Twelve or nearly one-third of our 39th Bomb Group aircraft were damaged - eight of these were extensively. Two crew members were killed and upwards to 100 searchlight beams had flooded the target area.

As we hobbled home on three engines, it was realized that "foxhole" religion was not just for the ground soldier, for this night a crew of airmen had embraced the it too.

It was this mission, that resulted in a name for our yet unnamed airplane. Bob Spaulding suggested "Lord's Prayer," it was unanimously accepted for obvious reasons.

Among other raids remembered was our second mission - our target, the Kawanishi Aircraft Factory. On takeoff, a plane directly ahead of us crashed into the sea and exploded, setting a large area around the crash scene ablaze. Crew 5 was erroneously reported as the unfortunate crew! It turned out to be a 29th Bomb Group aircraft. Bob Laird received a second shock when he learned that among those lost as one of his closest friends - "Red" Hennebury from Vermont's neighboring state - New Hampshire.

There was the daylight mission on Nagoya - our 13th. Miranda's Crew 13 with Group C.O. Col. George W. Mundy aboard, was mortally damaged by two burst of flak. We participated in their rescue by dropping out of formation to cover them. Through the combination of pilots Spaulding and Baldi and navigator Ed Edmundson were able to locate and lead P-13 to an Air-Sea Rescue sub only eight (8) miles off the coast. Col. Mundy and Capt. Miranda - the last to leave the stricken plane, were less that one-thousand feet when they parachuted to safety. Both would receive the Silver Star medal; a second DFC would later be bestowed on our airplane commander, Bob Spaulding.

L to R: Jack Magirl, Radio; Bob Laird, LG; Mike Revock, TG; Stan Phillips, RG

Last, our crew will long remember the night we were returning from an Osaka raid. Iwo Jima, as well as all the Marianas bases, were socked in - ceiling zero. Finally, with our fuel supply dwindling, we made the first landing on Guam using the newly installed GCA (Ground Controlled Approach) System. This had replaced the earlier method ILS - (Instrument Landing System). Although there were moments of apprehension, it went off without a hitch - a safe and perfect landing.

Hostilities ended as were returning to from our 26th mission - an incendiary raid on the small town of Isesaki.