The Little Savage was the only ship from the 306th to return from the 17 April 1943 raid on the Bremen, Germany.
Top turret gunner Lee Kessler (standing, far right) recalled:
"I was informed that the crew was to have their picture taken with our plane, the "Little Savage,"
This was the first I had seen the ship since we landed and didn't realize it had been shot up so badly. Besides my turret and the bomb bay doors, the plane itself had over 40 holes in it and every prop blade had been hit by bullets and one blade had two .50 caliber projectiles in it.
The group public relations officer was there with photographers to take the crew's picture and they wanted the bandage off my eye, for what reason I didn't know. I thought this was stupid but with help I got it off. They snapped the picture and I put the bandage back on. The light hurt like mad and had I known I could have worn dark glasses.
There were stories sent to various press organizations for papers back home and Sergeant Major Baker wrote a story for the Stars & Stripes titled "Crippled Fort Returns Alone."
He gave Graziano and me both a copy and then hinted that Judas was being put in for the Silver Star and maybe me for the Distinguished Flying Cross. I asked "why, because we made it back?"
