Letters To Home - January 11, 1952

Dachau, Germany
January 11, 1952

The weather is turning very warm. The classes are still interesting. It would be nice to stay here for about six weeks instead of just two. This seems to be the best deal I've found in the army.

Tell Mr. Mowry that his son is in a movie called "Decision Before Dawn." I'm reading the book right now, and if the picture is as good as the book, it will be one of the best. It was filmed in Germany in 16 different cities, according to the "Stars And Stripes." Much of the film was shot in Mannheim, Munich and Frankfort.

I'm sending along a post card of the market place in Munich. I hear that this is where Hitler got his start. Munich is really a beautiful city, maybe the prettiest in Germany, but Frankfort seems to be more modern.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to find Bernie. It's late, and I'm tired.

Letters To Home - November 20, 1951

Munnerstadt, Germany
November 20, 1951

The weather has turned beautiful for the past three days. It rains a bit every day, but then clears off and gets warm in the afternoons. We turned in our coal stoves the other day, now have oil stoves that burn diesel fuel. The first few days the stove in our tent didn't work right, but one of the mechanics worked on it a bit, and it now works fine.

We've been laying a new road into our position. I've had an 8-man crew back in Schweinfurt tearing up the the metal landing strips at our airfield at Conn Barracks. "A" and "C" Batteries then haul the metal out to our position, and lay out a pretty nice road. Should take care of the mud.

The pictures I took still aren't finished. I hope they turn out as well as I think they will.

Our Captain has pulled a fast one on the rest of the Battalion. At an officers' meeting the other day, he volunteered our services here on the border for the next three weeks. When we heard about it, naturally, some of the guys complained. However, the Captain had checked the dates, discovered that if he volunteered for us to stay out here for Thanksgiving Day, we would get Christmas and New Year's Day back in the barracks. Smart man. Anyway, our cooks will get the chance to cook Thanksgiving Day dinner for us.

The latest rumor out seems to be right for a change. According to the rumor, we'll start rotating back to the States in February, with a thousand a month going. I guess the ones that go first will start training the 18-year olds that will start under the V. M. T. program.

I didn't know that Bernie was in the 43rd Division. He's probably stationed around Munich.

Curl Adams and I are going Christmas shopping in Frankfort on December 4. We're taking a 3-day pass to do it.

Can't think of much more to say, so will close. We finally have lights; the generator is noisy, but seems to work well.