Lt Dick McWherter
94th FS (2-0-0)
Youks les Bains, Algeria,
Dec 1942
KIA 15 Jan 1943 (accident)
Photo courtesy Jack Cook

Camouflaged 1st Aid tent at Youks les Banins

(Entries below printed from Glen Edwards' diary at: http://www.warbirdforum.com/grim.htm)

"The drome is a dry lake. Don't need runways, but when it rains we can't operate because of mud. Very good place for disposition, not only of men but also of planes and equipment. The men all live in pup tents with slit trenches handy."

December 14: Six A-20s from the 86th Squadron (the Grim Reapers) , flew over the Atlas Mountains to join the 94th at the muddy airfield at Youks-les-Bains, eighteen miles from the Kasserine Pass into Tunisia.

December 21, Youks-les-Bains A mission off, but had to return because of weather. The greater part of the day was spent in digging our slit trench deeper and playing bridge on the side. This afternoon we were peacefully reading books and a foursome playing bridge when the silence was broken by several bursts of ack-ack fire. We all hit the ditch and soon saw a Junkers 88 heading our way. He dove down from about 4,000 feet and started strafing. About this time all six of us were extremely displeased with our location and wishing our trench were very much deeper, or else that we were very much smaller. As one sergeant put it, you've never felt a thrill until you've heard a stick of bombs walking toward you. And walk they did, each one getting louder, the closest one landing about thirty yards away and shaking the ground a good bit. Four bombs were dropped, two of 500 lb. and two of 100 lb. One man was killed and one truck wrecked. The man who invented the slit trench was a genius I firmly believe.

December 22, Youks-les-Bains It seems there were three Junkers 88s which were subsequently knocked down by the P-38s. One of them crash landed and the crew was taken prisoner.

December 28, Youks-les-Bains Had a little dogfight over the field today. Three Messerschmitts came over and were tackled by one P-38. He got in a burst over the field but missed the Messerschmitt. However the P-38 soon caught the guy on the deck and blasted hell into him. Another P-38 accounted for [a second Messerschmitt] which is okay.