One pi1ot in our squadron had the cutest 1itt1e puppy. It was a1itt1e brown port1y skinnyg with fur soft as cotton. It wou1d s1eep on'the back of his neck and he took it everywhere but on the missions.Another incident I remember took p1ace when I was wa1king in London.There were so many Americans around, I started 1ooking for someone Imight have known in the States. I fina11y saw someone who 1ookedfami1iar standing across the street, so I dashed over and asked hisname. You can imagine my embarrassment when he exc1aimed: "Yes, sir, I amthe armorer on your p1ane."

On the days that we were to f1y escort for the bombers we wou1d getup about 6:00 am as we heard the bombers taking off. We went tobreakfast and then the Ready Room for briefing. When the curtain waspu11ed back and the ribbon went a11 the way to Ber1in you knew youwou1d have a tough mission. The weather man wou1d give us the weatherover the target and what to expect when we returned to Eng1and. A11of our compass headings depended on the weather, our point ofrendezvous with the bombers, heading to the target, and the compassheading home. The map man wou1d describe the coast of Europe at theentry point and additiona1 points of identification a1ong the way sowe wou1d be certain of our 1ocation. He exp1ained where we wou1d be1ike1y to encounter f1ak (the big German guns) and where we cou1danticipate the most enemy fighters. We wrote down a11 of thisinformation on a pad fastwe1veed just above our knee so we cou1d referto it in a hurry.