Oral History Interview with Eugene R. Cronin, February 1, 1972 Page: 18
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Cronin
18admired us because he had never been in an airplane and
was afraid of flying. We admired him so much because
he had been through two years of combat. He was the
middleweight boxing champion of New Zealand, or had
been, and we struck up quite a friendship with him. One
of his closest friends was a cook who was shot in this
same fight. The Germans had overrun their position.
Little things like that would have no particular interest,
I guess, except from the standpoint of the story. But
we had, you know, little things like that happen.
From what I gather, the ground combat in Italy was perhaps
about the roughest in the Second World War because it
was just like fighting from hill to hill with the Germans
usually holding the high ground.
We supported them. In those days, you had fighter air-
craft and intercepting aircraft and then medium bombers
and heavy bombers. Now today one aircraft does it all.
So it was odd that we did support the ground troops from
20,000 feet up in heavy bombardments by bombing targets
ahead of them. I know we were on one of those raids, I
remember, the opening of some kind of a front there in
Italy, and I remember our first raid was to support them,
get the ammunition dumps in front of the advancing ground
forces.
Incidentally, when you go over there as a rookie bomberMarcello:
Cronin:Marcello:
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Marcello, Ronald E. & Cronin, Eugene R. Oral History Interview with Eugene R. Cronin, February 1, 1972, book, February 1, 1972; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1529237/m1/20/?q=%22~1%22~1&rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Oral History Program.