1944, Cont'd
16 Aug 44		Ciampino Airdrome, Italy. I am promoted to Staff Sergeant; $126 Basic Pay; $63 Flying Pay; $25.20 Overseas Pay. I've never been so rich! Attended an audience with Pope Pius XII at the Vatican. He is much taller than I expected.
16-30 Aug 44		The squadron is deeply involved in flying missions in support of Major General Alexander Patch's 7th Amy in France. I flew a special mission with the squadron CO to an unidentified airstrip near Avignon. The field was still under construction, with heavy equipment preparing a strip in an open field. After circling the area for fifteen minutes. Colonel Cheney makes a landing in the mud. He no sooner shuts down when a brigadier general of the Corps of Engineers rushes up in a jeep, demanding Cheney to get out of the ship and explain his actions! With the rest of us behind him. Colonel Cheney stands at stiff attention, while the general chews him out for landing on a field that is not in operational condition. The CO explains that he was ordered here on a Special Mission, and that he is only carrying out the orders of 12th AF. Col. Cheney is commanded to get his ass out of the general's field, at once. At that moment, a dozen or so ragged Frenchmen rush out of the nearby forest and dash up to the ship. My hand drops to my .45, and I am disgusted to see that many of them are wearing flying jackets that are much better than mine. Before I can react further, one of the "Frenchmen" hollers, "Man, am I glad to see you!" It turns out that they are bomber crews that have been evading the Germans for the past two weeks. Now, I know the reason for our Special Mission! The tattered bunch climb into our ship, tear into the three cases of K-Rations that we are carrying, and eat as if they were starving, which they probably were! I just tell them to eat all they want, pass out my cigarettes, and we are out of the sight of the fuming general. It was a gratifying mission.
31 Aug 44	12th Troop Carrier Command is deactivated, and we now come directly under the newly activated 12th Tactical Air Command.
	17th TROOP CARRIER SQUADRON 12th Air Force - MATAF-- MAAF 12th Tactical Air Command
8-31/9-5 1944	Missions in support of Patch's 7th Army continue; 17th ordered to France.
5-14 Sep 44	Istres-le-Tube Airfield, France. As with the CBI deployment, the squadron moves immediately to this large grassy airfield. The squadron takes over an attractive neighborhood in the village of Istres, and I am quartered in a beautiful chalet, complete with maid service! By the end of the first day, the 64th had delivered 164,000 pounds of cargo to the front lines in the Belfort Gap area, near the Swiss border. As usual, we encountered adverse weather conditions nearly on a daily basis, and the sighting of enemy planes is not unusual. We carry a continuous supply of fuel in jerricans and 55-gallon drums; food, ammo and replacement personnel, evacuating wounded on each trip. The 17th is ordered to participate in OPERATION DRAGOON, under the direct command of Eisenhower's SHAEF; 12th Tactical Air Command is now a separate command in France, under SHAEF.
	OPERATION DRAGOON Support of Maj General Patch's 7^th and Lt General Jacob Dover's 6th U S Armies
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