ÿþ<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>The 380th Bombardment Squadron of the 310th Bombardment Group</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#CCFFCC"> <Center><A NAME="Contents"> <IMG SRC="380thTitlePage.jpg" Width=642 Height=186> </Center><BR> <CENTER><FONT SIZE="5"> <FONT COLOR=BLUE><B>T/Sgt. Ralph Merrell Truly<BR> </FONT COLOR=BLUE></font size=5><BR> <Font Size=4><B> <IMG SRC="Truly01.jpg" Width=800 Height=537><BR> Radio gunner Ralph Truly of the 380th Bombardment Squadron is standing on the far right with the sunglasses in the above crew picture next to B-25J "She's Engaged." Standing on the left is Leroy Bradley. The Commander of this aircraft was 1st Lt. John W. Allen and the Crew Chief was T/Sgt. Elton T. Larsen. It's hard to read, but the serial number looks like 43-27553.<BR><BR><BR> <IMG SRC="Truly02.jpg" Width=351 Height=500> <A HREF="truly1st36combatmissions.html" target="_blank"><IMG SRC="Truly04.jpg"></A><BR> Ralph Truly (left image) enlisted in Lubbock, TX in January 1941 and was sent to Puerto Rico where he met his future wife on the plaza in Juana Diaz. They were married in 1943. Truly served from January 1941 to October 1945. The fascinating details for his first 36 of 76 missions were transcribed from his combat mission diary (right image). Just click on the diary for an interesting read.<BR><BR><BR> <IMG SRC="Truly03.jpg" Width=500 Height=422><BR> The photograph above clearly shows where flak dented the earflap of Ralph Truly's flak helmet on his 14th combat mission to bomb a road bridge at Pozzolo, Italy. Truly's own words describe it best:<BR><BR><Font Color=Blue> "September 23, 1944<BR> #14 Mission<BR> Take Off  0840<BR> Plane  B-25-J 642<BR> Bomb Load  four 1000 lbers.<BR> Target  roadbridge at Lonata Pozzolo, Italy. Bad weather and couldn t get to target.<BR> Caught heavy, intense and accurate flak from two places. Bombardier in lead ship was<BR> hit so the nav. was giving him medical aid and got off course some. The first few<BR> bursts were exactly on us. Two big pieces came through radio compartment. Hit the<BR> ear piece of my flak helmet. Dented it in, cut a big slit in it, bursted my head-sets.<BR> The ole flak helmet saved my life for sure. The flak would have gone in one ear<BR> and out the other one. Photo lab took it to make some pictures of it.<BR> Flew with Akins again. Shultz didn t get back from rest camp in time to<BR> get on the roster. I have the good Lord himself to thank for that luck.<BR> Can t take many more like that.<BR> Landed Corsica 1205. Didn t drop bombs 3:25 = 44:34"<BR><BR><BR></Font Color=Blue> My father flew his 34th mission to <A HREF="missionlog2.html" target="_blank">Pozzolo</A> and recorded the following: "Bridge - Fighter scare - Milk run." <BR><BR> Go back to the <A HREF="310380.html">380th Bomb Squadron Index</A><BR><BR> Go back to the 310th Bombardment Group <A HREF="310th.html">Squadron Index</A><BR><BR> <BR><BR><BR> If you have any comments or suggestions please <A HREF="mailto:310thBG@gmail.com?Subject=The 310th Bombardment Group"> email me</A>.<BR><BR> <!--WEBBOT bot="HTMLMarkup" startspan ALT="Site Meter" --> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript">var site="sm6Fstella"</script> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript1.2" src="http://sm6.sitemeter.com/js/counter.js?site=sm6Fstella"> </script> <noscript> <a href="http://sm6.sitemeter.com/stats.asp?site=sm6Fstella" target="_top"> <img src="http://sm6.sitemeter.com/meter.asp?site=sm6Fstella" alt="Site Meter" border=0></a> </noscript> <!-- Copyright (c)2000 Site Meter --> <!--WEBBOT bot="HTMLMarkup" Endspan --> </B></Font Size=4> </Center> </BODY> </HTML>