WWII LETTERS

WAR LETTERS: The Bruce France Story

WWII LETTERS

October 21, 1943

Camp Grant, IL Bks 120

Dear Folks;

Well, I’m in the army now. And expected to ship out Friday. Boy you should see the swell clothes I got. All and more than I can carry. Boy can I run when they yell chow. The food is excellent, pie, “Sealtest” ice cream, chicken, pork chops, beefsteak, etc. I am now waiting for my GI haircut. Sat in the movies all morning. Had one shot in the arm. Got steel helmets like the Germans. Everything I need I can get over to the PX. It’s been raining but don’t worry we have the best raincoats in the world. I’m having a swell time. Our sergeant is Japanese and is he ever a swell guy. There are several in this camp.

Well so long

Don’t write.

That’s an order.

Bruce France

June 02, 1944

Cannon Co 290 Inf

APO 451 Camp Breckenridge, KY

Dear Folks

I haven’t wrote for some time cause I am never here to write. I wish they would let me settle down and stay in one place. The country around here is beautiful but we don’t have tome to appreciate it. It sure gets hot here. Yesterday it was over 90 degrees and in the motor pool there was no shade. The tar gets soft on the roads and everything on you is wet. The humidity is pretty high and with all the gas and oil you get on your hands and face makes you pretty hot.

They have been working on my teeth for a couple of weeks and they sure feel a lot better. They filled and capped a couple. They let girls do the drilling because they are more careful and do a better job. They also fixed a wrist I sprained the other day. Well, I’ve got to sign off.

Love Bruce

July 26, 1944

Ward A-122 Post Hospital

Camp Breckenridge, KY

Dear Mom,

Well, I haven’t moved, that is not very far. They finally ended up by heaving me in the hop house. That is the hospital. They call it the pop, or hospital house cause you no more than get in one door than you are out the other.

I was sorry I couldn’t write but when a guy gets an order it is usually carried out. If I wrote and enemy agents got the letter, they could have wrecked a whole division of men and equipment. We went out on a special maneuver and it was for only two days. The rest of the time we were traveling. Anyway, I seen a lot more of the old US. Well, there isn’t much else to say except the weather has been pretty good to us but they say we are in for some rain. Well, let it rain. I don’t have to be in it. Boy, this hospital is the life. I have woven a couple of belts out of plastic strips. I made a solid model and they have free movies at the Red Cross and lots of games. I have took my first lesson on how to play chess. It is a good game and I think I can get into it. They also have pool and ping-pong tables so I guess I will be at home here. So long.

Bruce

September 2, 1944

Camp Breckenridge, KY

Wednesday night about midnight

Dear Folks,

Well, it feels good to be back on the old routine again. We have all new officers and CO. They are whipping this outfit into good shape. I think we will make quite the outfit. We are all trying to figure out where we are going and from what I can gather, no one knows. I hope it is Europe cause I had enough swamps.

We are getting all new equipment and are packing our belongings in crates. I got those shoes Lawrence turned in but from the looks of this I may have a time getting them out because they don’t want to issue new shoes till the last minute.

Send me dad’s shirt size and I can get those wool shirts here. Those wool pullover underwear tops cost 77 cents each. These _____ cotton work socks are 16 cents each. I will have to send home a few shirts before long cause I have too many pants also. They are tan though. Well there isn’t much else to say. We play pool for exercise now in the morning. We play mostly for blood according to the game we had today. Well so long.

Bruce

It pays to be dumb.

PS. Dirty Smith got a discharge for this week and the duration.

October 5, 1944

Camp Breckenridge, KY

Dear Folks;

I had my photo taken Sunday. One large tinted and three small ones. They socked me $6.75 and I sure told the guy what I thought of him and his prices.

I will be here til the 14th for sure but after that no one knows what or where. They are giving us all instructions for the puddle jump already and how to handle German prisoners. I have all my new clothes and got Shorty a swell pair of GI shoes. You can tell him he will get them next week sometime. Boy, wait till he sees them.

I am on prisoner guard tomorrow for the first time in three months. I hope one them make a run for it. It would kind of give me a little moving target practice for over sea duty. Kind of break myself in. If I had my way, I would shoot the whole works.

Well, I guess I will take in a double feature. “Say Mom,” be sure you see the show “Since You Went Away.”

Well, so long

Bruce

October 21, 1944

% PM New York, NY

Dear Mom;

Well, I have moved again to a place of which I cannot tell. The trip was nice but it got a little cool a couple of times. The camp isn’t so bad but we had better theater and service clubs back where we came from. I can’t mention any names and places because there are a few officers with scissors who like to cut out paper dolls and they like stationary to practice on.

I visited the great city of New York the other night and got my moneys worth. I was up to the top of the Empire State Building and they had a 45mph wind. Once we thought we were to the top and was wandering around on a some kind of corridor and I seen a button and pressed it. A door opened and it was another elevator so we went up sixty more stories.

We visited Radio City and Times Square and they are really something. Well, I guess I will hit the hay.

As Always,

Bruce

November 5, 1944 postmark

New York, NY (At sea)

6:00PM

Somewhere at sea

Dear Dad;

Well, you done it the last war and I am doing it this one. I don’t know where I am going but there is a darn good rumor going around that we will see Europe. I am somewhere in the Atlantic but where, your guess is as good as mine.

There has been a little rough water out but it hasn’t bothered me yet. There are quite a few boys sick and they can’t get them to eat. I myself stuffed at all times and am glad of it cause it is the boys who don’t eat that get sick.

The PX on board is much more cheaper than in camp. Cigarettes are somewhere around five cents a pack. The Red Cross is pretty good and also the other organizations. They gave cartons of Camels away tonight. They also furnish stationary and Vmail. Some of the boys aft are fishing which by the way isn’t so hot. All they ever get are seaweeds. The crews scare all the fish away a couple miles ahead.

It rained a little today but no one seemed to get off deck. It is so hot and stuffy down here where I am and spend most of my time on deck too. This salt water is pretty hard to get clean in. You can’t get a lather out of any kind of soap no matter how you work. The only thing it is good for is brushing your teeth. The showers are cold and the salt takes all of the oil out of your hair and leaves it in a heck of a mess.

Well, I guess I will have to sign off. For the meantime, the darn boat is riding some big swell and my pen don’t want to stay on the paper.

As always,

Bruce

November 10, 1944 Postmark

Vmail (At sea)

Dear Bob,

I haven’t anything to do but write, so I write. Today I seen a whale and he must have been mad cause he was just a spouting water all over. There are large schools of porpoises all over the place.

The Red Cross is very good on the boat and so are the Protestant services. I went to communion today and church yesterday. We have movies aboard but I don’t see much of them. I wish I could tell you where we were headed but of course the sensor would object. They have to read all the mail that comes in everyday. The mail clerk is a yelling for mail right now but he wont’ be around for a bit.

It is now raining and most of the boys are down here tonight anyway. It is sure noisy. The sea is not so rough now but the boat still makes it hard to write on. We aren’t getting any water over the bow now. Well, I guess I will go to a variety show in the mess hall.

So long,

Bruce

November 10, 1944 Postmark

V-Mail

(At sea)

Dear Mom,

It is just another day on the puddle and I can’t tell you anymore than I ever have. I know where we are going but I can’t tell you. The ocean is getting a little rough but there isn’t anyone sick. The first rough spot there were quite a few boys sick. We had a little rain this morning but it is nice out tonight.

I slept practically all day and the rest of the day I read a novel from the post. One I started at home and didn’t finish. “Devil On His Trail” was the name of it.

We have church services on the boat the daylong and I got around to a few of them. I like the hymn services the best. There are also movies and boxing matches. If we don’t like them we can always lean over the rail and watch the scenery. As you probably know, it consists of salt a water or NaCl, and h2o. We seen a large school of fish the other day and they tried to keep with the boat but they soon tired out. Well I have to quit because of space.

Love XXX

Bruce

November 28, 1944

Vmail

Cannon Co 290 Inf APO 451

New York, NY

Dear Folks,

I have been getting your mail right along but haven’t had much time to write. Where I am I guess you will never know until I get home. I wish I could describe some of the scenery cause it is really something. All the buildings are stone. A few have thatched roofs. The people are just like dad said they were. The houses have stonewalls around them. I guess they are GI shy.

The girls are good but they lack the “umph” of the American girls. I guess the war has hit them bad. I have seen some places pretty well bombed out. The moral of the people is very high for the conditions under which they have to live.

The ______ bombs are still sailing around over here. It is one of the main topics of discussion of the people. They are called XXXXXXX. I seen one while on pass to XXXXXX. They had it in the town square on exhibition. They don’t look like much but they sure make a big hole.

