Letters To Home - June 26, 1951

Schweinfurt, Germany
June 26, 1951

The weather has been quite warm, but with about a half-hour of rain almost every day. It doesn't turn dark until about 10 p.m., and daylight arrives around 3 a.m. In time, were about 6 hours ahead of you people in the East.

On Sunday the whole battalion is going to a place called Wildflecken for two weeks of maneuvers. We'll be doing some firing, I think. This time, when we fire, I'll be pulling the lanyard. Our gunner is going to Erlangen for six weeks advanced training, so I moved up to assistent gunner. If I can hold on to the job, it means Corporal stripes. I've never done much shooting as yet, but do know how. Quite easy.

We got some new equipment for our day room (rec room) the other day. A new Brunswick pool table, a ping-pong table, two sofas, two easy chairs, four coffee tables, two desks, two floor lamps, and a Sonora combination radio and record player. Radios seem quite cheap here, but they run on 220 instead of 110, which means that, if you brought a radio with you from the States, or an iron, you will have to buy a little transformer to operate the appliance.

Last week we got our own tailor and presser, too. For $2.00 a month we can get all our pressing and tailoring done. Our laundry is free now. The German government pays for it. No more KP, either.

I'm writing this letter during lunch break, and it's almost time to fall out again. I hear we'll be moving into barracks at Wildflecken, so I should be able to write pretty regularly.

P. S. The papers have caught up with me, pretty regular.