At a pre-mission briefing at 340th headquarters in the autumn of 1944, our CO, W.F. Chapman, called for silence as he prepared to tell us all about the target for the day. He cleared his throat and said, “Our target for today is the railroad bridge near the town of Parma.” From my seat near the front of the room I gasped and then exclaimed, “Oh, no!” My reaction had been as involuntary as a sneeze.
Col. Chapman seemed stunned; he turned away from the map and glared at me. “Mr. Lynch, what is your objection to bombing the target at Parma?” he asked.
I replied, “Colonel, I'm sorry I overreacted; it just happens that I love Parmesan cheese and it's a product of Parma.”
Most of the men saw the humor and chuckled a bit, but not the colonel.
“Mr. Lynch, if your love for Parmesan cheese is so great, then perhaps you will make a special effort to get your bombs directly on the railroad bridge and not the cheese factory!”
“Yes, sir, I understand. Hit the bridge and not the cheese factory, yes sir!”
We managed to destroy the railroad bridge at Parma that morning. Not one bomb hit the cheese factory.1
After my father's death in 2002, Hal Lynch, in a letter to my mother, included the following: “Bill never selected an ‘easy’ combat mission during those years we flew over Italy, France, Austria, and Yugoslavia. If it was to be an especially dangerous mission, Bill Chapman could always be found in the lead ship, first over the target, always.” — Author
Aug. 21, 1944: Bombing bridge at Parma.
Heller and Yohannan were on this mission.
