On 30th March 1945 the 384th were in action again in their 300th mission from Grafton Underwood, spanning the last 640 days. In this time, the ground crew of the 384^th have prepared 9,334 aircraft for combat missions with a total of 369 aborts – just under 4% of the total aircraft prepared.

 45 aircraft were assigned to bomb the Deutsche Schiff und Maschinenbsu A.G (Deschimag) shipyard in Bremen. With 3 unused ground spares, 2 that scrubbed and 1 that aborted the mission, 39 B17s took off shortly after 10:35 and made their way towards the target. Group lead today was Gee-H and PFF equipped b-17G #44-8649  “Trail Blazer” being flown by 1^st Lt. Calvin James “Pete” Peterson with Commander Capt. Joseph Stanley Laboda and 3 Navigators on board.

With the formation gathered at 12.15pm at 21,000ft just 15 miles from Grafton Underwood and with good fighter escort cover to the target and back, the target was struck at 14.01pm from 26,000ft. with results “fair to good”.

With barely a month of the war still to go, unfortunately there were still casualties. Tail gunner on century bomber B-17G #42-32106 “Worry Bird/Voan” Sgt. William Ray Peeler - still only 19 - was killed by flak.

It was the final mission of their tour for navigator’s 2^nd Lt. William R Sullivan and 2^nd Lt. Edward J Murphy, engineer /top turret gunners T/Sgt. Clarence Robinson Morpeth and T/Sgt. Roy Cobb, radio operator T/Sgt. Robert Turton and ball turret gunner S/Sgt. Charles Way Titsworth.

With kind thanks to the 384th Bomb Group website (384thbombgroup.com) for permission in using material from their records in the making of this story. It holds a wealth of information, documents and photographs of the Group’s activities during World War 2.

Research courtesy of Helen Childs & Keith Andrews on behalf of 384th Bombardment Group Museum.