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7 of 9
Jean Armstrong
of Ponca, Nebraska sent us a letter from her uncle, Lieutenant Laurence
Lofgren. Lieutenant Lofgren was writing to his sisters, Gladys and Clara,
who were living in Nebraska. Jean tells us that "Uncle Laurence
joined the Airforce, becoming a pilot by mid-'44 and assigned to Flipton
Airforce Base near Bungay, England that Fall as a pilot of a B-24 bomber
on the Eighth Airforce. His plane was shot down on March 24th, 1945.
All but one of the crew was killed. It was their 27th mission, and also
Uncle Laurence's 26th birthday." She continues, "Uncle Laurence
lived with us quite a lot of the time, so he became like a big brother
to my brother and me during the mid-'30s to early '40s. To think he
almost made it, the war was over in May — his group only flew one more
mission after the fateful March 24th day." This letter was written
four days before his plane was shot down. It is followed by a letter
to Lieutenant Lofgren's mother written by the sole survivor of the crash.
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Tuesday, March 20, 1945
Dear
Gladys and Clara:
It
is another beautiful day here today and I have nothing much to do.
I didn't get up this morning until about ten and then after eating
dinner I went to the barber shop for a hair cut. Now I hope to get
a few letters written during the rest of the afternoon.
I
have been doing a little better than usual so far this month. I have
flown five missions this month which gives me a total of 24. I hope
to have 27 or 28 by the last of the month so that I will stand a good
chance of completing my tour by the end of April. I don't know just
what I'll do when I finish up. I often think of trying to get into
something else and staying over here for a while — that is if the war
lasts that long. If I have to do any more operational flying after
completing this tour I want to do it in another kind of aircraft.
Well
has spring come to Nebraska yet? I was quite surprised that it warmed
up over here so quickly. The weather is really quite livable here
now.
I'm
going on pass again the 26th of the month. Seems like these
passes come rather close together anymore. Happy Birthday, Clara.
Write often.
Love,
Laurence
July
9, 1945
Dear
Mrs. Cowell,
First
of all I had better introduce myself. My name is S/Sgt. Alan W. Keenen
and I was a member of your son's crew. I flew on his last mission
with him which was his twenty-seventh.
I
now want to tell you exactly what happened to us on that last day.
The mission we went on that day was a special one in that we dropped
supplies to troops just across the Rhine a little north of Wessel,
Germany.
Our
altitude was only three-hundred feet which made it extremely dangerous.
I
guess they must of shot just about everything at us, anyway the ship
caught fire and number three engine went out. It was then that I bailed
out with the other waist gunner, Joe Stalder. But he was killed upon
landing.
The
plane crashed, burned and then exploded about five-hundred yards from
where I landed, leaving me as the only live one from the crew. All
of the boys in the ship were killed.
This
has been about the hardest letter I have ever written. But I know
you want to read the bare facts so that is exactly what I have written.
May
God bless you, Mrs. Cowell.
Yours
truly,
S/Sgt.
Keenen
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