Weekly Photo Challenge: Split Second

 

Dad Wrote “Bob and Ben Howard in the same crater” Mr. Cain wrote “1000 lb bomb crater dropped by US plane on 35th QM CO”

In a split second a 1,000 pound bomb was dropped on my father’s regiment. Two of his buddies, Bob Winter and Ben Howard are shown standing in the crater. A split second they did not think they would make it through. Here is what Dad says about it:

July 25 [1944] was the first big bombing the allies had in our sector. It also helped the breakthrough of St. Lo.  3600 of them and they all went over our area. One of them had engine trouble and unloaded his whole load of bombs and they hit all around us some within 200 yards of the area. Also in the same area we were bombed by the German’s but lucky us they missed by about 100 yards. Boy you should have seen some of the foxholes we were digging about then. 5 1/2 – 6 ft deep then we took brush and anything we could find and put them on the top and covered them with dirt until you could hardly see it and then we made our beds in it and there we slept, a moles life it was.

It’s weird that Dad makes no mention of the big bomb that was dropped. What Dad does not say here is one of the bombs that were dropped on them was dropped by a US plane. It was the biggest one as Mr. Cain writes on his photo, “1,000 lb bomb crater dropped by US plane on the 35th QM Co.” What would it have been like to be bombed by your own Army?

This was a split second that all of my father’s regiment made it through with no causalities. Someone was watching out for them.