May 30, 1945
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310.176.1-5.2017 Transcription
Dachau Concentration Camp
30 May 45 Germany
Hi, darlin’,
You’ll not have letters from
me on 28th & 29th May. Here’s why:—
As written in my last letter on 27 May
the possibility of going to the Alps was
forthcoming; it came; for 19¾ hrs
we were theyre; & then because there
was a “screwed-up” situation (AS ALWAYS)
in the Higher-Ups———we were
evicted from the place and had to
return to this Depressing Den Of Dachau.
We should not have been starting back
until tomorrow morning. Sooo goes the
116th—always “Snafu”!—always
“Tarfu”!
Anyhooo, it had some interesting
things packed into those 19¾ hrs (add of
course, 5 hrs drive down—& back same road).
The country, Austrian Alps, is like
driving in Denver Zone mixed c̅[1] Ruby
Range Zone. The place we slept one
night (WITH SHEETS!) was Achen See
& reminded me quite a bit of our
specific enviro[n]ment in the Tetons (J’cks’n Hole).
I’ll enclose one postcard in this letter
[2]
& another in tomorrows letter [(I only have two)][2]. The
Austrian Alps aside from the Chalets (sp?), [(houses)][3]
Tirolian hats, etc. that you know of, have
one interesting thing—at least 30%
& up to 65% of their houses c̅ have a rather
beautiful oil painting on the outside
wall; it doesn’t look exactly like
oil paintings on canvas do, but they
are very durable & you can see
some have been there for almost centuries.
The major theme is re[lig]ious, but some
are of folklore-theme.
Now to something that will please
you as it did me—immediately
upon arrival I took off down the road
AND FOUND DOBY about 40 miles
away (at Ober Meining). We talked/did
much, but the main thing was
to go deer hunting & I shot 3 times
& got 2 deer (theyre much smaller than
American deer; infact only 17 people could
eat venison-steak sandwiches at my “party”
last night after we got back here mad as
wet hens about having our rest-period cancelled
on us—we were going to eat the venison
up there in the Alps but they “kicked-us-back” so
fast). Maybe I better reword this:- an Austrian Alp deer
is so small that only 17 people can get 2 steaks apiece off 2 deer.
[3]
We were all so mad about being
“kicked-back” that on the route home we
went off-route a ways & went through
the Brenner Pass so as to step onto
Italy when we ate a lunch & took a
few pictures. (Warrant Officer Dr B. Schuman &
Charlie Gillespie have negatives of me in
Italy ↔ Austria at the signpost border markers).
Thus we crowded a lot into
19 ¾ hrs + 5 hrs, & it was so good
to get away from this depressing “Hell-Hole.”
[I’ll enclose a paper I “souveniered” for you in Italy;
naturally it’s the German influence but you can
see they were “talking” Italian (lire) money.][4]
NOW———————
if, just if, you absoloute[ly] cross-your-
heart-promise not to hold your breath,
I’ll tell/hint/hope/dream something
I just hardly dare even think of (let
alone see it on this writing paper). Very rapidly the fragmentary bits of
information (latrine rumors, minor orders, etc)
have been coming into this 116th the past
few days that suggest we are bound
for the beloved United-States of America &
might be there around the middle of
August. Now, darlin’, I know that seems
[4]
ages to us both, but pleeeeeez “think” as
I do—the longer it takes us
to pack, be screened, Atlan[t]ic travel,
leave time, training (tropical) time, etc the
nearer Japan will be to being pulverized
& thus we might get stopped/cancelled
on the West Coast. Follow me, dear?
In other words, lets say “between”
eachother {“I hope I dont see Dave till Aug 15th” “I hope I dont see Em till Aug 15th.”[5]
and——we will each know
what the other if thinking re: the
overall picture of C.B.I. [6] Infact, I
cant help but “dream” that if we dont
get to NYC before Aug 15th, we will
find the Japs “out” by the time we
could leave + train + Pacific ocean travel
over to fight them (some 2 to 3¼ to 4½ months
later). OK? OK!! tiz psychically agreed.
When I got back 2 letters were
waiting & then before I had the chance to
start writing this today another nice one came.
2 “Tank”-Stamps→ Your May 18th’s:— is chiefly about
your visit c̅ Thump[7] to Dr. B. OK, OK, I’ll
gladly (VERY GLADLY) be the “fall-guy” & take
the blame for Thumps sore arm (P.S. Ill apologize
to Thump for the soreness but not you & Dr B) but I got
[5]
“visions”—did ya ever see a baby
cough c̅ whooping cough?—in brief,
its more of a demand on a heart than
a marathon——not that Tough
Thumper couldn’t handle whooping
cough hands-down——I just
wanna save him the “bother.” SEE!
Your May 20ths:—(you were understandably
“blue” from a [misconstrued as CBI bound][8] EFM[9] + Clarices 35th birthday).
Dearest, haven’t you “figured-out” yet that
Clarice is not gone?! Better read your
“Forewards” more thoroughly, huh?—if
not all [the][10] other things you K N O W.
[2 Tank-Stamps in this letter ∴ Doby-stamps?][11]
Nothing much else to answer—
give Viola Milano my condolences re: her Dad.
Your May 21sts:—(1) The toilet-paper shortage
is a scream. (2) Our car, to be painted, would
“faint,” Im sure! (3) Rep (2x or 3x) both recent
batches of snaps arrived (c̅ THE “TOPS” REACHING-ONE.)
Let me plagerize (sp?):…..I didnt
realize….how much….I was
you, until (I) went away….” yet
left c̅ you every bit of
Allmylove,
Dave
P.S. 4 out of 7 (sizable) pkgs
have been sent over the last
5 days. Here’s hopin’!
[1] Medical abbreviation meaning “with.”
[2] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.
[3] Bracketed text written above “(sp?)” in original.
[4] Bracketed text is part of original.
[5] In original, “’ I hope I dont see Dave till Aug 15th’” is written above”’ I hope I dont see Em till Aug 15th.’”
[6] China Burma India. CBI was the US military designation for this area during the war.
[7] Nickname for their infant son, Terry.
[8] Bracketed text is part of original.
[9] Expeditionary Force Messages, with numbers corresponding to messages for quick correspondence.
[10] Bracketed text inserted into original with a caret.
[11] Bracketed text written in the left-hand margin, with an arrow to “Your May 21sts” a few lines down.