T/Sgt. Armand Fugge's Diary - 20 Apr to 25 Apr 1944

398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association

T/Sgt. Armand Fugge's Diary
Engineer/Top Turret Gunner 600th Squadron

**20 Apr to 25 Apr 1944**
**Getting to Nuthampstead**
April 20, 1944 The beginning of this dairy was on April 20th 1944: I got back through the fence OK with my guitar. Slept for a few hours. Got up at 5 am and take off was 9 am. Flew at 7000 feet. Had good weather all the way up to Goose Bay, Labrador. Landed at 1510. It’s a desolated place of pines and snow. About 15 feet of snow. Lost one plane 8 minutes out of the field. Boy! it’s cold here. Editor's note: The origin was probably Grenier Field, Manchester, New Hampshire. The intial crews left Rapid City at about 10 crews per day. Then spent some time in Omaha and then started their overseas journey. There was a refueling and rest stop in Manchester, but could also have been Bangor, Maine. April 21st 1944 Spent the day here at Goose Bay. Cleaned up the plane. Chow’s not so good. Took off for Meek’s Field in Iceland at 0130 [Meek's Field Keflavik, Iceland]. Flew at 11,000 feet at 20 degrees. Weather’s pretty bad. Flew through snow storms and soup all the way. Editor's note: Possibly he meant left for Meeks at 0130 April 22. April 22, 1944 Spotted a convoy at 9:40 am. The weather broke and we landed at Meek’s 10:10. I stood guard on the plane all day and all night. April 23, 1944 Cleaned up the plane. Rained all day. The country seems beautiful. Plane number 414 had to ditch about 400 miles off of Greenland. Can’t write yet. Stood guard with Dom all night. April 24, 1944 Left Iceland at 9:45. A few scattered and temp. not too bad. Reached Prestwick Scotland at 1545. Boy, they sure talk funny here. It’s a swell place. Big base, stayed here all night. April 25, 1944 Got up at 0900 and after a breakfast of powdered eggs I went down to the plane. Take off was at 1230. Reached our permanent base at Nuthampstead, England at 1500. Got settled and hit the sack exhausted. The Jerries (Germans) knew we were coming and over the radio greeted the whole group.

Notes:

T/Sgt. Armand Fugge was the Engineer/Top Turret Gunner on Donald Lowe's 600th Squadron crew.
The above transcription was provided by Raymond Borys.
This transcription is a reproduction of the original. Spelling and punctuation changes have been made to improve readability. In some circumstances, material may not have been transcribed or was rewritten.
Clarification of acronyms or special words or guesses of certain words are shown in brackets [ ].

The above diary entry has been placed on the 398th Bomb Group Memorial Association web site to share our history with a wider audience. You may view, download, print, copy and link to our content as you wish as long as the uses are personal or educational. 398th Bomb Group Memorial Association web page content cannot be used for commercial purposes nor placed on other web sites whether commercial, personal or educational, unless authorized in writing by the 398th Bomb Group Memorial Association Official Board and/or the author.