Duane P. Schultz

“Stewart polled the crew. What did they want to do? Should they try to make it home, knowing they might have to ditch in the open sea if they ran out of gas or developed more mechanical problems? They knew that in open water, B-24s tended to break apart and sink fast, sometimes before the crew could get out. Before anyone could answer Stewart’s question, Richard Bartlett, a waist gunner, spoke up. Before they all voted on a course of action, Bartlett said, he wanted to make a speech.“You call this an ocean?” he said, referring to the Mediterranean.“We got rivers in Montana wider than this. Let’s go! Our skipper can set this thing down in the middle of the Med just like a kitten.”
― Duane P. Schultz, Into the Fire: Ploesti, the Most Fateful Mission of World War II