Military - page 2

We were assigned to the Ninth Air Force and worked for General Patton's Third Army.  Flying from bases in Rennes, Château don, Dijon, Nancy in France and from Hagenau Alsace-Lorraine.

This F-5 Photo Recon P-38 arrived in the Squadron on July 1944 and was assigned to me.

 
In my airplane - 34th Photo Recon Squadron Château don, France Sept. 1944

 
Château don, France Taken after my 1st Mission 

I was awarded the Air Medal with Seven Oak Leaf Clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Our combat tactics were to go out alone between 9 and 5 o'clock to photograph enemy installations such as train marshalling yards (to see how many rail cars moved and where they went), Enemy Airfields, (to see how many, what kind, if any airplanes had been deployed at each airfield), Targets of opportunity, (which included  bomb targets, such as cities, railroad bridges, ammo dumps, highway bridges, plus any suspected build-up of any troops).  We mapped the front lines in our sector of the front everyday for 15 miles back (to check on troop movements, gun emplacements and supply build ups in our sector. 

Our squadron was completely self sufficient.  We could Photograph any thing the Third Army wanted and have the pictures in their hands 4 hours later.

When the European War was brought to a successful conclusion I returned to the states and was mustered out on 12-31-1945.

Although my career in the Army Air Corp was brief, just 3 years, it was extremely exciting although sometimes a little scary. I was credited with 260 combat hours through the 63 missions I flew.  - Larry Schmidt

More photos....