Mission 13

December 18, 1942    Biskra, Africa

    I'm really a tired Indian tonight. Up at 6:00, breakfast at 7:00, briefing at 8:00, take off at 9:30 and over the target, Bizerte, at 11:45. I saw more flak than I've ever seen before. We were just damn lucky not losing a plane in the group from fighters and anti-aircraft. The 97th followed us over and lost two planes. Back home at 13:50 we were interrogated, had some stew and tea, then worked like hell loading bombs and filling up with gas the rest of the afternoon.     Writing by flash light after having irish stew, tea, and a bottle of Mascara for dinner.

December 19, 1942

    Biskra, Africa    Nothing happened today. I was awakened this morning by some one yelling that we had eggs for breakfast and of course I hit, or rather got off the floor immediately.    Went through the Garden of Alla this morning and enjoyed wandering through the trails covered over by palm and date trees. Saw my first rubber tree. Spent the rest of the morning wandering through the most filthy town I've seen yet. Dominoes is the chief means of entertainment, outside of the wine bars. The game is played exactly the same as ours except that they down the double blank every time and the marking is different.    Carried the men three bottles of wine this afternoon, to keep their morale up.    Sent Christmas greetings to the folks at home through the message center.

December 20, 1942

    Biskra, Africa    Routine -- nothing happened.

December 21, 1942

    Biskra, Africa    Routine -- nothing except that I got racked out of my position by a 1st Lt. on the mission today, but no bombs were dropped and no enemy opposition was offered so I didn't miss anything.

December 22, 1942   

    Moved from a bad hotel to a lot worse.