Letters To Home - January 22, 1952

Schweinfurt, Germany
January 22, 1952

I got back "home" at 8 p.m. Saturday after a long, pleasant train ride. Fourteen of us came back together, and we had quite a time, too. We ate dinner in a German dining-car. The food was excellent, cost about 40-cents. For some reason we took a long way home, though, and it did get a bit tiresome towards the end. From Munich we went first to Augsburg, then to Regensburg, then away over to Nuremburg, across to Wurzburg, and finally to Schweinfurt. The whole trip took something like seven hours, but the coach was comfortable, so it wasn't too bad.

This morning I gave my first T. I. & E. class; went over quite well, I think. The guys were especially interested in hearing about the Dachau concentration camp. I guess I forget to mention that we spent a whole afternoon there. Our guide through the camp had once been prisoned there. I believe he was Polish; anyway, his accent didn't seem to be German. He was authentic; had the tattoo mark on his arm that all prisoners received. The place is definitely spooky, especially after you learn what went on there. The gas room was the worst. There is still a "high-water" mark in the room, which shows just how high the bodies were stacked. Some fools, even in the army, claim that the death camps didn't exist, and, even if they did, nothing too much happened in them. I think "fools" is not strong enough to call them. Anyway, my first attempt at "teaching" is over. The rest should be easier.

Next Saturday evening I'm going to bring my German family out for dinner and a movie. I don't know what will be playing, but hope it will be a musical or a western, which should be easier for them to understand. They took me to a German movie one night. It was a mystery, but, even though the film was in German, I could follow it pretty well. Good movie, too, with good actors.

I didn't get a chance to see Bernie again before I left Dachau, but will when Joe and I go there on leave in the Spring. I think the army is doing him a world of good. He looks better now than I ever saw him look. He doesn't like the army, though, can't wait to get out.

As yet, I haven't quite decided about enlisting for the three years. There is something else I can do, I have discovered, and I can get the sergeant's rating and my own gun section if I do it. I can extend my service for one year in order to get out of the reserves, and that would mean that I'd get out in October of 1953 instead of October, 1952. If I would enlist for three years, my time would start on the day I would sign the papers, not after I'm due to get discharged now. I don't know whether or not I would stay in Germany, but probably would. I should be able to get a 30-day leave, plus travelling time, out of it, too. I now have 39 days coming, so that would mean at least 69 days leave time. I could take only 30 first, though. If I do decide to do it, I'll wait until May or June to take the leave because I want the cold weather to be mostly over when I get there.

Most of next month we're going to out in the field, I hear. We leave for Baumholder, in the French zone, on Feb. 4th, and then come back here for two days on the 14th. After that, we go North somewhere for the rest of the month.

It's getting late, so I will close. Write soon, please.