There is nothing you can send me I can use. We have a company PX and can get a few minor supplies. If you can get enough film for the small camera, send it. There is a lot of things I can snap. The churches of the country folk are dated back in the 15th century. They have that rustic touch that makes them beautiful.

Our organ in the church is run by water from an artificial lake, which is to supply water for a castle mote. There is an old cemetery in the churchyard with some dates back in 1568 and the 16 hundreds. I guess the place is pretty old.

Well, I have to clean and oil my rifle cause it is guard duty for me. Boy the nights over here are blacker than a dirty nigger in a dark cellar at midnight shoveling coal. Well, so long and keep writing.

Love Bruce

Dec 3, 1944

V-mail

Cannon Co,

New York, NY

Dear Mom,

I guess the letters don’t get there very often because of conditions of which we have to write. The guys make so much noise you don’t know what you are writing. I guess they are just happy cause another day’s work is done. They usually get a crap game every night for some enjoyment. A lot of them go to town. The towns over here are so close you can walk from one to another without much effort. The roads are good but the streets in town are rather narrow. The left hand drive ways are what gets to me.

The working people have tea every time they turn around, but they work a long day. Yesterday, I seen a woman come off the hillside with a large cant (?) hook over her shoulder. They work over here in the woods. How they ever get a tree chopped down is more than I can see. The axes they use look like something the Romans left here.

The churches are very old and beautiful. They have vine-covered sides and the roofs have so much moss on them, you can’t see the slate shingles. Well, I guess I will have to tell you the rest some other time.

Love Bruce

December 8, 1944

V-mail

Notice of mailing address change

December 12, 1944

Dear Folks;

From what I hear you have not been getting my letters. I don’t write many but I get a few there. I guess the war is over according to Yankeetown, but it has just got a good start over here. I am a bazooka man in our section now so that is 15 pounds more to lug. We have the new ones so it isn’t so bad.

We went on a hike a little over 20 miles the other night and I went on guard duty the next day. I’m in tiptop shape so my dogs didn’t do any barking. No one fell out but a couple of the boys should have.

We are also getting baptized to dehydrating eggs these days. Our diet consists mostly of vegetables of which I don’t mind. The country isn’t so bad but the way they run it is a sad state of affairs. The taxes are so high you can’t see the top. They sock a guy 2 and 4 for a pack of cigarettes and the tobacco is so bad it is pitiful. There is nothing here to brag about except what the Romans left.

Bruce

Jan 20, 1945

V-mail

Dear Folks;

Well, I hope the war ends this year cause this snow is getting pretty deep. “Ole Roosevelt” seems to think it will be, lets hope he is right. Those Russians are coming right along. I hope we meet them in a month or so but they will slow down as soon as they hit Germany. I read in the Stars & Stripes where you had some cold weather. It is ok when you have a warm house and bed to stay in. We sleep in ditches over here and are glad to sleep. The smoke from the fire follows me like a pet dog and snow gets on the paper and makes nice smears across the paper. We have been harassing the Krauts quite a bit but not good enough for me. I would like to give them a barrage they would never forget. Well, we have to dig the gun in.

So long,

Bruce

January 13, 1945

V-Mail

Dear Folks,

Well, I feel human again cause I am writing you a letter again. I haven’t wrote for a month. I am in the First Army and I have been fighting in the Northern sector of Belgium for quite awhile.

Those dam Jerries been throwing everything at us except the kitchen sink. They sure waste a lot of Robot bombs on us and never hit a thing. We had one land pretty close but never hurt anything. These 88 __? the Jerries got are a wicked weapon. The shell is about shoulder high with a small projectile. They apparently have quite a lot of ammo cause they will shoot at one man with the thing. The war won’t be over very soon but I sure hope I am home for next Christmas.

The snow is kind of hard to get along with out __ but we get along somehow. Well I have to quit cause the ink is going dry. I haven’t got the box yet. You can send me some heavy boot socks and warm gloves.

Love Bruce

February 19th, 1945

(2 of 3) / V-Mail

(continued)

some good chow. Can you remember how I could down those eggs and eat oatmeal? I get plenty of good cereal up here but no eggs or milk. I drink every can of condensed milk I can get a hold of. We have powdered milk but it hasn’t the real zip that Jersey juice has.

I have seen a town called Liege, which as of today has been nicknamed “Buzz bomb alley.” Boy, the Krauts sure have that place zeroed in. We see quite a few go over but very few reach their destination. Ack Ack (?) will occasionally take a few pot shots at them but don’t do much good P51’s dive in front of them and the slipstream offsets the gyrocompass. If they hit the “Tierra firena”. I have seen a few jerry jet propelled planes and they are really a good hunk of aircraft. They bombed and strafed us one day but never done much good. They have to much speed for their own good. We have some P39’s with jet propulsion and are little faster yet but they don’t seem to have the power in a climb. I have seen a few Jerries brought down from about 5 miles up. I like to see them hit the ground. They sure make a nice warm fire but ammo starts popping off and we have to scatter. I had a Luger I got off a cracked up Kraut but someone stole it. I could have got $100 for it in Paris. They gave me a M1 the other day right out of the cosomoline. I hope I can get it home. They will probably let us keep our rifles after the war. I sure hope so. Boy what a deer rifle it will make. I have a 45 cal machine pistol but will probably trade for a 45 colt. We use mousers for stakes on the camouflage net. I could send home a thousand if it was permitted. If you wonder how they could loose so much and still keep on. I had a Kraut heavy leather belt with canvas pouches and bayonet but gave it to a nurse from Madison. Well I think I will quit and join the boys in a good quartet.

Love Bruce

March 3, 1945

Somewhere in Holland

Dear Folks;

As you probably know there will be nothing new in this letter although there is a lot of writing. Well, the first thing you can do is send me a good pen.

We are now in some town in a café. I have been playing pool all morning. We never know where we are so I guess I couldn’t tell you. I have sent some Kraut money home and will send more every chance I can get. The Germans gathered up all the silver and made coins out of aluminum and zinc for substitutes. I tried to get a big 2½ Gulden piece off a Dutchman but he runs a pretty stiff proposition. They are a little bit larger than a silver dollar. I hope I can get a small pair of wooden shoes to send but they don’t have as many here as in Belgium. I sure don’t see how the people can wear them but they somehow manage. There are a lot of things I have seen I could send home but I never have time. Well, I guess I will stop and clean up. I broke my razor all to smithereens the other day and I had to requisition another. Well, this is the end.

Love Bruce

March 30, 1945

Dear Bob,

Well, I got 6 v-mails today and feel like I should scratch a few lines. There isn’t much I can say but you can just about guess where I am. The war is about finished for the Krauts but not for us. I sure hope those guys in the Pacific do a good fast job. I might even end up there. I sure hope not. I suppose you will be ripping up the sod pretty quick. I hope with your new outfit you can get along a little faster. It is too bad you haven’t a jeep. Then you could really farm. They sure wreck a lot of them over here. I don’t think they will climb trees as good as they are advertized to do. I seen one today that was hit by a mine. It was in pretty bad shape and so am I.

“Sleepy”

So Long,

Bruce

March 23, 1945

V-Mail

Dear Folks,

I got about six v-mails and the Scout today and from what I hear, you don’t get much mail from me. Ever since I got over here, I have lost the writing mood.

I am feeling fine. I am okay, so there isn’t much to worry about. I was in the hospital for a wrecked arm. I pulled the cords and infection of the gristle set in. Penicillin saved my arm.

The whole outfit is in good shape. The boys never felt better. I guess it is cause the weather has improved. But boy, what a hell of a country. I don’t see why anyone would want to fight over it. These Krauts sure are dumb in some ways. I know for one thing, they aren’t going to last long, “I hope.”

By the way, I have got everything you have sent but I sure need a pair of sunglasses. If you get some, get the large (?) lenses with the ____? Or steel frames. They will probably cost a couple bucks but I need them. Well, I hope everything goes well this spring. I would like to be home for spring fishing.

Love Bruce

April 9, 1945

Dear Folks,

Well another moment, another letter. I have been kind of busy lately and haven’t had time to let my thoughts consolidate. I guess we will have to go clear to Berlin before the war ends. I hope the Russians’ do something fast cause I sure am getting to dislike Europe. It is too flat and rains too much. We had some beautiful weather on the other side of the Rhine but over here it rains a little bit too much. I think the war effects the weather a little.

