William Fitch

William Fitch was the top turret gunner on Lane Miller's crew.  He wrote the following about the July 24, 1944 mission:

Target - Genoa Italy

The crew was pleased to hear we were going to bomb Submarine pens at Genoa. It would be easy after Ploesti and Munich. There was not much flak but had us zeroed in. Copilot Alan Barnette wounded in the head, unconscious. Pilot Lane Miller was wounded in the leg.  He was losing blood pretty fast. A tourniquet was applied. Our pilot fainted from the loss of too much blood. All the hydraulic lines and some of the electrical wiring were shot up. We left formation to go home alone. Our navigator Andri Lesorte and radio operator Roy Yates gave setting for home-flight, and engineer Joe Ripley flew plane home on automatic pilot, mostly. The crew decided to all stay with the plane instead of bailing out. The pilot came to before we reached base. He gave the engineer instructions on what to do if he fainted again, to try and land plane. With engineer doing most of physical procedures, the pilot made a perfect landing "no flaps". Pilot and copilot were going to be okay.

376 ARCHIVES

The website 376bg.org is NOT our site nor is it our endowment fund.

At the 2017 reunion, the board approved the donation of our archives to the Briscoe Center for American History, located on the University of Texas - Austin campus.

Also, the board approved a $5,000 donation to add to Ed Clendenin's $20,000 donation in the memory of his father. Together, these funds begin an endowment for the preservation of the 376 archives.

Donate directly to the 376 Endowment

To read about other endowment donation options, click here.


My Trip to San Pancrazio

October 2019


Reunion

NOTE change in month !!!

DATES: Oct 26-29, 2023

CITY:Tucson, AZ

HOTEL: Double Tree Suites Airport hotel

7051 South Tucson Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85756

520-225-0800


Click here to read about the reunion details.

previous reunions


For Sale

The Other Doolittle Raid


The Broken Wings of Zlatibor


The Liberandos


Three Crawford Brothers


Liberando: Reflections of a Reluctant Warrior


376th Bomb Group Mission History


The Last Liberator


Full Circle


Shadows of Wings


Ten Men, A "Flying Boxcar," and A War


I Survived Ploesti


A Measure of Life


Shot Down In Yugoslavia


Stories of My Life


Attack


Born in Battle


Bombardier's Diary


Lost Airmen


Langdon Liberando