Just two days after his 22nd birthday, on August 6th, 1944 my father, Lt. Ernest Anders Erickson took off from Horham Airfield in England on a five mission shuttle run flying aboard a 334th Squadron B-17 called the "Lili of the Lamplight" (44-6085) with the 95th Bomb Group. In the ten days Ernest Anders and crew would experience a lifetime of action and experiences. The Lili flew their first mission over Rahmel, Poland followed by a landing at Poltava Airfield in the Ukraine. A second mission the next day over Trzebinia, Poland was completed and then a return to Poltava. A final mission over Buzau, Romania was in the books and from there they high-tailed to Foggia Airfield in Italy.

"Four missions completed in six days, not bad for a bunch of farm boys" my dad often said when I quizzed him on these missions. Even though he admitted only two thirds of the crew were from the farms.

After five days in Foggia and visits to Naples and Salerno the "Lili of the Lamplight" and crew left for a final mission of the five over Toulouse, France, their 34th mission before returning home to Horham Airfield in England.

Below is a stunning photograph my father took while at Poltava Airfield in the Ukraine. Notice the B-17 coming in for a landing over the old ruins of the abandoned buildings and tents of the men of the Air Corps.

My father's time in Italy after completing four missions as part of shuttle bombing run also included an excursion around the Italian countryside, a visit to two cities along the Mediterranean and nice view of Mount Vesuvius.

It was his longest assignment that began on August 5th, 1944, when the "Lili of the Lamplight" (44-6085) took off from Horham Airfield in England on the first in a series of five consecutive shuttle bombing missions which spanned the width of the European continent.

During that ten-day run Ernest and his crew encountered barrages of deadly flak fire and some Luftwaffe fighter resistance. After flying missions over Rahmel and Trzebien in Poland, and Bazau in Romania, the squadron landed at Poltava Airfield in the Ukraine, where they refueled and rearmed. They carried out one final mission in Eastern Europe and then headed towards the Mediterranean. They landed at the 15th Air Force base in Italy, formerly controlled by the Germans at Tortorella Airfield, referred to as Foggia Satellite No. 2. He spent the time in and around Foggia unwinding from the long week of flying. Soon enough he and some of the crew commandeered a jeep.

They visited the Mediterranean cities of Salerno & Naples and my father had a chance to photograph the allied ships which were moored in the harbor and scattered throughout the waterways. He took a stunning photograph of Mount Vesuvius.

In Foggia, a crew member captured what I have always thought were classic photos of my father standing in front of various abandoned Luftwaffe bombers. The photos were taken not long after the Allies had taken over the airfield. Abandoned equipment and airplanes were strewn across the countryside. The images in these photographs seem surreal, yet are a historic record of a very unique time. I look at them and imagine the chaotic retreat of the once highly disciplined and invincible German military.

By mid August the ship and crew left Foggia and completed one more mission, their 34th, over Toulouse, France before heading home to Horham. By late August my father awaited the day he would complete his last and final 35th mission. The cards laid out for that mission on August 26th, 1944 took a very uncertain last minute diversion.