Letters To Home - December 23, 1951

I was fortunate to spend one Christmas in Germany. The following are two letters I sent home during the Christmas season in 1951. I know that these are out of sequence, but I will get back in sequence in a day or two. The first letter, the one dated December 23, 1951, was written home just after the battery came back to our barracks after some time spent at Wildflecken, where we shot on the artllery range.

Schweinfurt, Germany
December 23, 1951

We're back from Wildflecken after two days of firing. Right now we have a three-day holiday. We're off until Wednesday morning, with nothing to do except eat and sleep.

Today is the day of our Christmas party for the German kids. They've started coming in already. It should be a fine party. I just came back from the E. M. Club, there is a big tree with all kinds of decorations. The Germans seem to celebrate Christmas almost as we do. Schweinfurt is all decorated with lights and trees. There is even a Santa Claus walking around on the sidewalks.

The two days at Wildflecken were fun. We got in the most firing we've done since we left Benning, and for the first time we got a chance to do some direct fire. We shot at an old pill box about 1600 yards away. Scored five direct hits out of six; the first round was a complete miss, but the next 5 right in the front door. We could probably make things rough for a tank at that range.

The weather at Wildflecken was the best I've ever seen for December. It's so high up in the hills that we were above the fog most of the time. It was pretty warm, too. As soon as we started back, and got below the fog line, it turned cold. Still pretty cold today.

On Christmas day, I'm going into Schweinfurt to spend the day with a German family. Five from each Battery were picked to go if we wanted too, and I was one of the lucky ones. I'm going in this afternoon to meet them, then will go again on Christmas day, to spend the whole day. The German families asked us not to bring any presents unless we really wanted to. If we do take a present, it should be something like fruit or candy, nothing that could be re-sold on the black market. The families are afraid that their neighbors will accuse them of inviting us just to get coffee and cigarettes to sell. I think it's pretty nice of them to do this for us.

I'm making out pretty fair on Christmas packages from the States. I got two the other day, and from people I did not expect would send me anything. One came from Cleveland, and the other from Youngstown. One package had cookies, candy, two decks of small playing cards, and a pen and pencil set. The other was a box of fudge. I have found out that five more are on the way. I'm eating well.

It's almost time for dinner, and we're having chicken today.