Wilbur Mayhew Mission January 31, 1943

Post mission

The next morning we walked back to the "Pink Lady", and I think that walk was the most wonderful one I have ever taken. Of course, we did not walk very well, but at least we still were able to walk. When we looked over the old girl that morning, we patted the ground again. She was more damaged than we had realized the night before. A British intelligence officer was counting the holes in her when we arrived on the scene, and his total was above 700 ( the belly was caved in so no count could be made there ), so one can see she was considerably beaten up. Even the propellers had several holes apiece in them. I checked my ammunition supply and found I had only five rounds left. I'm glad I did not know that while I was in the air. The last we saw of the "Pink Lady" she was being readied to be pushed into the stone quarry.

About noon the same day we began loading what was left of our equipment into one of the planes that had covered our tail the day before. This plane had only two holes in it from the fight. We had to leave Pat behind in the hospital (he eventually lost both feet). We took off for our base at Abu Sueir about 1 :00 P.M. ( 1300). Our crew was still rather shaky when we took off Although Malta was controlled by the British, it was located approximately 200 hundred miles behind the German lines in North Africa. Thus, we easily could have encountered German fighter planes on our way home. Consequently, we were quite nervous all the way back to our base. It was a most glorious sight that night when we circled over the friendly lights of Abu Sueir to make our landing. We were very sorry we had to leave Pat on Malta. The thing that hurt us most, though, was the fact that Joe Taulbee and the rest of the crew he was flying with that day had not been able to get back.

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