Tail gunner James Burton and crew collected a brand new B-24 on D-day, landed in Ireland three days later and went on to join the 44th BG at Shipdham. On one mission their plane was badly shot up and the pilot - deciding that he could not land safely- ordered the crew to be prepared to bail out. Burton discovered that his parachute was unusable and asked for permission to stay with the ship. The rest of the crew then asked to be allowed to stay on board. The landing was rough, they 'ground-looped' off the runway but but fortunately nobody was injured.