. Alerted again for tomorrow.

Wrote a honey of a letter to Adele. At least I thought it was cute, so there. Ray just ripped his cot and fell almost to the floor. Some joke.

Today is my Mom's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom. Mission #30 - to the oil storage plant at Sisak, Yugoslavia. Time 5½ hours - on oxygen 3 hours. CAVU  all the way. Made 2 runs on the target and blasted the daylights out of it. Huge black smoke clouds and fiery red flaming fires that could be seen for miles around. Good mission - no flak, no fighters. Alerted again for tomorrow.

Wanted to see Bing Crosby tonite but I guess it will have to wait. Haircut, shave and shower. Feel clean, free and easy. Can't find my little black address book - doggone it anyhow.

Mission scrubbed at 6:30 this a.m. after briefing and out to ships. Was to be marshalling yards at Arad, Rumania. Slept the rest of the morning. Had a fluky meeting at 1:00 p.m. Sat around all day. Took a couple of pictures. Writing to Mom. Still. Got me a new A-3 bag. Fixed the lock on my navigation briefcase.

Never did finish my letters to Adele or Mom. But will. Fish and I went to the show tonite and saw Bing Crosby in "Going My Way." Very good show. Sure do go for his singing. Picture held up one hour. No projector, broken film, etc.

Alerted again for tomorrow. Getting to be a habit. Oh well!

Mission #31-32 to Bratislava Apollo oil refineries and storage tanks. Attacked by JU 88  - 110's - 410's just before IP . Really rough battle for a while. Taylor and Bray claim a 410 and an 88 destroyed and I think they got them both. We blasted the heck out of the target which measured 1400 ft. x 1400 ft. Huge fires and smoke and explosions. Light and inaccurate flak on route in and out. Total time 7 hours, on oxygen 4½ hours. No fighter escort except one lonely P-47.

Still haven't finished my letters to Adele and Mom but some day, I hope.

Alerted again for the morning. Getting to be a habit. Skinned my little finger. 20,000 ft. Temp - 18°

Alerted again and awakened at 4:00 to go to Arad, Rumania again. Mission was cancelled as we were on the taxi strip. Came back and went to sleep.

Spent the afternoon moving to our new tent - way the hell out of creation, in the woods. And after we built such a nice floor too.

Fisher and the guys went to the beach but I stayed here and read. Finally finished my letters to Adele and Mom. Ish and I went to the movies and saw Cowboy George Montgomery and Annabella in "Bombers Moon," story of the RAF, and of an American captains's escape from Germany. Pretty stinky. Sleep at 9:00 p.m. Tired.

Again awakened at 3:00 a.m. for mission to Ploesti oil fields, but at 5:30 mission was called off because of bad weather enroute. I was to fly Deputy Lead with another crew - also Fisher.

Hope they have a good supper as lunch was stinky. Corned beef sandwiches and beans. Feh, what a meal. For supper we had vegetable stew. Feh, what a meal.

We are again alerted for tomorrow. Crew all together for tomorrow's flight.

Starting to read "Claudia and David" on Adele's recommendation. I hope it's as good as she says. Didn't write to Milly. Clean laundry back, cost $2.00. Retire at 9:00 p.m.

Alerted and woke up this a.m. at 3:00 to fly Deputy Lead with Lt. Paul to Bar River Bridge, France but mission was called off at briefing. Came back at 4:30 and went back to sleep until 10:30. Shaved by the I-Tie and ate a punk chow. In the afternoon, I went to the Officer's Club and read my book, "Claudia and David," and also wrote to Adele and a nine-page letter to Milly Golden.

Alerted again for the morning in Deputy Lead.

Movies - saw Tom Conway in "The Falcon Goes West." Real thriller diller, and March of Time. Bed at 9:15 p.m.

Didn't even awake us this morning. Can't figure it out. But little me stayed awake from 2:00 a.m. to 4:30, sweating the CQ  out. What a jerk.

Finished "Claudia and David," and am now reading "Claudia" in the same series. Also quite interesting, along the same lines.

In the afternoon Rod, Buggar, Bray and I went to the beach swimming. Had great fun. Sunburned but good. Collected pretty sea shells. Explored old I-Tie fort. All on barefoot - oh my poor feet.

Parachute lecture tonite. Took pictures at beach. Now reading "Claudia."

Alerted for a.m. again.

Woke up at 3:30 a.m. for mission to Vienna. Briefing and all and it was called off at 7:45. Red red flare from tower. Weather bad enroute and over target. Cam back and read "Claudia."

Punk dinner - cheese and corned beef sandwiches.

Bought 342 air mail envelopes today.

To fly with Brock, Sudin and crew.

Had spaghetti and corned beef meat balls for supper and apple pie and ice cream. No fooling. Now I'm sick. Too much.

Went to Italian stage show - pretty good. Not as good as 1st show. Had a 14-year-old girl singer who was very, very good, soprano. Skits, acrobats, a good magician.

Alerted again for tomorrow. Habit forming. No mail. Oh me!

