Algiers

We spent the night in transit quarters in Algiers. We slept on rope beds with a blanket underneath us and one blanket on top - I never got so cold in my life. The next day Johnson, the bombardier, and I went to town. We wore our 45 pistols on our side. The people kept a good eye on us. The MP's looked at us, but passed on by. We found out later that you were not supposed to wear your 45 pistol in town.

In Algiers my friend, Lt. Birmingham, showed up. He was mad because before he landed in Algiers he asked the bombardier how high the mountains were and was told some figure that was not too high. When Birmingham descended through the overcast he saw that there were very high mountains every where he looked. He asked bombardier for the map and realized that the bombardier had misread the map. It was in meters and not feet, which meant the mountains, were almost three times higher than he had been told. If Birmingham had known this he would have made his decent through the overcast over the sea and then flown into the airport.(Continued)