After writing one too many stories about troops who had taken off to bomb Germany never to come back, Andy Rooney, along with seven other World War II correspondents, wanted to see the action.

“We were tired of going up to those air bases and interviewing young guys our age that had lost friends in battle and returning to the comforts of London that night,” Rooney said, according to Timothy Gay’s book, “Assignment to Hell.”

So, in a bold move, the reporters requested permission to ride along on an air raid so they could write about the dangers of bombing missions through vivid, firsthand accounts.