Schad's Sojourn
by Paul J. Schad (777)
Upon being assigned to the 464th in November '43, I was co-pilot on Ed
Porter's crew. We had completed phase training at Casper WY. My wife Dorothy was with me
both at Casper and Pocatello. She passed in 4 Mar '96.
Upon completion of training at Pocatello, we left Lincoln on 18
Feb '44, then to Morrison Field and from there to Brazil. We flew from Belem to Dakar in West
Africa and then on to Oudna Field near Tunis, arriving on or about 10 Mar '44.
Shortly after arriving at Oudna, Colonel Bonner scheduled stand-by
inspection of troops. Most everyone had packed their pinks and greens in a barracks bag for the
trip over. We sorta got together and decided to wear them as they were, wrinkled and creased
in every direction and they looked terrible. That was the raunchiest bunch of officers I
ever saw.
The colonel didn't say a word about how we looked but that was
the last stand-by inspection he ever scheduled. [Ed. of 464th BG newsletter - Too bad there
are no pictures of this.]
While at Oudna, Lt. Porter was transferred to another squadron
(779) and I was upgraded to first pilot. Tommy Locke and John Nance checked me out and flew
with me as instructors on my first three or four training missions.
We departed Oudna and arrived at Gioia del Cole for combat duty
on 26 April '44. I flew Yellow "S" on most of my missions. The first Yellow "S"
got to be a wreck and they used it for parts and I got a new replacement aircraft, also designated
Yellow "S", a North American 'G' model which was much better than the old Model
"J" and I flew it the rest of my tour.
My 50th mission was to Budapest Hungary, 17 September '44.
We got two out of three ME-109s that hit our box that day.
After completing my missions, I was sent to Rome for a week's
rest leave, then to Naples and home by boat. I was discharged in Nov '45 at Randolph Field TX.
Schad's Crew: Paul J. Schad - P, Arthur M.
Greshemer - CP, Harry H. Blau - N, Stanley G. Shiller - B, Samuel Lasky - R/BG,
William R. Droschkey - E/TTG, Carl J. Zkiab - NG, Jack V. Teller - WG, Riney W.
Hay - TG, Charles E. Cope - WG.
Back to Our War Stories.
From the Feb. '98 issue of the 464th Bomb Group Newsletter.
Published with the permission of Tony Schneider, Sec./NL Ed. (464th, 776)
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![[Graphic] Snapshots from the 464th Bombardment Group.](../images/flagd.jpg)