Robert Laurence, Mission, February 1, 1945

1 February 1945 --Ordinarily I fly with Charlie Andrews as his co-pilot; however on this day, I am scheduled to fly my 31st mission with Lt. Thompson and his crew on their 2nd mission. The target was Moosbierbaum, Austria, which had recently become a favorite of the scheduling brass. Because of past experiences with the intense and accurate flak over Moosbierbaum, I really wasn’t looking forward to this trip at all.

Off the coast of Yugoslavia, we were directed to leave the formation and search the Adriatic for a ditched aircraft. After an hour of searching, we located four survivors in a life raft. Contact with "Big Fence" resulted in a PBY who homed in on our radio. We circled until the rescue was complete and then returned to San Pan with our bombs. Felt real good to have participated in the rescue and been responsible for possibly saving four lives.