George's Service Diary: Tues., Jan. 5

Up at 5:15 after a restless night, with a heavy schedule ahead of us. Early escort mission to Wau was cancelled at the very last moment, to the vast disgust of the boys who got up to take it. Wrote to Betty last night, enclosing money orders for £80. Also received two telegrams from her last night, acknowledging receipt of the money and also of my wire re the consular matter. She says all is running smoothly, praise be. My ship "Betty", no. 45, now has a record log of over 265 engine hours, a record for combat, and we are sweating out 300 hours for it. She's a good old ship, and with a new engine would compete with the best of them. One mission, took off at 10:45, patrolled Buna, and landed at 1:10. Much activity over the area, B-26’s bombing, A-20’s and B-25’s, P-38’s, P-39’s, and our own P-40’s. No enemy resistance. Afternoon off, loafed about doing nothing. No mail! Why?

George's Service Diary: Mon. Jan. 4

Red flights have the morning off again, so we slept late. During the night there was a terrific storm of wind and rain, and we thought our tent was going to blow over, but it held up.  Makouski got up and let the flaps down, grumbling and groaning worse than an old woman. Went on the alert at noon, with a patrol scheduled for 3:15, but weather put a stop to it, and we were relieved at 5:00. In the evening, Capt. Allmon told us that American troops have Buna mission, and the case of the Japs in the Buna area is hopeless. Let’s hope he’s right. Rain has made the strips on the other side temporarily unserviceable. Played some poker in the evening and won.

George's Service Diary: Sun. Jan. 3

Red flights on alert for the morning, with two morning missions scheduled, but rain early in the morning and clouds all morning caused both missions to be cancelled. In fact, we didn’t even have to get up until 9:30; went down to the line at 10, came back up at 11:30. During the afternoon I went to town and bought a money-order for 80 pounds to send to Betty before I lost it gambling. Was paid 89 pounds and sent her 80. While in town I stopped at the laundry to pick up my laundry. It had been there for three weeks, due to the laundry’s breakdown, and no one knew where anyone’s laundry was. So I hunted around and found about half of my own clothes. But I picked up enough to finish out my list, and resolved to send no more laundry there. When I got back I told the rest of the boys, and they went in to get their clothes.

George's Service Diary: Sat. Jan. 2

Another day of rain, no flying, but Capt. Porter’s flights sat on the alert. The flights have all been rearranged, due to the arrival of several new boys, and I am now leading 2nd element in Capt. Porter’s “Red” flight, with Wenige on my wing. We were scheduled for a mission to patrol Buna from 1245 to 1400, but weather closed in and the flight was cancelled just as we were taxiing out to take off. Many sighs of relief, for it is no fun sweating out bad weather in this country of mountains and sudden storms. During the afternoon Capt. Porter and I went across to the other side of Kila strip to look for pieces of Zeros which were shot down here during early strafing raids, but no success. No doubt the area has been very thoroughly combed before by everyone else. Also played some 3-handed cribbage with Teahan and Gelatka, and beat them both.

Two packages (but no letters) arrived from Betsey; a cake and this little item. Both were greatly appreciated, and the cake, which I opened in the Officer’s Mess after supper, lasted about 10 minutes. Every one seems to have been bitten by the crap-shooting bug, and Major Sims made about 65 pounds, winning about 5 pounds of mine.

George's Service Diary: Fri. Jan. 1, 1943

The new year got off to a poor start with a day of rain and low clouds, saved only by an unusual and pleasant coolness in the air. Most of our planes were on the other side of the mountains overnight, having landed at Dobodura because this side was closed in. No flying here, and when Capt. Wright and his flights got back, they had much of interest to tell about the “other side.” During their night over there, 50 Japs got out of Buna and headed southeast, toward Dobodura and Oro Bay. So the boys slept, when at all, with their 45’s in their hands.

About This Blog

The blog is a memorial to George & Elizabeth Davis. I will post photos and other documents about their life.

George's Service Diary

This was a gift from Betty to George. He carried on with it for a month and then she picked it up a few months later on her trip to the states.