Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
6:05 | Eric Holmes describes what he was doing after he was taken off regular bombing duties. These included helping organize and staff missions that came down from headquarters. He also tells the story about a non-human crew member that would go with a certain crew, and his friend Dale Stillwell who was injured on a bombing run.
Eric Holmes talks about his training journey, which took him to Mississippi, Texas, Utah, Iowa, New Hampshire, Wales and Britain. These stops were where he and other members of his crew trained to fly bombers.
Eric Holmes and the rest of his B-17 crew arrived in England the afternoon of D-Day. Mr. Holmes talks about conditions on the plane and what a typical mission day was like. He also talks about his first bombing run problems, which resulted in the bombing of a not so important target.
As Eric Holmes started his bombing missions into Germany, he experienced a mission where his plane took heavy damage. He also describes how the stress of missions was affecting some of the men.
