It's still a challenge to imagine the emotions every last one of the 8th AF bomber command must have felt on each mission. Essentially, they endured an "ambush" for about 30 minutes while they were flying straight and level from the IP to the target, then when the fighters left them alone, they had to withstand an artillery barrage for another 15 minutes...all without a 'pill box' to hide in. He let a little bit of his own feelings out in the diary when describing the sights of other B17s going down in flames, or exploding.
I've heard that Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg intend to film and release a series next year called "Masters of the Air", about an 8th AF squadron, next year...hope so, as I'm sure they'll do a good job communicating what those guys went through.