I was in one of the towns bombed mentioned by Bob Hornbeck in his letter in the paper. They sure done a good job. The people had to put all new windows in their houses for miles around. These big guns shake the slate roofs off from most of the houses. I hope we knock every roof off in Germany. The more we fire, the better we like it. The morale of the outfit has been pretty darn high considering what they have been through. I sure am glad spring is here though. We can wash more often and get a little more rest. Before it was too cold to sleep but now we can lay down by the gun and get 40 winks. Well, I guess I will go hunt some eggs. These Kraut chickens lay pretty good. The rhubarb is big enough to eat also. There are plenty of orchards over here also gooseberries. I hope they bear good. I swiped a small portable phonograph and the boys have it going. The needles are a little flat and the records we can’t understand but they give music just the same. Well, I guess this is the end, there is something up.

Bruce

April 30, 1945 Envelope

May 3, 1945

Germany

Dear Folks

Well, here it is time to write again but there is nothing to tell. It is worse than being all dressed up and no place to go. I guess the war is coming along ok. It should suit the civvies anyway. By the way, if anyone is drafted after VE day, they say, he won’t get out of the army for four years. Watch out Bob! I guess they got the brush (?) (Hitler) didn’t they? I hear old “Mouso” got a wooden overcoat too. He sure beat his gums a lot and look where it got him. I guess it will be Tojo next. I hope that guy chokes in his own blood. I suppose he will get honorable and commit Hari-Kari before long.

Well, I can’t tell you what I am doing but it sure beats combat all to hell. I guess we won’t see any more action in this theater. I am sure glad it’s over. Well, be good. Send me some of my favorite pictures. I lost mine.

Love

Bruce

May 6, 1945

Dear Folks,

Well, just traded my 32 for a 38. The 32 was smaller and looked like a 45. This 38 is supposed to take the place of a luger but it doesn’t. The 32 was a mouser from the last war. It didn’t have a safety on it. There were three parts missing on this gun when I first got it but I have them all now except the clip. There are a lot around. I would like to get another barrel for it cause I am afraid this one won’t last too long. I am afraid if Doc ever gets his hands on it, he will burn it up.

Well I just got back from chow and a movie so I think I will hit the sack. I have some guard to pull tonight.

So Long,

Bruce

(Insert drawing of Big hand-drawn German P38/38 cal on back of letter)

May 8, 1945

Krieg ist eber

Hitler ist kaput L

Dear Mom;

Well, this is the day we have all been looking for. I guess there will be a big celebration in town tonight. We made a forty-eight round cannon salute today and had a little ceremony. The boys are all having a good time on Champagne and Cognac. I like the champagne but the rest of the stuff they can pour in the drink. Boy, we are having a good time. We live in a house with electric lights, running water and a radio. We have a Kraut light plant which works pretty good. A twin-cylinder opposing engine. We work the devil out of it, if we burn it out, we will go look up another one. We are all sweating out CBd (?) at the present.

Love

Bruce

May 18, 1945

Dear Folks,

Well, I just got the Scout today and the boys are having quite a time over that letter. One guy has cut it out and sending it home.

I am having a little competition writing this letter. The radio is going full blast and the boys are arguing over the point system. I guess the fight over this deal will never stop. I guess you probably know more about it than I do. I guess us young guys will hit another theater. They say we will hit the states for a furlough but like the rest of this junk you hear it ends up bad no matter how good a wind up.

I was down to the river tonight and went boat riding and dug out a couple old Kraut bayonets. One is dated 1880. I guess it is from the old Prussian War. I would like to send it home. I have a couple of rifles ready but I doubt like heck if I will ever get around to send it. One is a carbine; the other is a regular old Kraut rifle. We burned a couple hundred the other day. I wish I could get my typewriter* home. Doc would get a kick out of firing it.

Well, I will have to sign off there is a “Bohonk”* listening to damn tongue twisting contest.

Love

Bruce

Notes: Typewriter: Tommy gun, Trench Sweeper

(Bohonk: a derogatory term for an Eastern European Immigrant.)

May 21, 1945

Dear Dad,

This is it!

Bruce

(Insert the drawing of Tokyo)

May 17, 1945

(1 of 2)

Dear Mom,

Well, I guess I can tell you everything now, there is no censorship. I sailed from Staten Island the 18th and arrived in Swansea, Wales 14 days later. We trained in England awhile and then hit for the coast. The weather was terrible. We then got an LSS (or LSL) and hit out for the channel. We crossed in a few hours but had to stay anchored 3 days awaiting a pilot. We had one day beautiful weather and then the channel cut loose. We broke two anchors off and strayed off in a minefield. We were sure lucky to pull out in that tub. I was on galley guard one day and the pans were going from one side of the galley to the other. It was almost an impossibility to stand up. The motion was sideways. In a couple days, we went up the Seine River, past Le Havre and up to Rouen. We disembarked there, much to my sorrow and hit for the mud once more. Boy we sure had good chow on that crate. We had beds to sleep in and heated rooms. You couldn’t fall out either. I could really beat my brains in for not joining the Navy. Well, after we got off there, we went so fast and furious I can’t remember the places.

We sure suffered that Belgium winter. The whole winter we slept in slit trenches and snow. Boy, how it snowed. We built fires in the daytime but how we dreaded to see night come and guard duty. We always slept warm but had to spend two or three hours on guard. We fired just about every night so that took off a few more hours. Well, this letter is making me sleepy. So long.

Love Bruce

May 17th, 1945

(2 of 2)

Dear Dad;

Well, I think I can tell you where I have been and what battles I have fought in now.

The first thing we done was spearhead a drive to cut of the Belgium Bulge. We caught hell. Those SS troopers were tough as hell and those long range played heck on us. We had a lot come terrible close but no one was hurt. The most any of us got were muddy faces. Then they tried these flying bombs but they weren’t a bit effective for the front. The weather was the worst. This was around Bastogne. “Time Out” --- I just got me a “Luger.” Guess it will be hard to get home, but will get it there somehow.

The second battle was around Bessie Beau Du. It was a little cold. We drove from there to a place of one of the bitterest battles in Europe. The Battle of St Vith. Boy, it was 10 degrees below zero. The Krauts had a lot of artillery but the shells were mostly duds because of the cold weather.

From there we went to the west point of Belgium, a place called Renshaw. That spelling is incorrect but it sounds like it. We were digging in under enemy observation. They gave us a hell of a time with a 60mm mortar. They throwed snow and rocks in our faces that day.

I don’t remember what happened next. We then moved to southern France in the Alsace sector and fought up the Rhine River in the “Colmar” Pocket. We got bombed there by jet-propelled planes. They are to fast to bomb with. The time fire in that place was like “At Ak.” That was a hot place.

From there, we went to Holland. Then came down to Germany and made the big push. I wish you could have been the gun pit the night of he Rhine Crossing. I don’t think you could have the endurance to slam the shells in but boy I’ll be you would have like to pulled the lanyard for a couple hundred rounds. That was my job. I set the elevation on the sight, shut the breach, and pull the lanyard and then yell on the way let’s give the dirty bastards come more. We blew up a Jerry ammo dump that night. What a beautiful sight. I’ll bet a lot of Krauts got killed there. I sure hope so anyway. The next day, we crossed, and from thereon in we really slammed it to them. We sure done a lot of firing. We were in the big push and then came back and cleaned out the Ruhr pocket and I am still here. I am south of Dortmund about 15 miles. The place is a small town and we have our own govt. here. We run things with very smooth efficiency. Yeh, bullets sure run things good don’t they?

Love Bruce

June 2, 1945

Pay Day

Letmathe Germany

Dear Mom,

I guess you know more what will happen to me than I do. There are so many rumors around here we don’t know what to believer. We are leaving for France in a couple of days. I guess we will be home in July. I hope to help in haying. I have been home for tobacco harvest every year but I don’t think I will be there for it this year. I think I will be gone by that time. If I come home for thirty days, we should be able to get quite a bit done.

I got another pistol today, a “hum-dinger.” It is a Lugar. I have two now and if I ever get them home I will give one to Bob. I have a P-38 for Doc. That is also a pistol. All are 38 cal.

One of the boys just came in, he was out looking for a chicken. The rations have been cut quite a bit and leave us hungry if we don’t eat every meal. Well, I think I will go to bed. We have an ordinance inspection tomorrow.

Love Bruce

June 13, 1945

Camp St Louis

Dear Folks,

Well I am back in France and am rather glad. I am a little closer to home. The scenery looks just like Oklahoma. The trees are few and small and the ground is rather flat. It gets hot during the days and cold at night. We are sleeping in tents. I think I would rather be in Germany. We had a lot better living conditions. We had them Krauts on the ball.