Woke up at 4:00 a.m. Had eggs for chow. Took off at 0740 for Bridge at Casarsa in North Italy. Overcast. Rough navigating trip and so we bombed the wrong bridge. Really blasted it, but wrong bridge. I flew Deputy Lead on Col. Bier Mission #33. Time 7:10, on oxygen 4 hours only. Made 360° turn in Adriatic and two 360° turns over target itself. Queer deer. Met boy named Griffin, from Elmdorf Ave., Rochester. Found out we bombed the wrong bridge. 30 miles west of target. Alerted again for tomorrow. Good deal. No mail today. Sleep at 9:00 p.m. Wrote to Mom and Adele.

Mission #34 (I think). Woke up at 3:15 a.m. Took off at 6:20 to go to Ploesti oil fields. After several hours on and off course we decided to turn back because of weather at target. Made dry run on secondary of NIS, Yugoslavia, but didn't drop bombs. Came back way south of course. Turned 180°. Traveled full length of Albania, then 270° to base. Total time 4:40 - on oxygen 2½ hours. A really screwed up mess.

Got my first letter today, from Mom dated June 13. V-Mail. Sure is a lifter upper. Alerted again for tomorrow. Saw Vince Turiano from Lyell Ave.

Mission #35-36 to Ploesti Americano Romano (Shell) oil refineries, north of Bucharest, Rumania. Same trip as planned yesterday. Total time 8:15 - on oxygen 6½ hours. Intense heavy accurate flak. Several holes in ship. No fighters except one ME-109 that made one pass at our tail. No hits. Target completely smoked out. Made 2 runs on it. Don't believe we hit even close. Altitude was 24,000, Temp. -26°. 10 x 500 GPs.

No mail today. Hope I get some tomorrow, or else. Now reading "Escape" by Ethel Vance. Nazi story.

Alerted again for tomorrow. Habit forming, but OK by me.

Mission #37 to Toulon, France. Harbor installations and submarine pens. Flew for hours at high altitude. Got to target which was completely covered by clouds. So we dropped our bombs in the blue sea and came all the way back high. Carried 10 x 500 GPs all to no avail. Slight flak at target. Got hole in #2 engine. No fighters. Good P-38 escort. Total time 7:50, oxygen 5½ hours.

Finally got 8 letters, 3 from Adele, 2 from Mom and Evie, K. Klass, Uncle Lee and V-Mail from Mom. Yippie. Sure is good news.

Alerted again for tomorrow. Flew 74 - Old Crone. Temp. -28°. Brrr.

Mission #38 and 39 to Schwechat, Austria, 10 miles SE of Vienna. Hienkel aircraft plant. Excellent mission (AVO). Best fighter support yet, P-38's especially. Flew #74, Old Crone. Excellent bombing results. Good weather enroute. No fighter attacks but heavy and accurate flak. Received several holes in ship. Total time was 7:30, on oxygen 4:45. Took 6 pictures of planes, etc. enroute. Hope they come out.

Still reading "Escape." Can't seem to get into the feel of it, yet. USO show tonite but we didn't go. Wrote an 11 page letter to Adele. Received 3 letters and a whole bunch of Kodakerys.

No mission up yet. Don't know if we are alerted.

Mission #40 to Brod, Yugoslavia. Supposed to hit in Bucharest area but weather prevented it. Bombed Marshalling yards with very good results. Got loster than heck but found myself. Total time was 5:40, on oxygen 3½ hours. Ship #74 again. Temp. -21°. Good mission.

Today is Mom and Pop's anniversary. God bless 'em all.

Stand down for tomorrow. Will welcome the change. No mail came in today. Saw Gildersleeve in "G's Ghost." Corny as hell. Saw "Sex Hygiene" for the 'steenth time. Very tired and very stinky. Air raid alert today. Gun, gas mask, tin hat.

Today is the first day off in almost 3 weeks. Slept until 7:15. Ate breakfast, lounged around. Had navigators' meeting at 10. Fisher flew in the morning. Ate dinner. Was supposed to give a lecture on the GEE box  at 1 p.m. but it was called off. No power on. Lounged around; took a shower. Got one letter from home and a returned letter to Len Robinson.

Nothing much. Good supper tonite. Stew, pineapple and Tutti-Frutti ice cream - rich and creamy.

No mission again for tomorrow. What's going on??? Wonder where Jerome is, huh? Bed - 9:30 p.m.

Another day off and a welcome relief. All rested up; fine now. All set to go finish up 10 more missions. Lounged around most of the day. Sunbathed for about an hour in the afternoon. Was careful not to get too burned. Just red on the outside a little. Wrote to Adele, Mom and Uncle Lee. Get mail from Adele, Mom. Alerted for tomorrow. Traded my limey shorts for Fisher's cadet shorts. I think I got the better deal.

Rations at the club tonite - 5 candy bars, 2 life savers, 4 cans beer.

Aired out blankets today. It's about time. Sleep 9:00 p.m.

Adele, I love you.

Mission #41 to airfield and dispersal area at Zagreb, Yugoslavia. Just short of a double mission. Tough. No fighter escort and no enemy fighters. Flak was slight in the target area. Got many good hits and planes on the ground were destroyed. Time 6½ hours, on oxygen 3¾ hours. Ship #74. Altered again for the a.m.

Sunbathed this afternoon. No mail.

Saw Ritz Bros. in "Never A Dull Moment" at the theater. They sang "The Best Songs from Shmagege Hall." Very good show.

Got paid today - $287.40. Wow. Sleep at 9:15.

I love you, Adele.

That's all, folks: Richard Durbin Griffin, John Ermintrout.