Caen houses stood one minute, gone next, says Long Island flier
A U.S. fighter-bomber base (UP) –
One minute the houses of Caen were sitting side by side and the next minute there weren’t any houses in the center of the town at all.
There was nothing but flames, rubble and flying dust, Capt. James F. McCarthy, 26, Massapequa, Long Island, Thunderbolt pilot, told about it today.
He said:
I have never seen anything in my life which frightened me more. I have never seen such devastation, such sudden destruction.
We dropped down through the overcast on inspection. All of a sudden Caen just went completely to pieces in the center. Sidewalks, trees, houses, parked vehicles seemed to melt away.
At first, we didn’t realize what had happened. Then we noticed rapid blinking from the coast and realized the town was being subjected to heavy naval gunfire. A heavy naval broadside had blown out the belly of that German strongpoint.