Letter 284- March 6, 1946

Giessen, Hesse, Germany
March 6, 1946

Dear Mudder and Dad,

I’ve got something odd to tell you today. That is that we’re moving to Munich. It came very suddenly and surprised us all. Of course, it’s a week away and many things can happen between now and then. I’ve always wanted to see Munich but at this time I’m not interested in seeing anything but home. All this, however, will have no effect on my homecoming. Maybe it would delay me a couple of days but not more. We’re being transferred from the 8th Labor Area to the 9th so I can’t tell you what the setup is supposed to be. Personally I hoped that we would stay here until we got our redeployment orders but you never know what the army is going to do next. From Munich it will be a helluva lot farther to port than from Giessen and that will probably mean more horsing around on forty and eights. Actually we will probably no more than get there then four or five men out of our company of eight men will be on their way. I doubt very much, however, if the brass ever took that into consideration. They’ll wonder why after they sent our company down there there will be no one left. Well, I know that I don’t give a damn.

I’m waiting for the mail right now and I sure hope I get some. Once I leave here I’ll probably never get anymore until I get home. The last one that I received was written on February 20th. I’m actually getting to the point at which I don’t give a damn about anything.

Well, by the time I write again, however, I should know for certain what we’re going to do. Now the only problem is getting home before they start another defugalty over here. Boy! It just seems that we can’t have any kind of decent peace. There’s a lot of things going on over here that I’d like to tell you about but I’ll just have to wait until the time when I get home.

We’re having a nice slice of sloppy spring weather here right now—you know, a half rain, half snow, all slop kind of weather.

Since I wrote the last paragraph, I’ve read the “Stars and Stripes” and listened to the news in German over the radio. What a mess. All I hope is that I can get home for a while before they start another fracus over here. From the news it is obvious that Britain and ourselves are working very hard to win the confidence of the krauts or anybody else who might have any sort of a grudge against our friends, the you know whos. Boy, oh Boy. What a life. Yesterday one of the Jerries asked me if it would be possible to join the American army if we have a war. That left a beautiful taste in my mouth. I don’t know what’s going on but God knows I’m sure sick of the whole damn setup. I always feel like we’re sitting on a powder keg playing with dynamite caps.

And with all the trouble in the world I look at the newspaper and see that they’re still making with the strikes back home. Bah!

Well, that’s about all for today. I hope that I can tell you something more definite about what we will be doing by the next time I write.

Best Love,
Bill