324

John Martin.

Diary of a nose gunner on a bomber over Germany.

Various places, 4 February to 27 May 1944
[27] manuscript pages. 12mo, 6¼ x 4 inches, original limp cloth, minor wear, rebacked with tape; a few leaves torn out.

  • Notes:

    This slim diary has more than its share of drama. The author was a nose gunner on a B-17 in the 351th Bombardment Group, flying out of the Polebrook air base in England. He flew 30 bombing missions to Germany and France. 

    On 20 February 1944 he participated in Operation Argument, a.k.a. "Big Week," an effort to knock out German airfields before Normandy:  "351st went to Leipzig. . . . We were jumped by about 25 German fighters south of Hanover. . . . It was pretty hot until our second relay of escort P-51s showed up." He notes the deaths of Lieutenant Walter Truemper and sergeant Archibald Mathies, who were awarded Congressional Medals of Honor.

    His most dramatic entry was on a 6 March raid to Berlin: "We were ‘tail end Charlie' and our chances for an old age pension didn't seem promising. . . . The whole sky seemed to fill with Me 210s, 110s, 109s and F.W. 190s. . . . They came in head on in bunches of sixes and sevens. One ship blew up in the high group and flaming pieces of airplanes fell among us, and one parachute—German. Engines, wings and parts of the fuselage and tail section drifted crazily past us. I thought my minutes were numbered. . . . A barrage of flak came up and our no. 3 engine was hit and started to throw oil all over the place." 

    On 20 March to Frankfurt, "we went stooging around trying to cut out of the flak but instead we ran right into it, and got a few holes. I was flying nose and could see the stuff breaking all around us in ugly black puffs."

    In his final entry on 27 May, he describes the loss of much of his squadron: "One side of the barracks was cleaned out yesterday. Both Evans & Sengstock's crew are gone. Lost a lot of good boys: Ronnie Pope, Kopf, Sahulik, Weatherholt, Kovacs, Green. . . . The group lost 6 ships, ¼ of the 8th Air Force losses for the day." He records Dan Kopf's address and father's name, apparently to write a condolence letter.

    The first two pages are a list of Martin's 30 operational missions going back to May 1943, although not all are described in the diary. Near the rear is a list of Martin's "original crew" and their fates. Of the 11 men listed, 3 were killed in action, 6 were prisoners of war, one lost a leg, and one completed his tour.

    8 pages have a red outline stencil of a bomb superimposed on the text, suggestive of the stamps found in whaling logs of an earlier generation.

    This diary is signed by John Martin on the front pastedown. He mentions serving in the 351st Bombardment Group, and all of the airmen he mentions were in that group's 508th Bombardment Squadron. We find a Technical Sergeant John M. Martin also in that squadron, possibly the same John M. Martin of Cincinnati who was training with the Army Air Force in Fresno, CA per the Cincinnati Enquirer of 10 November 1942. 
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