Alfred E. Berger

Stateside

On the twenty second of June we were ready to go. We were to have our regular crew, less our bombardier Elmer Wolfe, plus three passengers one a gunner and two photographers. The first leg of our trip home was to Marrakech, French Morocco, on the west coast of Africa. I didn't see much of the culture of Africa as I was assigned to guard duty on our plane, and we were only staying overnight.

The next morning we were on our way to Lagens, Azores, one of about nine islands located about eight hundred miles west of Portugal, in the Atlantic Ocean. For the first time since leaving the states we got to sleep in a barracks and real bunk beds. Also had a shower with the softest water I ever experienced. We were told the water was collected rainwater and stored for domestic use.

We stayed overnight, and the next day we were to fly to Gander, Newfoundland.

As we approached it, the weather bad Gander closed in, and by radio we were advised to try to land at Harmon Field, Stephensville, Newfoundland. We found the weather clear and we were spending the night there. We walked around the base, as we had plenty of time. At ten 0" clock at night it was still daylight and mechanics were still working outside on planes, so we decided to bit the sack before sunset.

The next morning, June 24th, we were on our way to Bradley Field, Connecticut in the good old USA and leave our B .. 24 there. We were bussed to Camp Miles Standish in Massachusetts, and spent one day there. At this point our crew split up, and were sent to bases depending upon where our homes were. I went to Fort Dix, New Jersey, went through processing and given papers on June 30th to report to San Antonio, Texas on August 3rd after a thirty day furlough.

Following my furlough, I boarded a train for my trip to San Antonio, Texas to the AAF Personnel Distribution Center (AAFPDC}, to be reassigned, probably to the Pacific Theater of operations. The dropping of the atom bomb changed that idea. On August the sixth, Hiroshima, Japan was stricken by the first atom bomb, dropped by the B-29 Enola Gay, and three days later another was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan and the following day, Japan started negotiations to surrender to the United States.