Letter 217- July 20-21, 1945

July 20, 1945
(Derdingen, Germany)

Dear Mudder and Dad,

This morning I wrote you a letter and one of the fellows mailed it by accident—it didn’t have a stamp on it. I suppose they’ll stamp “free” on the damn thing and you’ll get it sometime in 1946, I hope. Anyway this is a supplementary letter.

Glory be! Hallooya! Guess what I got today?—No don’t guess. You’ll be disappointed. It was a Christmas package with gum and books. It’s only been on its way since Nov. I’ll bet its seen more of the world than Eleanor.

Well, today we had our big parade and tonight Lt. Gen. Haslip is going to “knight” the 1st soldiers to enter Bitche. The Society of the Sons of Bitche is exclusive. Only those of us who fought there can belong and it’s the first such organization ever to exist in the U.S. Army. I should like to go to the ceremonies in Stuttgart but only 3 men from each platoon can go. Of course it’s mostly hocus-pocus now, but any organization that consists of 16 or 17 thousand combat soldiers might develop into something.

July 21, 1945
(Same place)
Dear Folks,

Since last night and the last paragraph the entire 7th Army has been on a “witch hunt”. They got us up at 3 A.M. this morning and commenced raiding all the towns in the area. The idea is that after 3 months of lax treatment the remnants of the Nazi Party would get cocky and careless. They did. However, there has been little activity in this area. The Nazis alienated too many Germans during the closing days of the war.

Flash! Rumor! Flash! One of our boys who went to Stuttgart last night came back with the intelligence that one mighty 1st bn. had won the Pres. Citation. Maybe I get another ribbon with a gold edge.

I’m still waiting on the Bronze Star but I have my doubts. The officers are all getting 4 and 5 awards apiece but the men who did the fighting get nothing. Same old army game. I’ll close on that sour note.

Best Love,
Bill