I am about twenty miles from Reims. I have been on pass there twice. I think I will take off and go to Paris one of these days just for the heck of it. It wasn’t far and I have been there before so I know my way around.

We have gotten reassigned. I think I will either have an office job or a drive a jeep. “Poor jeep!” I hope I get put right in the center of Reims. By the way, I won’t be home for haying season. I think we will be a couple of months at least. We are processing troops for C.B.I-O.S. or assignment here. Well, I guess this is all for today. I am going out to play volleyball.

Love Bruce

There was a very hard battle fought through here in the last war. They never even picked up the duds. There are trenches still left in the hard chalk ground and hundreds of artillery holes.

Excuse my writing. I am in a hurry and there are eight guys telling me to hurry. I am center on the VB team.

June 20, 1945

Reims, France

Dear Folks,

Well, I am very sorry to announce it but as things stand as of now we can only send one pistol home. It is because of the import tax. We can bring only one hundred bucks worth of equipment. I have sent home a couple of rifles. Whoever wants them can have them. I don’t want none of the junk. I have sent home another collection of coins. You can split them up the way you want to, as for me I wouldn’t own none of it or have such damn trash in my pockets. I had an old Prussian needle gun that was a muzzle loader and the pellet it shot must have been a half an inch in diameter. The front of the barrel looked square because of the size of the lans in it. The rifling was really something but I had to leave it in Germany. It was made in the 7th century. I also had a double-barreled flintlock pistol. I gave it to a buddy. He was going to give me $200 for it but he saved my hide once so I thought I could at least give him a rusty old pistol. I have had a lot of stuff stolen by the medics, those rear echelon - ___ (?) will take the shirt off your back. I had a pair of 10X German night and day glasses but they got them. Also a 20X telescope sight. The cold weather put it on the blink. I was using it. I set it too close to a fire on a cold day. I could have sold it for at least $400. Boy, the money you pass up would make a civilian sick.

Well I leave for Paris in a half hour so I think I will be getting the jeep gassed up. Got four new tires the other day so I can open it up. This SSO job isn’t so bad. Usually in an office but don’t like that part. Tomorrow I am going to Brussels and then to Antwerp*. I drive the SJO film jeep when the other driver is busy on a 2½ -6x6. I get to see a lot of country but would rather look at a Soldiers Grove back alley. Well, I hope I can make it home for Christmas and tell Bob and Doc not to take the pistol deal to hard.

Love Bruce

PS. There is guy here who wants to see a picture of Mary Farrell

*Antwerp, Begium

June 21, 1945

Reims, France

Dear Mom,

Well, I am glad to hear Bob is not in A1. I do not know what dad would have done if he had to depend on Doc. I remember how I was at that age. I would like to get home to help in the tobacco harvest. I haven’t missed it so far. There is a rumor floating around here we are going to move but I hardly think we will.

By the way, I don’t think I told you I am stationed by a large airfield. I get up a couple times a week. I have flown over Paris in a B24 and get a lot of rides in C47’s. I am promised a ride to Berlin when the pilot gets his orders to go. I get to Paris quite a bit in a jeep but I will see Berlin or bust.

I had a long talk with Dale Evans today. She is a movie star, usually plays in westerns. Not bad looking, I have seen better but you can’t be fussy over here. She is in a USO show and I am the guy who makes out her bookings for the area. Boy, have I got this army made.

There is too much brass around here to suit me. I think so we’ll be polished off if we stay here long enough. Well, it is 7:00pm. I have to get to work and get some films for the SSO.

Love Bruce

June 16, 1945

Reims, France

Dear Folks,

Well, I should go out tonight but I don’t think I will. These “Frogs” don’t appeal to me.

It was a hot sultry day here today. All the guys with any sense slept, but me, no. I went out in the sun and played some basketball. Boy, what a game. We sure done a lot of high powered sweating.

I got too many letters tonight to answer tonight, but I sure am going to try to get at least three or four. I got a couple V-mails from home and the rest were from girls. Boy, what dumb letters they write. I hope I don’t get anymore. I never answer them anyway.

Things are just starting to pop around here. A lot of non-coms are leaving the Co. I guess the 75th is going to break up. We are all going to SWP or CBI sometime or other. I may come home with another division. In fact, I think I will. Some of the boys have all set to transfer to the 2nd and 5th Divisions. Some of the anxious boys are volunteering, but me! I am just sitting here and sweating it out. I hope the division don’t break up right away. I can sweat out the war over here, although I hate the place.

Bob asks if I get a star for ach army I was with. No! But I have got three stars and A the highest decoration given by the French army. Also the Combat infantry pin. The Col. Turned down the Presidential Citation for us because he already had one. The dirty l__XX. I have 41 points, and 44 to go. Guess I am a thirty year man.

Well, this is the end.

As always,

Bruce

July 3rd, 1945

HQ AAC Mourmelon

Dear Folks,

I seen the Scout today and they got their t's crossed somewhere. I don’t work with Dale Evans. I work only with the OSO shows coming into this camp. If she comes here, I work with her. I get the bookings in Reims where there are 50 or more of these shows. The last guy I booked up with was Shep Fields and his orchestra. Quite a guy. He sure had a good singer. I worked with Evans when she was through her but she is in the States now.

The Rockettes are coming out next. The biggest and best dancing team from Radio City. There are fifty in the cast. Ten tons of stage equipment. We are having a time remodeling our open-air theater. The biggest show in the USO. I seen them in Radio City while I was in New York and they are pretty good. They all autographed a hundred-franc note for me. I drive them around quite a bit. Three at a time of course, there are only four people allowed in a jeep.

Jane Froman was here the other night and we had a crowd of over 20,000. We had a bunch of shows last week but there were no famous people in them. I went to a dance with a girl who won the Jitterbug contest in Madison Square Garden in ’43. Her name is Jackson. A blonde bomber – and what a bomber.

Well, did all my junk get home? I want the Mexican throwing knife but you can have the other junk. There must be at least four of the six knives left I sent. I sent three rifles. Did they get there? I broke the 22 rifle stock on a Kraut after the war was over. I caught him hiding it in woodpile. Does it shoot good? Those sights are nice. The March Compass is a Paratrooper’s. Never got to the ground alive to use it. Was going to send Betty his chute to make a silk dress but someone stole it. Well, it is chow time.

So long,

Bruce

Inserted notes: On 22 February 1943, while on her way to Europe to do a USO tour, Froman's plane crashed in the Tagus River at Lisbon, killing 25 of the 39 people on board. She had a compound fracture of the right leg, the left leg nearly severed below the knee, two broken ribs, and the right arm fractured in several places. She was finally able to return to the United States in April 1943 and underwent several operations.

Froman appeared in the Broadway show Artists and Models in November 1943. Unable to walk, she rode on and off the stage in a disguised, motorized wheel chair. In order to pay medical bills she was compelled to do club dates using a mobile, electrically-powered piano.

In May 1945 she went, on crutches, to Europe with the USO to do shows for the occupation forces.

July 18th, 1945

AAC

Dear Folks;

I really haven’t time now to write but I guess I can run out a few lines. I have been gone for the last four or five days and had me in a position where I couldn’t write. I am still working with the Red Cross girls but when there isn’t a division in here we do office and traveling work. And we really travel. The girls have been wanting to see Germany so bad I asked for a run over there and they went along. When we got back they renewed their insurance. I don’t think they like my driving. Weaving in and out of a convoy isn’t fun. We got quite a ways in. The only trouble is the sleeping. They are afraid to sleep in a separate house and they aren’t allowed to carry weapons so we usually get rooms next to each other. Every time someone walks down the hall, they wake me up. I will never take them there again.

I was in England yesterday and it is still raining. I like the English a lot better than the Frogs. I have another trip on schedule and the girls have to go. We are flying this time. I think we are going down along the Mediterranean Sea somewhere. I get orders in a half an hour. I hope we go C47. Those four engine planes make too much noise. Well, I have to pack up and send out my laundry.

As always,

Bruce

Gained 5# last month. That makes me 170.

I have no picture of Mary and there is a guy her thinks he knows her.

Please rush.

July 23, 1945

Hq – AAC St Lo

Dear Folks,

Well, I have a chance to go to school and I am going to take it. What it really is a three week furlough made legal. They picked seven farm boys to take an agricultural course in UK. I think it is mostly on the breeding of cattle and a lot of hybrids, corn, etc. It sounds pretty good. I tried Electrical Engineering and passed the tests by 94.6 average. Pretty damn good but the test was easy. There is only one catch. They haven’t the schools set up yet. When I get back from England, maybe they will have them finished. If I want to be a dentist, I have to take a three-year course in Rome. What a hell of a thought. This bunch of money grabbing, back stabbing Europeans are about to make a guy nuts. Especially those “Dagoes.” The Frogs are bad enough. I would shoot myself if I had to stay here that long. I get around quite a bit and have a couple of American girls with me at all times, but you should see some of the boys here in camp. All they see all day is tents, dust and OD* uniforms.

