Letter 257- November 24, 1945

HEADQUARTERS
1297 LABOR SUPERVISION COMPANY
APO 758 US ARMY

24 November 1945

SUBJECT: Laxity of Mail Clerks in the European Theatre.

To: Mr. and Mrs. Wm. W. Taylor, Sr. 12928 Bloomfield St.

North Hollywood, California, U.S.A

1. Where is my mail? That’s the question that has been on everyone’s lips for the last two weeks. I honestly think that I’m no longer in Germany. It’s the same way with everything and everybody. Everything is in such a state that we don’t know what is coming next. Some of our fellows haven’t had any mail in nine weeks so I guess that I’m the lucky one.

2. Well, temporarily anyway I’m Company Clerk in this company. It’s not a tough job by any means but I’m not up on the army method of doing things so very well yet, so I have quite a bit of studying to do. You’ll note the form of this letter. That’s just a sample of it. It’s not difficult but as an old gun slinger I’m still a little confused or should I say confoozed.

3. Nothing much doing here right now but the place is operating with too few men so everyone is kept fairly well occupied. There’s one thing I can say about this job and that is that it is indoors. The weather is getting fouler all the time so indoors is a good place to be. I sure wish now that I could type the right way. I can type reasonably fast, but after a full day my fingers feel as if an elephant had been trompin’ on them.

4. The thinning out process over here is moving right aalong. Is that English I’m writing? There seems to be more troops than ever in the big cities but very few in the cow towns. For the first time since the war ended we’re beginning to get some dope on replacements. We’re having men assigned to us right now that are still in the states taking basic training. That in itself makes us breathe a little easier.

5. Tomorrow’s Sunday and a day off but tonight I’m on C.Q. so I can’t go out. Not that there is anything to go out for but a person likes to feel that he can go out if he wishes even if there isn’t any reason for it. They’ve opened up a new Red Cross Club in town and it’s really nice. It has a library, coffee shop, game rooms, reading rooms, and a music room. They even have pin ball machines there.

6. I don’t know that there’s much more to write tonight. In fact I’m not sure when I’ll be able to send this right away. The mail clerk hasn’t been able to get any stamps at the POST OFFICE even for the last few days.



Best Love,

WILLIAM W. TAYLOR, JR.
Pfc. Inf.
Demanding


WWT/wwt

Letter 256- November 21, 1945

November 21, 1945
Giessen, Germany

.

Dear Mudder and Dad,

I still haven’t received any mail from you since I left the company. In fact nobody that came here from the 100th has received anything yet. It’s truly a discouraging situation. I can just close my eyes and see one of the mail clerks back there leaning back with his feet on his desk and letting everything go to pot. It’s just typical of the army.

Everything here is in one helluva rush right now. Thanksgiving’s tomorrow and I’m afraid we’ll have to work. This Q.M. racket is a laugh. Some of the officers are so dumb that even the Krauts have caught on to them. That is saying a lot. They think that anything with a bar on its shoulder is some sort of god. The Quartermasters is a good racket during a war but when the shooting’s over it’s an awful pain. Today a QM officer asked one of our boys if he was tough enough to handle the Jerries. Our man, Weber, is an old Infantryman. He said, “Well, I’ve been shot three times and run over by a Jeep once, so you can draw your own conclusions.” I’ll bet the QM officer never heard a gun fired during the whole war.

I’m getting along fine in my new job at that, however I spend plenty of time batting the breeze with these Krauts, not so much because I love the Krauts but rather because doing so helps me to speak German about three times as much as any book could do. At that I learn a lot of interesting things from them. The other day we got in a bunch of German sailors from Norway. Their story of what happened immediately before and after the invasion of Norway is quite interesting. It seems that the situation up there must have been pretty interesting with the Germans fully armed wanting to surrender but with no one to surrender to; Story of a German admiral trying to get out of the country with practically all of Norway under his suitcase. It makes quite a yarn. Of course that they are sailors and sailors aren’t any too addicted to the truth. They’re an interesting bunch. They’re far more cosmopolitan than the soldiers and one tenth so naïve. There is so much difference that except for the language you would hardly know that they were from the same country.

I think that I’ve got these Jerries pretty much afraid of me. These QM boys who never faced these bums on the line have an awful tendency to baby them but not me. Nothing in the whole wide world could make me forget what they did to some of my friends. And so that’s the way I carry on with them. I’m the boss and that is that. Surprisingly enough that’s what they like, which again only lowers my opinion of them.

Tomorrow even though we do have to work we should have a damn nice dinner. The cooks have been working all day preparing the turkeys and they seen to take a great relish in their work. These German cooks say that they never knew that there were so many different dishes in the world as the army serves. God knows the army fare is simple enough but I guess all they’ve ever known is cabbage and potatoes and potatoes and cabbage. We got in a load of fruitcake, cranberries and fresh celery today so it shouldn’t be bad.

I went to the show last night and saw the stage show “Sons of Fun”. It’s an Olson and Johnson production so you can imagine what it was like. I got hit right in the kisser with a rubber doughnut first thing. The show was quite entertaining at that and I think we all had a good time. After the show we went to the new Red Cross club in Giessen and had coffee and doughnuts (real ones) and played a few games of table tennis.

Well, I guess that’s about all for tonight. I sure wish I’d get some mail. When a fellow doesn’t get any for a long time he begins to wonder if the good ole U.S. is still there.

Best Love,
Bill

Letter 253- November 8, 1945

November 8, 1945
Giessen, Germany

Dear Mudder and Dad,

Ye Gods! I just opened up my box of stationery and what was there but a letter I wrote a full week ago. Jesus! What a sap I am.

Well the worst has happened. I’m now no longer in the 100th Div. In fact I’m no longer in the Infantry. It’s a branch of the Quartermasters, the 1297 Labor Supervision Co. In short I’m in a Co. with the T.O. strength of—now listen to this—7—men—yes! One officer and 7 men (all non-coms). I’ll be either an acting 1st. Sgt., and or an acting Mess Sgt. or and acting Supply Sgt. Etc. Later the actual ratings will be open so maybe I’ll be getting a rating. I don’t know. The food here is divine. For dinner today I had, now listen, ½ fried chicken (large), French fries with tomato sauce, salad, strong black coffee (very good) hot rolls and all the ice cream I could eat (it was made with canned milk and eggs and tasted like Chapman’s 90 cent stuff. The work is negligible. What’s the catch? I don’t know when I’ll get out of here. We have 265 P.W’s working here on a rather large ration dump. They like the work and need little handling. The work, however, won’t be over until spring so I’ll be stuck here unless sufficient replacements come in. That’s the whole story.

My address is:
Pfc. W.W. Taylor, Jr. 19203811
Hq. 1297 Labor Supervision Co.
A.P.O. 758 ℅ P.M. N.Y.

We live in a factory administration building with steam heat, hot bath etc. Giessen is not a bad town but ye God’s so many roughnecks. We go out at night in groups naturally. We are a long way from Stuttgart now near Kassel. I shouldn’t say we. None of the old gang is nearby.

As far as the army goes, this is wonderful but I’d still rather be home.

I’ll have to close now.

Best Love,
Bill