Diary pages from this date

W. E. Kirby died.

Death from malaria of Master Mariner William Kirby, aged 54.

Death – W.E. Kirby (54), Sec. China Coast Officers’ Guild (Cerebral Malaria)

Issue 6 ozs. Salt

Windy, showers, brightened pm.

Caen fell 9th. Russians broke into Vilna 9th. All other news good.

Rec. letter from Marj dated Aug.1943, all well with them both bless’em. Posted my monthly card to them.

With Steve pm.

OBJECTIVE: Reconnaissance flight over Canton airfields

RESULTS: No aircraft are observed on the ground at Tien Ho and White Cloud airbases

TIME OVER TARGET: ~5:25 p.m.

AMERICAN UNITS AND AIRCRAFT: Two P-51s from 76^th Fighter Squadron (23^rd Fighter Group)

AMERICAN PILOTS AND AIRCREW: Major Charles E. Griffith; Lt. Reeves

ORDNANCE EXPENDED: None

JAPANESE UNITS, AIRCRAFT, AND PILOTS: Eight Ki-44 that likely belong to the 85^th Sentai attempt to intercept the P-51s without success.

AIRCRAFT LOSSES: None

SOURCES: Original mission reports and other documents in the Air Force Historical Research Agency archives at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.

Information compiled by Steven K. Bailey, author of Bold Venture: The American Bombing of Japanese-Occupied Hong Kong, 1942-1945 (Potomac Books/University of Nebraska Press, 2019).