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July 13, 1945:
Things are beginning to pop, with the loss of my buddies and
arrival of new men. Now we hear the division is going to be reorganized.
They plan to streamline the division. That is, reduce the size.
This means quite a few men will be transferred to other outfits.
So I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I hope to stay with the 3rd
Armored for the rest of the year. The longer I stay here the
less time I will spend in the Pacific.
I have now been assigned another job. Seeing
how unsettled things were, I felt unsafe remaining as a radio
operator. Captain Woods asked me if I wanted another job to ensure
my staying with the Division. Captain Woods looked over my records
and thought I would be a good man to take over the task as Regimental
Ration Sergeant. Harold Eichman, the former ration sergeant,
left in the last contingent.
This is my present setup (it is a very responsible
job and a good one). I have to get the food rations for the entire
regiment which consists of seventeen companies and about 3,500
men. I now have fifteen men under me, five trucks, and a jeep.
It is my duty to break the rations down for the companies, with
the aid of a slide rule. For example if our regiment got 500
loaves of bread, 800 pounds of steak, 15 bags of potatoes, 1,000
No. 2 cans of milk, 167 pounds of butter, 68 cans of coffee,
etc., etc., now it's my job to break this down in units of 100
and then according to each company's strength they receive the
proportional rations. One thing for sure, I will never starve.
July 17, 1945:
Another anniversary. A year ago today I arrived in France, a
lonely, confused and frightened soldier. I well remember that
day. It was the first day in my life that I found out what war
was all about and heard the guns of battle for the first time.
What all can happen in a year's time. Now I find myself quite
bewildered as to what is in store for me.
Other than working hard these days, things
are quite dull and gloomy. The absence of so many of my buddies
who left and three fourths of the guys are all strangers. However,
as I have done so often I guess I'll make new friends.
July 24, 1945:
Another sad day. Thirty-four men left us, including my great
and respected commanding officer, Captain Paul Woods. What a
great man. I will miss him.
There are only six original service company
members plus twenty of us men who joined the division in Europe.
It is quite discouraging.
Had a nice visit from Tex Bolt. He is stationed
near Aschaffenburg and is with the 6th Armored Division waiting
to go home. We took Tex back at 1:00 a.m. It was an all night
drive. I got no sleep. Imagine riding alone at 1:00 a.m. in Germany.
We had a lot of excitement these past few
days. President Truman visited our sector. We got up at 3:00
a.m. the other morning to go meet him and stand guard on the
highway.
A few nights ago Paul Lubke, Frank Gerace,
and myself were relating our past year's experiences under very
rough circumstances. We recalled many a good laugh and many a
narrow escape and we came to the conclusion that even though
we were always in danger, we actually had a more enjoyable time
than we are having now. I guess it is because we were all a big
happy family sharing the same experience.
Fraternization: Lale raises the question about fraternizing. (It's
getting press coverage in the States.) This term means socializing
or dating a German girl. I could go on and on about this topic.
I think it's a joke. One day we are killing the Heinies and the
next day they want to walk down the street with an American soldier,
arm in arm. It's disgusting. It isn't happening much but it does
happen. The girls are doing this for attention. They also know
a G.I. is a source for food, candy, gum, and cigarettes. (All
these items are hard to get.) Also many soldiers haven't had
the opportunity to hold a girl in their arms for a long time.
So I guess the urge is there.
I just got back the pictures that were taken
at the Nordhausen Concentration Camp. These pictures tell a story.
It's a nasty story. It's ugly and atrocious. The German's who
perpetuated these crimes are beasts. And now they want to fraternize
with them.
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