There is a course in electronics at Oxford I could take but they don’t’ open up for two months and I like England pretty good so I think that will be the one I take if I have the chance. I took a short course on projectors and I run a movie off once in a couple of weeks while my buddy sleeps. He gets tired of the job.

Well, the girls have some flapjack batter mixed up and she bet she could eat more than I can. Has that gal a surprise coming. I swiped a dozen eggs last night and fried all twelve in butter and ate them for breakfast. It is getting kind of dark. It is 9:30pm and I can’t write while she is brushing my hair.

Love Bruce

PS. I just got done turning her over my knee and she is back again.

Some kid eats Wheaties for breakfast I guess

*OD= Olive Drape

July 6, 1945

Hq AAC Riems

Dear Folks,

There isn’t much new to tell just my daily routine. There are so many women running around this place it seems like a harem. I sleep in a hotel room where there is a joining shower. I put it in myself. Also built a desk and have a desk light, reading light over my bunk. The rest of the rooms don’t have these facilities because I have been here so long. The traveling USO shows are in the same building but they all seem to think this is the only room in the building. I am usually up earlier than the rest and have a fire built, as it is chilly here mornings. The girls all come to rehearse their parts and listen to the news. A radio I liberated in Germany. Well, this morning I didn’t get up and the girls were all over the place before I could get dressed. They dumped me on the floor again. I don’t stay with the Co anymore. They are about 20 miles out of town living in tents. Dusty as hell out there. They have large tent cities where they process divisions going to the States. The 75th runs them all. I am connected with Camp St Louis Special Services. Book all their shows; arrange transportation and a guide in. Also sec the PA systems are toned to the singers. We try to have the same man operate the same one all the time but the men come and go so fast we are having a few difficulties.

One of the singers and I went out last night and seen the town. She consumed a half a bottle of champagne and never affected her. This morning she drank a lot of water and I sure made her silly. I thought I would die laughing. Poor kid never drank nothing in her life before. I should have never got it for her, but insisted as she was to drink it cause she has seen the big Hollywood stars so I got it for her. It costs $12 to $15 bucks a quart. I paid two packs of cigarettes. By the way, I am the only guy in the Co who came over a non-drinker or smoker and retained to it. Just about every American girl over here smokes. The only girls who don’t smoke are the Rockettes. They are not allowed to by their insurance co. They are insured for a couple million. Well, there is getting to be too much noise in here. The hit parade is on. Everyone is listening even the Frog’s janitor. I was going to write another page.

Bruce

August 12, 1945

Sunday

AAC Hq St. Lo

Dear Folks,

The joint is nice and quiet this morning. The girls all had late bookings for Saturday night. The PW’s are on the ball getting the place cleaned up. It was foggy as heck here this morning but the sun is out now as bright as ever. They are having church outside in most places this morning because it is so nice. It has rained here the last couple of days and been pretty cold. The girls haven’t had bookings because of the weather and they have been pestering every guy in the house. I can’t get 40 winks anytime of the day. The Rockettes have all got wet shoes around the stove. They are two straps and a heel type but they manage to walk in them.

The head dancer of the show and star was in to warm up last night and stayed half the night. Dixie Dunbar is the name, beautiful kid but slap happy as hell. Bob Hope is here and so is Mickey Rooney and Bobby Breen. They keep the place in an uproar all the time. I hear Jack Benny is coming. I guess he is still in the States. I sure hope he gets here. He has a good program. Bob Hope has a red pair of pajamas he runs around in. Oh! Oh! Jackson is up. I hear her hollering if I got a fire built. I have the PW’s do it and I take the credit. I am alone in this room now that the accordion players have gone. I hear Jackson coming down the hall. Probably wants me to braid her hair. I am getting pretty good at it.

Say, by the way, the war is darn near over and look where I am. I will be here till I rot if something doesn’t happen. (She’s lost her lipstick.) I hope to get home for Christmas. Have to quit, the Rockettes are up. I hear dancing shoes on the hall floor.

Bruce

August 14, 1945

AAC Hq Riems

Dear Folks,

Just a fast note before I take off tonight. We have an added attraction across the hall and does she raise hell. She has been singing all day long and is getting ready to go on a run. Her name is Betty Hutton. She was in to enjoy my shower and boy was it cold. She came out and didn’t say a word.

I have been trying to sleep all day but there has been too much noise. The place has too many dancers. These Frog buildings must be pretty good cause it should have by rights fell apart last week.

Bob Hope has been cutting up all day. He has a black eye. He threw water over the wrong transom I guess. Shep Fields and his orchestra are still here but won’t be for long. The Rockettes are doing their usual routine before the show. Getting their legs painted.

I have to go now. I think Jackson is plowing down the hall in her tap shoes. I got to drive her to Chateau tonight. Sub of Paris.

So long,

Love Bruce

Send some more pictures

August 18, 1945

Hq AAC Riems

Dear Folks,

Well, I guess the war isn’t over yet. I hope they bomb the hell out of those Japs. Kind of give them a little GI persuasion the rough way and they will soon tally out. I am mad as heck today and I have to take it out on somebody so I have the PW’s double timing all over the place. It is raining a little out and all the girls are in rehearsing new scripts. Jackson is singing. The Rockettes are loafing around writing and half sleeping. The are supposed to do 50 sit-ups at three and it is five past and no one has moved so I guess they aren’t. If Kate would come in now and catch them, they would catch hell. Dixie Dunbar is polishing about 15 pair of tap shoes, all hers I guess. Betty Hutton is sitting in the corner, cold cream all over her face, plugging her ears at Jackson’s singing.

Shep Fields is still around; there are a few of his music stands in the corner. He was a pain in the neck. Has a darn good band but he had the house full of Frogs all the time.

I don’t think there will be any shows tonight although they are all booked. The 45th Division is due to pull out of Camp St Louis tomorrow and the girls all want to give them a sendoff.

I just got up and think I will go to bed again. I see my toenails have a fresh coat of polish on. Damn those girls. I got pretty mad at the lipstick and told them off and haven’t had any trouble since with it. It is nail polish now. Well, I have to get some more sleep if I can. Hutton is singing My Rocking Horse Ran Away.

Good bye for awhile

Bruce

August 27, 1945

Hq Riems

Dear Folks,

I have wrote you a couple of letters the past few days but forgot to mail them, and found them in my footlocker this morning. As you know I am still in Special Services. The forty fifth division has pulled out now and there isn’t so much work to be done around here. A few of the girls are on furlough to England, and the rest are just taking life as it comes.

I am working at the American Red Cross in Camp St. Louis. The company isn’t so very far away from here. Half of them are down here half of the time. It seems good to talk over old war stories again. They all get a kick out of the time I slept with a dead Kraut.

I got a camera and two films the other day and had a few pictures taken of the place. This is the place I told you about that looks like Texas. And believe me, it is a hellhole. I am sleeping in a nice building but he rest of the boys are out in the tents. There are four girls working here and are they ever nice. The girls who went to England with me for a Club mobile work out of here. We serve as high as forty one thousand doughnuts out of here in eight hours. Some joint eh? We have the place all landscaped, and as soon as they put me in charge, I had the Krauts put up shutters and paint them white. The frames are red. The girls then put up curtains. It is really nice. I have taken a picture of it and will send one as soon as possible. I sure would like to get hold of some good contact paper. Also some good T-shirts. Plain white. By the way, the war is over. The day I heard it, the first thing I done was go to bed and take a good long sleep. And I slept for a good twenty hours. It feels better to be in peacetime army anyway.

I have been stuffing myself to the gills all day long. They have some good old American ice cream over here now and is it ever good. Coke and ice cream are going to be my diet for a couple of days until I can get the taste of it once again back again in my mouth. We used to try and make it back in the Bulge out of snow, condensed milk and sugar. Made a couple of pretty good batches. They are getting a few luxuries over here to us now but a hell of a lot of good they do now. We got a spink-spank new piano today form the States and is it a dandy. It is a small Steinway. These Frogs don’t know quite what to make of it yet, it is so much smaller than the ones they make over here and has a much better tone.

