From War Tales site "He was a tail gunner in a B-24 over Germany on Christmas" by Don Moore.
Stanley Niemczura of Gardens of Gulf Cove was a tail gunner in a B-24 Liberator in the 15th Air Force.
On December 25, 2015, he and the nine other members of his crew joined a couple hundred other B-24s to stage a raid on Drux, Germany. (I was unable to find a Drux, Germany, but one source mentioned the name along with Munich. Perhaps it is part of that city?)
Instead, they ended up bombing Villach, a railroad marshaling yard. (I was also unable to find this city).
The bombers made two runs over the site before dropping their bombs but missed it by about two miles. Most of the bombs landed in a farmer's field and house.
Because it was overcast at their home base, they ended up landing at Foggia, Italy, and hedgehopped their way back to home base at Cerignola, Italy.
Once back, the mess halls had to reopen so they could have their Christmas dinner. They finally got to eat their turkey at 1900 hours Mr. Niemczura remembered, "Everybody was PO-ed."
He eventually flew 26 missions and was almost shot down on several occasions. His crew was one of the first to be shipped back home upon germany's surrender because they were amongthe first deployed.
--GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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