Ang and his crew received orders for their change of station. His Form 5 shows an Administrative Flight on the 12th so I assume this was their flight from North Africa to Corsica, to join the 340th Bomb Group, 57th Bomb Wing. They were just in time for the German attack on Corsica airfields during the night of May 12-13. Of course he doesn't mention this when he wrote to Betty the next day. We might not know his part of this story except that he wrote about it in his scrapbook and included a clipping about it from the 340th Bomb Group's Second Anniversary booklet. He dates his scrapbook note as May 11 which is one of many times he misdated information or was just confused about a date. Years later, we teased him about his inability to remember our birth dates. As noted earlier, Ang Adams was a storyteller and I am fully aware that he took a great deal of poetic license in the telling of his tales. I appreciate that he kept most of the gory details out of his letters and the bedtime stories he told us. The German attack resulted in loss of life and damage to planes and equipment. Some of the men now on Corsica had already survived the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in March 1944, and now, in spite of another major cleanup task, the 340th Squadrons showed their typical grit and determination and managed to send some remaining planes on scheduled missions less than 12 hours after the attack. (You can read more about the effects of Vesuvius here http://www.warwingsart.com/12thAirForce/Vesuvius.html and about the German attack here http://57thbombwing.com/340th_History/340th_Diary/17_May1944.pdf ) Friday May 12. Terribly warm today. Met Pat and Shirl [friends from high school] after work. Had dinner and walked all evening. A’s pictures are very good. Form 5. A-12, Administrative flight as navigator, B25-J, 2:45h May 13. Not so warm today. Shopped all P.M Bot a suit & coat. Napped and did laundry. Read papers. wrote Ang—bed 12:00. [V-Mail] 5-13-44 Corsica Hello Wifey: You’ve probably noticed the change in address—well that should be definite. This is home for quite awhile—I hope! In case you can’t read it in the little box-- 486th Bomb Sq. 340 Bomb Group APO 650 I suppose you’ve also noticed the “Corsica.” How do you like that? I didn’t even know that it was in our hands—much less expect to be here. I’ll tell you more about it after I’ve had a chance to look around. I think I’m going to like it here very much. all the fellows seem very nice—and the informality is wonderful. That’s about all for now-- I love you darling Love, Ang 5/11/44 First day with outfit Also Jerry raided the hell out of us. Landed at field at about 6PM. After eating, were assigned to tents, Being new and eager, I asked my "veteran" tentmates if I should dig a fox hole. "Hell no," says my "veteran" tentmates. "Jerry won't come over." At about 9PM Jerry hit the night fighter field up the line. "Wasn't that a sight?" said my "veteran" tentmates, "maybe tomorrow we'd better dig fox holes." At about 11PM Jerry visited us. The ack-ack woke me up; but since it didn't seem to disturb the snoring of my "veteran" tentmates, I tried to go back to sleep. However a few seconds later, the ammo dump went up and we all got out to see the show. We stood in the company street so we wouldn't miss anything. Jerry laid a string of frags about a hundred yards away. Up until then I had done everything my "veteran" tentmates had--I figured they knew what they were doing--but after that I hit the biggest hole I could find, and beat all the "veterans" to it. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The next day I found out that the outfit hadn't been raided in over a year--therefore none of the "veterans" had ever been in one---and they didn't know anymore about what to do than I did---the damn fools! AFTERMATH OF RAID
“Helpful” Adams (that’s me) walking along. Saw Capt. Lee digging fox hole. He had hit water and it was oozing around his ankles Said “Helpful” Adams, “Say Capt. Lee, you’ve hit water.” A disgusted look crept over his face as he looked up at me. “God damn it, I know it!” I couldn’t imagine what he’d gotten made at, but I had enough sense to slink away. I wonder what he got mad at?
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AuthorJoni Adams Sesma, daughter of Angelo and Elizabeth Adams. Ang served on Corsica with the 57th Bomb Wing, 340th Bomb Group, 486th Bomb Squadron. April 1944-April 1945. Archives
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