You know about the French Underground movement on the selling and down payments on Frigidaire. Well, they have them all over here now and they are selling like hotcakes. Boy the inflation is really terrible. We are all getting $92 a month now and I will try and send home a little more cash. Betty will like a nice new pair of wool slacks for school. If I don’t slip her a twenty or so, she will never get to pick out her own clothes. Can you remember how tickled she was when I gave her the twenty spot last winter? If she makes any foolish mistakes, it is best to rub it in I guess. It sure eliminates a lot of foolish spending in later years.

START SPELLCHECKING HERE!

September 5, 1945

Dear Folks,

Well, I don’t write much anymore dad. I have been rather busy, working lat at night and as soon as I feel like getting up, I go to work. Have a good job here at the Red Cross. There isn’t any work it is all telephone conversation. The phone is going all the time.

I think this camp is going to close up before long and they are moving to Philadelphia. I sure hope I stay here. We have the best setup in the whole works. Camp Cleveland is trying to get us down there but I don’t think we will go. They are rather jealous of us here because we have such larger crowds.

There is no news of ever getting home. I put in for three transfers to Norway but ach got as far as the Generals staff and bounced back in my lap. I went up and seen the Colonel and he can’t do anything about it. Somebody I guess just don’t want me to go. I have a pass to Switzerland coming up but I don’t think I will take it. Was in Luxembourg the other day and liked the town better than Paris. I can have a pass to Paris anytime but I don’t like the town. Always get lost on the Metro (Subway).

I think I can be home for Christmas. If I can’t there is going to be hell raised. There is too much red tape being used around here and I think the whole company knows where it is coming from. Someone knocked hell out of top sergeant and pounded the camp agents teeth down his throat. The agent used to be my C.O.

Well there is nothing else to tell. I see Betty Hutton got home. Some say all she wanted to do was get married. The Rockettes have left. Everything is going OK again. Jackson is still here. Well, so long until I wake up again.

Love Bruce

September 21, 1945

Dear Folks;

I haven’t heard from you for sometime. I guess the mail is all screwed up again. I get my mail in bunches. I have some pictures to send I done them myself. This darn French paper isn’t a darn bit of good. I will send the negs home and see what you can do with them. I think you can do a little better. If you are going to send me some paper you better hurry cause I am not going to stay here much longer.

I have been working all night for the last four nights but it came to a screeching halt yesterday. I am doing the same old routine in charge of a building seeing it is clean and everyone who is not living in the place is out at then. And get the shows booked. The Krauts do all the work. A good hard days work would kill me. I am glad I have got the job I have thought. No brass to contend with. I am going back to the Red Cross in a couple of days though. There is nobody to talk to just sit and read. I have read every book under the sun. I read some history yesterday and it sure made me of old Kraus. The book of the month club has to become the book of the day club to keep it going. I am going to have to quit. It is getting to hard on my eyes.

Well I can’t think of much more. Am on CQ in a couple of days. Will write a big letter.

Love Bruce

October 10, 1945

Camp Philadelphia

Dear -Folks;

Well I am still at the old job of counting money. 1 sure wish is could earn the money I count in five minuets in a year and I would be rich in no time flat. I counted money from Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia all day and what a job. Half of the stuff is no good and it 1s so hard to tell it from the good. It makes a rather a tedious task.

I went up· to get my eyes tested the other day and I have to have glasses if I am going to do clerical work. I am going to try and get out of this darn office if I can but the chances are rather slim. I think I will go to the Colonel. He always does something for somebody. He tried to get me a furlough to Norway but the staff turned it down, then he tried to get me a transfer but they turned that down too. What a heck of staff. I have had a couple of days off because of a shake up in the finance dept. Our disbursing officer went home the other day and there is no officer who is eligible to do the job in the E.T.O. from what we can gather. I myself don’t give a hoot if they never find one! We have enough wonk piled up for a. couple of days at the least. We are pretty busy changing German marks into Franks. That is a hell of a job too. Count all day long. It gets on a guys nerves. I sure don’t see how some people can stand to sit in an office all day long. I guess I wasn’t cut out for this kind of work

I have seen quite a few good movies lately. The Corn Is Green was very good. Those Enduring Young Charms, Winged Victory and Weekend At The Waldorf are some of the others I have seen recently.

The Seventy Fifth is scheduled to leave some time this month. They are assembling in Camp Baltimore some fifty miles from here. They are really scattered all over France. They done a pretty good job of getting the boys home though.

I held down an officer’s job for quite a while. That was booking shows.

By the way, I seen Jackson the other day in Reims. Didn’t have time to stop. She calls the boys from camp St. Louis the Hutton haters. She did pull a rather dirty trick on the boys.

The Girls from the show Panama Hattie got me five bottles of champagne the day I left and we are going to drink it up if the cubs win and if they don’t I think I will sell it. The stuff they tell about in the US isn’t as bad as they make out to be. They have enough wine in this darn country to get all of 'Soldiers Grove drunk the same night. Went through the famous Champagne Cellars here in Reims the other day and there are miles of passages under the ground running every which way and they are all full of barrels of wine, cognac, and champagne.

Well it is about time for the ball game and if the Cubs win we will· have a hot time in the' office tonight.

Well so long for a' while.

October 12, 1945

Oct 12, 1945 Dear Folks;

Don't know why I am writing I guess there is just nothing better to do. Today we took a load of money into Reims. I now know what a million dollars looks l1ke cause I seen sixty of them today. We took a half million in on a three quarter ton truck today and the officer in charge was rea11y nervous. It don’t seem like money more but just a lot of paper with a definite purpose. We are up there in a place they call the halfway house. Don’t know why but they just call it that. Anyway they have about enough chow to salt a peanut.

Seen some of the girls! From the Panama Hattie Show and they all had to tell me their troubles. One had a broken heel the others were just more or less sick of the whole works and want to go home with the boys. This dam place will drive anyone nuts in time. I think it will be a little better than the pacific however on behalf of the towns. We can go to a half civilized place once in a while and they can’t.

I should have a furlough coming up to Switzerland coming up in less than a month. I hope to get me a good watch. The boys are buying watches here for twenty dollars that in the States would cost well over a hundred. Most or the Swiss watches even got a leuminus dial but they sure are good watches.

Well I got my glasses tonight and one of the lenses are plain glass and the other have got a little magnification. I think they help me a lot reading but as for outside I have no use for them.

I am going to try them out in the movie tonight. Last week I could hardly stand to see a whole show through. I seen Betty Grable in Diamond Horseshoe the other night and. If it was half as good as they advertised it to be it would have been the hit of the year. Well I guess I wi11 shut my big yap for tonight and go play a couple of games of Ping-Pong.

As always

Bruce M France

October 20, 1945

Letter Camp Philadelphia

Dear Dad:

I guess it has been quite a while since I last wrote you so I think I will rattle off a few lines this morning while I have the time. The rate things are going I won’t get home till next Christmas. The Stars and Strips says they are sending over some battle wagons to take us home. I don't care if they send a garbage scow over to pick us up, just get us home, If things were running right I would be on my way home now but they are not and here I sit.

If I get home this spring I will at least get broke in to do a decent days work. I hate to start something when it is half over. A good hard days work right would just about kill me now. This office work was made for a bunch of guys who can't do nothing but sit down. I have been sitting for so long my rear end feels like cauliflower. Some of these guys come in this office in the morning and sit down and don’t get up until it is time for chow. How they can do that and still have the blood, circulating in their veins is beyond me. I guess they never done anything else in their life.

As you probably know by this time they have me on the enlisted men’s pay roll. It is complicated as hell but it seems to come to me quite easy. We have a couple of boys in here that never went through High School and they seem to be coming along pretty good themselves. That general business course I had in my freshmen is what helps me out. We had practically everything they deal with here. This darn money they have over here is so darn fragile you have to handle it with the utmost precautions or the stuff will tear all to hell. It won't last though one crap game, and if it don’t it isn't worth picking up. The stuff is so thin and the ink comes off when it goes through the wash. The Austrian, Hungarian and Checz money is made pretty good but the other stuff isn't worth picking up.

Well here is hoping I can get home to help with the spring work and get in a little fishing before they start another war. I think I can get home by March for sure but I am kind of hoping that some thing will come up that I can get home a little sooner. I have rode practically every boat the navy has got but the latest rumor is that I will come home on a flat top. I think I would like that they have a lot of deck space. The boat we come over on was pretty crowded and I had to sleep down in the part I called. Torpedo Junction. We were about ten feet below the water line. It was nice and warm down there anyway. In fact it was so warm that two thirds of the boys got nice and sick. I suppose coming home it will be worse.

Well, here is hoping I get home soon.

