S/SGT. Carrozza RADIO – GUN
After posting the mission log book I interviewed my dad. I had a lot of questions about the occurances and the people involved. Dad didn’t enter certain kinds of information in his mission log. He just kept to the facts. On the log I have created hyperlinks to the information below.
“They provided us with specialized survival kits in case we went down. When we flew from Brazil to Europe they gave us a jungle survival kit. It included fish hooks, candy and the suggestion that we eat whatever we see monkeys eating…even if they roll over a log and eat the grubs underneath! ” “The kit we got once in Europe included candy, a booklet with common phrases in several European languages, and a set of pictures that the French resistance could use to make you fake I.D.” “I speak fluent Italian that I learned from my parents. I didn’t speak much English til I went to school. In high school I learned French and was quite good at it.” “I believe that if I survived getting shot down that I could have passed as an Italian or Frenchman.”
“During training in the states I crossed paths literally with a Lt. Young, a navigator/bombardier. I was leaving the mess hall with a friend or two, Young was coming the other way.”
“We were not all that formal on the base in regard to saluting officers, after all we all flew together. The other guys saluted Young and I neglected to. Young turned around and dressed me down. ‘Don’t you know you’re supposed to salute an officer!” he said. ‘Do you want to spend a few hours standing here practicing?” he continued. I figured he didn’t want to stand there practicing with me so he let me go after the tongue lashing.” “You can bet I resented his attitude.”
“A short time later, after we had all been transported to Stansted, England, Lt. Young came up to me put his arm around me and made nice…’How ya doin’ Carrozza!’
“I don’t think it was a coincidence that we had just been instructed to test our guns over the English channel during each mission. We were also told to be careful when we did it. Being a side gunner and radio operater, I could be a real liability to a Lieutenant who had made enemies.”
“I remember a guy named Femia. Every mission he would get the urge to defecate on route. He used a cardboard box that had held ground cover material (anti-radar tinsel). It was kind of funny I guess, but the ground crew didn’t appreciate having to clean up after this guy.” “Femia was directed to drop the box over Germany in the future.”
