We had two excellent chaplains that served with the 467th Bomb Group. They were always available to crew members prior to taking off on a mission. There were no atheists in the 467th. The recent loss of our friends on Christmas Day, December 29th, and New Years Day was still vivid in our minds. I remember Father Cornelius A. Sharbaugh who was from St. Francis Monastery, Loretto,
Pennsylvania, and the chaplain Arthur L. Duhl who was from Wellston, Ohio. Father Sharbaugh and the priest in the M.A.S.H. television series have similar attributes.

Our mission to Dresden on January 16, 1945, was as a squadron lead; we assembled and made our flight across the English channel. The pilot's name was Shultz, and naturally, he was known as Dutch Schultz. It took us 9 hours and 15 minutes for the round trip. We dropped six 500 pound general purpose bombs on the marshalling yard at Dresden. This was my twelfth mission, and I was
recommended for a second Air Medal. General Orders #36 was issued on January 24, 1945, for this medal.

Some of the brass in the British high command did not think that the Eighth Air Force method of strategic bombing was the way to defeat the Nazi. The Royal Air Force bombed at night, and they used incendiary bombs on cities in retaliation for the way Hitler indiscriminately destroyed the English cities with there V-2 missiles and the atrocities at Coventry and London.

The Eighth Air Force was successful in proving that our strategic bombing of marshalling yards, oil refineries, airfields, factories, and bridges did contribute greatly to the defeat of the Nazi.