As Always

Bruce

October 21, 1945

Camp Philadelphia

Dear Folks;

I have been trying to write all day but something always held me up. Usually some one wanted me to play a game of Ping-Pong. I am better at the game than I am with figures I can safely say that. I have a table here in the office and we really use it a lot. I bet I can beat Doc or Betty at the game. If they can it play the game they had better practice up in a hurry. I am sweating now and am quite hot, I have on a summer shirt and an undershirt and that is all. The weather has been swell the last few day's. It is usually cold in the morning but is soon warms after the sun comes up. We are around the 50-degree line here, perhaps about fifty miles south. I think you are about four hundred miles south of the same line. That is latitude. It seems to me that it should get pretty darn cold over here but it doesn't. In the budge last winter it didn’t get more then ten below. The southern boys really suffered, especially the Jigs. They were all the time driving and that is a nice cold job in an open army vehicle. They wouldn’t think of putting the tops up because they couldn’t escape fast enough. Also the 0bservation for aircraft is better to the rear with the tops dawn.

I have been going to the show practically ever night and when if ever get home I will have seen everything that has come along. I seen the much-advertised show “The Corn Is Green" and I didn’t think so much of it. There is a good stage show on oven- to camp St. Louis now and I think I will go over and see it tonight if something don’t come up. The boys are having a party over here tonight and they will all end up in a drunken stupor so I don’t think I will stick around. To many of the boys have taken to liquor and tobacco since they hit the E.T.O. It hasn’t done them a bit of good as far as I can see. A guy got his head taken half way off last month because he was a little pickled and he tried to go· under on of these railroad drops. He was in a jeep and his head and shoulders gust came up over the top of the dash and the steel poles were the same height and it really done a good job of wrecking the guy. If he had been driving a big truck he might have knocked the train off the track but he wasn’t and that is how things stand.

Say, I have been telling you long enough to send me some more of those pictures. You must have taken some since I left. If you are a going to send me a Christmas package you had better “Mark Schnell.” That is make it fast in German. I don't know if the spelling is right, but the pronunciation is right. A lot of the boys are getting packages already but they have been on the way for at least a couple of months. The boxes are in better condition than last year for some unknown reason or other. I think we will have a little faster service this year than the previous year.

Just about all the boys from my company that didn't go home with the division have been transferred to grave registration. I sure am glad I didn’t have to go into that branch of the service. I don’t like any part of graves. There isn't much work to it but I just don’t like to think of it as .an occupation. Sounds kind of gruesome if you ask me.

Think I’ll resort to another sheet of paper.

Continued: Over

By the way it late Sunday afternoon and all I have to do is sit and think of the work that is coming up next week. I sure hope we don It have the work to do this week as we did last or I think I would just about resort to going over the hill. This office would drive me nuts if I stayed in it all the day like some of the boys. I get out and play some volleyball in the middle of the day while I should be working. If the old man would ever catch me he would probably give me hell. Confidentially, I wouldn’t give a hoot. If I would do everything they told me to I would be working all night or be a master sergeant, and if there is any thing in this army I don’t want it is a rating. They can give me a Technician grade but as for a strait, they can have them all.

I turned down staff in combat cause they shipped them all to rifle companies and the half of them are not alive today. Besides they all get blamed for everything that goes wrong. If they start chewing on my tail, I just tell them I am just a Pfc. and don't know a thing about it. This rating sure keeps me out of a lot of details and gets me a lot of extra sleep. All ratings are frozen in the outfit now so I don’t have to worry about a promotion. Every time they put me they put me in for a rating I either get a transferred or go to the hospital. The day I left Wolters I was in for sergeant and have been put in twice since then but never quite made it. I found that out the other night when I found my service record. I made a rating on maneuvers once but they soon squelched that. That was the time our whole company went to Leedsville and had the party and got in the big fight with the paratroopers. I never get to see my service record but when I do I really read it up. The French Govt. has gave me some kind of a decoration for the battle of Colmar City. Boy, that a hot spot. I was sure glad the day they shipped me out to the hospital. The time fire was so thick that it looked like ack-ack (?). And rain I thought it would never stop. The Alps were on our right flank and the clouds dumped their loads on us before they went on over. I called it the battle of the mud flats.

Well I think it is time to knock off for chow. I think I will take in a movie e tonight and try and get my haircut.

So Long

Bruce M. France

October 23, 1945

Camp Philadelphia

Dear Folks;

Well it is pretty late and I am kind of sleepy so don't expect me to write a book. I done more work today than I have done for a long time but somehow I don't feel it like the work I do at home. My back don’t ache so much. It is my head that aches now so there is little difference. I think I will ask for a transfer, I want my eyes left in good condition when I get out of the outfit. The glasses they give guy to wear you couldn’t get a moron to wear. I guess I am just not the type for glasses. The more I work with the things on, the worse my right eye hurts. And with them off it is visa versa. I am going to see somebody who knows something tomorrow and see if there can't be something done.

I CAN BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS…………………………………..

I RENLIST

To he_ _ with that

By the way you would be surprised of the guys that are doing that same thing just to get home. Some of the boys that have had a year over here and have only thirty points can enlist and get home for a sixty day furlough. They only have to enlist for a year. It is worth it to some of those who have only a few points. I have had a couple of serious thoughts at that angle but I guess I think a little bit too serious. I am not going to get caught in a cadre pool training rookies That could not go. If I stay in this outfit a few more weeks I will end up with a ratings. I don't think I want a rating in this thankless outfit. You can work till you drop and you don’t get a dimes worth of credit.

These poop rear echelon commandoes sure took a ribbing in the war but they sure done a good job of paying the boys, They were scattered all over hell and half acres. Some going to the hospital. Some coming back through repel depos. They never got a thing but a measly T5 rating. That they can have. Send me home.

1 see where we got another ribbon for serving in the states for a year. I made that one by two days. Check up and see if I am right. It is the American theater of operations

Well Good Night

Bruce

October 26, 1945

Camp Philadelphia

Dear Folks;

I haven’t a darn thing to do but sit here and type all night and that is just what I am going to do. There is nothing to write a bout but I am going to write anyway.

I don’t a little work this morning but not enough to amount to much. All of the boys are out on pass to Paris. I don’t like the place and don’t think I ever will. The town is OK but the people that live in are the dirty type. The streets are the most beautiful you could ever want to look at but just try and go down an alley. You hear so much about the French chefs and cooks. Well take it from me, they smell. A gas mask wouldn’t have made any difference. The farmers are the same way. The barn is always part of the house. The barn is always attached to the kitchen. It is the same way in the southern part of Belgium. The cleanest country I have seen since I have been over here is Holland. It hasn’t got Ireland beat by far however. I can tell you about that now. A big Irishman was left behind in Swansea to help unload the ship. They gave us ten days. Well, we done it in seven and all took off. I and this Irishman took an unauthorized trip over the channel to Ireland. The country was like England but the people were a lot better to us. Everyone wanted us to eat with them especially afer we told them Flunky was an Irishman. England was a nice clean country but the stuff they feed those English soldiers shouldn’t have been thrown but to a dog. The Rifle Boys from our outfit came across on an English scow and they couldn’t eat the chow. They also had to sleep on and under the tables. I came over on an LST and had the best meals I ever ate. WE had steak everyday. We were anchored out in the channel for three days before we could get a river pilot to take us up the Seine to Rouen. We broke a couple anchors off and wandered out into a minefield. I sure wish I had joined the Navy now though. This typewriter just made up its mind it wants to write in red. I have about lost my patience with this darn thing. I get fooled every once in awhile when I am copying something and get going fast. I usually end up throwing the paper in the basket and call it a day. There. I got the darn thing fixed. It happens to this thing half the time.

Well, I have a couple of more films to be developed and I hope the pictures come out OK. I was up to Reims the other day and they have an added attraction since I left. They have a display of all the weapons used in the war. I guess I will fold up this paper and star on another one.

Page 2

I see they have got some of the buzz bombs up there so I think I will go up and. see if I can get some film to take some pictures of the things for you. That is if I can think up some kind of a story to get some officer to buy it for me out of the officers PX. The officers always have everything. That is the trouble with this darn outfit. I don I t know what they will ever do when they get back in civilian life and have to go shopping and find out that some one else has beat him to the punch. They’ll have some nice big guns there also I have never seen. The Russians used a lot of our old 105’s that we used in the last war. From what I can gather they were pretty darn accurate up to five miles. They also have the 240, the largest mobile land gun in the world. We used a lot of them in the Bulge. They will fire a projectile over fifteen miles. I don’t know the weight of the shell but it is quite a bi t from what I can gather.

