35. “You’ll Either Get a Distinguished Service Cross Or a Court Martial Out of This Mission”
Later that evening, Alton Quanbeck and Al Diefendorf were summoned to headquarters by their commanding Major General, Earle E. Partridge. They went over the mission again, then Partridge laid out a large map, pointed to an area within the USSR southwest of Vladivostok, and asked if it was possible that they had attacked there.
There were significant terrain similarities, but while Quanbeck thought it was possible, he did not it think it was probable. He was wrong. As they left, General Partridge told the pilots: “You’ll either get a Distinguished Service Cross or a court-martial out of this mission“.