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Re: George Preddy's final mission. How many kill markings did he have before Dec 25th 1944 and how many kills that day?
The last total kills displayed on CAM 3rd when he departed for the states in late August was 31. When he returned late October, a number of photos were taken of the last Cripes and they show 31 kills displayed which tells me that I have no pictures that were taken of the last Cripes after he was made CO of the 328th. He gets his first vic as CO on Nov. 2 '44, a single 109 and another 190 victory on 21 November '44. I have to assume that Art Snyder, his chief, would have over a period spanning from 21 Nov to 23 December when he departed for Y-29, would have added those to kills to the already displayed 31 making the last number of vics on the last Cripes being 33. This is the assumption Sam Sox Jr. used when he prepared decals for that last Cripes. No photos have merged documenting this however. But Sam can't believe that Art Snyder would have failed to have brought the correct vic marks up to date in a period of almost 7 weeks prior to the squadron going over to Europe.
He did not shoot down the long nose 190 that he was pursuing on Christmas Day. We have never received any info regarding what unit that 190 was from.
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