Well from the news I guess I won’t get home until the last part of Feb or the first part of March. About the Christmas packages. You do not have to send a thing if you don’t want too. Last year I got the cake while we were having a fire mission. We were in the Bulge giving the Krauts all the hell we could administer in 105 doses, when the mailman came up with the mail. We were tired and had not ate for about a day and a half. The boys sure dug their hands into that. I don’t think we had washed our hands for about three weeks and the dirt our hands was nice and shiny from wearing gloves and the oil from the gun helped a little. Anyway, we sure made quick work of the thing. The mail is sure coming through slow. I get it in batches.

Jackson sent me those negatives. She is down in Marseilles. 1 took some pictures of her and sent in to get developed about three months back but they must have lost the darn things. I will try to find some kind of a picture of her before I leave the ETO. (I hope) She has a lot of me I sure wish you could see. I had a steel helmet and a pair of striped pajamas on. Boy what a Combination. She has a picture of me washing Dixie Dunbar’s hair and another of me marching a bunch of PW’s in cadence. That is a lily. Well I have to take off for the telephone pretty quick. It is going to ring.

Bruce France

November 6, 1945

31941 Camp Philadelphia

Dear Folks;

Here it is Sunday again and nothing to do. Just got done with a game of ping-pong. The more I play the worse 1 get. I figure if I stop playing for about fifty years if things work visa versa like they usually do 1 will just about be worlds champion. I used to be fast as greased lightning but I don’t play enough anymore to give a guy any good competition. I usually give the guy a lot of points at the beginning of the game and he gets to self confident and then 1 take over and trim the socks off him. The element of surprise is the main trick of the game. I have won practically every game today 1 have played. We have a couple of experts at the game in here and I can never seem to get anywhere with them. I guess I am not used to the English they put on the ball yet. Haven’t played them enough to catch on the style they use. I think I will layoff the game and play the radio more.

I think you will find me a very changed person on my pick of radio programs when I get home. I am getting so that I never listen to swing but more to overtures and classical music. However I still cant go those screeching women. I will probably change back though when I can hear it a little more. Over here it is practically all we can get so we soon learn to like it. I tell you one record you can have for me when I get home and that is George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue.” Boy that is really a piece of music. I could listen to that all day and never get tired of it. All of his music is good.

Well I think 1 will -go-to the -Show- tonight. I Seen James Cagney in "Blood On The Sun” last night and it was rather packed with thrills. Some poor guy was all the time getting killed. I guess a movie wouldn’t be a movie any more unless some one didn’t get killed. The most fun however came before the show. It seems that in ever GI theater there is an officers section. Well, the theater was rather packed and a lot of the enlisted men did not have seats. Well, there was plenty room in the officers part of theater so they naturally took over. Well, a Major and a Lieutenant Colonel came in and couldn’t find a seat so they were going to do something about it so they postponed the show till all the enlisted men got out of their section. Boy did that raise a stink. They had to go get the camp commander to get the boys settled down and he sure brought along enough MP’s. Well, theses boys were all old combat men and didn’t give a damn for nothing and they new the Colonel was sleeping in a trailer so I guess the boys got even with him after all. The general came down to day and told the colonel to leave the boys alone or they would Probably steat his-trai1er whi1e he was sleeping in it the next time.

Well I have to go after the mail now. Hope I get some. I haven t had a letter for a couple of weeks. By the way, I have a new A.P.O. 513---- The rest of the address is the same

Love Bruce

November 6, 1945

Camp Philadelphia

Dear Bob.

Well, you should have waited a little bit longer and I would have sent you a wristwatch but it is too late now. I know you have one. I hope it works as good as mine. I got a Kraut paratroopers watch last winter and it was sure on the dot but it got broken all to hell one day when I was monkeying around with some nitro-starch. It sure blew up in the air a long ways cause some of the pieces didn’t come down for a good two minutes. It was a 17-rubie deal but it sure wasn’t made for dress. Looked like an alarm clock that shrunk up to a frazzle. I am sending Doc a good watch and I think he can take care of it if he tries.

I see you are still worrying about those pistols. Well, you don’t have to worry anymore. It is a S.O.P. that only one pistol may be in your possession when you get on and when you get off the boat. I can only have one certificate to prove ownership to a pistol, so that means that I can only bring one home. One is one too many to my estimation but I am just going to keep it for a souvenir. I hate to have the thing laying around. There have been more guys killed with pistols than any other weapon, just playing around. These Lugers are a pretty safe pistol but they sure put a nice hole in a guy if they get in the road of a slug. I sure as hell would not let Tom Walsch ever get a hold of the thing when it was loaded cause he would probably want to see how much meat it would go through. It won’t quite go through a guy but it can make it feel darn miserable for a while.

I have my typewriter to an English girl. She has lost her parents in the raid on London and didn’t have nowhere to go so she joined the WAAF’s. I met her in Brussels while on pass this spring. We went out to a party together given by the US Vets of Foreign Wars and it was there I learned she needed a typewriter. She was model in store in London.

By the way, I am no longer in a position to print pictures anymore. I will send the paper back when I get it if it ever gets here. I have gotten the package with the camera. I think that was the package with the noodle soup in it. Boy, what a hell of a time I had with that stuff. I still have those pants I ripped that night and I can’t get new ones cause they have not got my size.

I never got to take the camera to Switzerland with me cause one of the boys that went to Germany had borrowed it for a couple of days and the furlough came through rather unexpected. I had just got back from Paris and had to pack in a hurry to make the train.

Page 2:

I sat her in the office all day and about two hours before train time they tell me I am going on furlough. I tried to borrow a camera but no one had a good one. Besides, film is a thing of the past over here anymore. I got a little in Paris in the middle of the summer but the supply seems to have run out. I bought a box camera for twenty-five franks quite awhile back and I have taken some good pictures with it. That is fifty cents in American money. A franc is not worth two cents.

The pictures I took in Paris should be back in a few days. I sent them out before I went to Switzerland. That was over two weeks back. These Frogs are slower than me looking for work. The faster I get out of this country the better I will like it. These people have a different face everyday and I’m not kidding.

These people don’t shave the back of their head to start a new face. It is already there. All they do is lift their wig off. Toupee in this country.

Well, it snowed a little this morning, but not enough to cover the ground. It hasn’t melted off as yet though. I think it was my turn to get up and build the fire tomorrow morning.

(P47 just missed the top of this building.) I think every time it gets good and cold it is my turn to build the fire. The sun is out a little now and if it clears off it will be really good and cold. I think I will got Paris this weekend and just take a good long bath and sleep the weekend out.

One of the boys just found out a long mistake and he is kicking himself in the fanny for making such a foolish error. He has been looking for it for at least three days and just found it out. He had one guy redlined on the duplicate payroll and not on the original and when he run the tape on both rolls they didn’t check out. He had half his hair pulled out looking for it.

Well, I have o lay off. Got some work to do and they are hollering at me from all directions. They want me to go after the mail. It is the most important event of the day. By the way, when the tin comes in the mail, open it carefully. It has dad’s watch in it. I bet it lasts a lot longer than any watch I ever owned. There is also twenty bucks worth of Chanel in it. Don’t drop it after you get it out. You don’t have to open the bottle to smell it. I was sure luck to get that bottle. You pay a good seventy-five for it in the States. Brother that ain’t hay.

Hastily Yours

Bruce

November 6th, 1945

Camp Philadelphia

Dear Folks,

Thought I would try writing a letter just one time just to see if I can still write.

It is a rather quiet day here at eh office. Some of the boys are reading the Stars and Stripes. There are oly two typewriters going and nobody is yelling numbers from one side of the building to the othere. The weather this morning is rather dismal. Kind of foggy with low clouds just barely moving. It reminds me of the first days we landed in France. It was a little colder but as far as the rest of the elements are concerned, everything is the same. I sure am glad it is 45 instead of 44.

Some of the boys just took off to play basketball in Chalone. I am going up with them this afternoon for a little workout. A person gets too groggy sitting in this shed all day.

I sure wish I could come home in time for basketball season but the rate things are going I will never get there. If they have boxing in the spring I may make it.

I am getting more tired of this army every “daldeaticl” day. They got signs up all over the place for reenlist I make it home Christmas. Some of these guys are so disguised they sign their John Henry on the dotted line and never give it a second thought. I think some of them know what they’re in for but the large majority hasn’t the slightest idea whatsoever what they are in for. I sure would hate to spend a couple years of my life on some So Pacific island where the foxholes are equipped with hot and cold running malaria. Well the paper is coming to an end and I am hungry.

Love

Bruce

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