398th Bomb Group Diaries

List of Known 398th Diaries

  1. Captain Alan A. Arlin, Pilot, 601st
  2. Lt. William H. Baker, Navigator, 600th
  3. Lt. Robert J. Beckley, Navigator, 600th/601st
  4. T/Sgt. Ben Core, Radio Operator/Top Turret Gunner, 601st
  5. Lt. Robert H. Dee, Jr., Co-Pilot, 601st
  6. Lt. E. Dalton Ebbeson, Bombardier/Navigator, 603rd
  7. T/Sgt. George W. Forsyth, Engineer, TT Gunner, 602nd
  8. T/Sgt. Armand Fugge, Engineer/ Top Turret Gunner, 600th
  9. S/Sgt. Kenneth A. Green, Gunner, 603rd
  10. S/Sgt. James L. Holloway, Tail Gunner, 601st
  11. S/Sgt. Chilton Jorgenson, Ball Gunner, 601st
  12. Lt. Harvey B. Kramer, Navigator, 600th
  13. S/Sgt. Frank M. Mackey, Ball Turret Gunner, 600th
  14. 2nd Lt. Charles J. Mellis, Jr., Co-Pilot, 603rd Squadron
  15. T/Sgt. Elliot Novek, Radio Operator, 602nd
  16. Lt. Paul W. Smith, Navigator, 602nd
  17. Sgt. Claude W. Tracey, Engineer, 601st
  18. S/Sgt. John C. Veenschoten, Radio Operator/Gunner, 603rd
  19. Lt. Robert E. Weidig, Co-Pilot, 603rd
  20. T/Sgt. Ralph F. Will, Engineer, 600th
  21. Lt. Mark Woods, Navigator, 600th

Notes

  1. If you have a diary or know of one not on our list, please contact our 398th president, Wally Blackwell. Wally will then ask you for a Xerox copy for our archives and if you or a family member could type it in a Word processor. If you or a family member cannot type it, we will seek a volunteer to type it from the Xerox copy.
  2. The targets shown for individual days of the diaries are the official 398th targets for that day. However, because of cloud cover, mechanical difficulties, and other situations, individual aircraft or squadrons may have chosen alternate targets of opportunity. Sometimes but not always the diaries mention the names of the alternate targets.
  3. It is traditional for crew members to reference themselves as part of a pilot's crew. However, for various reasons, such as make-up missions because they were ill or special requests by Operations Officers that they fill in a vacancy, individuals may have flown a number of missions with other crews. Sometimes but not always the diaries will mention if the author flew with another crew.
  4. Historians should recognize that in the transcription process, some spellings and punctuation have been fixed, including offical spelling of the target names. Occasionally the diary's target city or date is different than the official 398th Mission List and after careful investigation these have been modified in the on-line electronic text, though usually there is an editor's note indicating such. In addition, some material not related to 398th activities, inaccuracies, casual comments, opinions, strong language, and unverified statements were not transcribed, although at times some editing took place to preserve the author's description in a more general way. Of course, no transcription is perfect and there may be occasional transcription errors. For future historians, each diary index includes a history of the location of the original if known and copies made along the way.
  5. If you see areas of the diaries needing correction, such as mispelled words, incorrect targets, etc., please contact the webmaster, Dave.