Just a boring couple of weeks on base

May 5, 1954

Well, let’s see!  I had better catch up last week.  Last Thursday was the end of the IG and 1^st Bn got a superior which meant that the whole Regt got one.  That is the first time that that has ever happened in 7^th Corps and there are no records of it’s ever having happened in USAREUR before.  This 6^th A/C is quite the stuff.  Anyway, Willie and I went downtown.  Then Friday night we went to the movie.

We just messed around Saturday – May Day.  That night there was a battalion dinner and the May Day dance.  We had a grand time.  Willie left early Sunday morning for Hofenfelds for two weeks.  Sunday afternoon Don, Pat, Peggy and I rode to Passau to see the Tuites.  It was a beautiful day so we put the top down.

Monday we celebrated Don’s birthday because Pat was going to the hospital Tuesday.  Later that night Bob Walker talked me into going downtown.  We went down in the staff jeep – my first real jeep ride.  The rest of the time has been kind of lazy!

        Got to wash and write letters!

Getting ready to write those letters

May 11, 1954

Last Friday, Maj. Pennington had his promotion party.  Afterwards I went down to see Pat and Don for a while.  Then Saturday afternoon Louie and I went downtown shopping, and I spent all of my money.  (I can certainly identify with that!  LOL)  That night there was a promotion party like I have never seen around here before.  It was a real party.  Afterwards was the Monte Carlo night.  That was fine too.  Afterwards Louie and I went to the Mariandal.  Sunday after church we went to the Tuggle’s for a while.  Then the PTA had a barbeque.  It was real good.  Last night I spent the night with Phyl Hallas.  Joe was OD.

Wild times at the promotion party

Monday morning at 0430 a bunch of jets used our field for dive bombing practice.  It sounded just like they had pulled the chain up there.  Tonight Bob Walker and I went over to watch the VII Corps bowling champs.

About a month ago we got a new Chaplain – Maj. Bayhne.  He is Lutheran so our order of worship has been changed quite a bit.

It seems that a year or so ago there was an article in the Saturday Evening Post about the chaplains in Korea who stayed right in the front lines.  They picked out one particular one and wrote about him – that’s our chaplain.

Camel Caravan is doing a story on TV on a border outfit – the 6^th A/C.  They went out with a patrol from Regen, etc.  Sho’ would like to see it!

Willie comes home Saturday.  I’ll be kind of glad to see him.  ("I'll be kind of glad to see him"?  I suppose she's being coy.  Which I find amusing.)  I have missed him and maybe Louie will let me alone.

That bothersome Louie Audi

May 17, 1954

Willie came home last Thursday.  We went to Pat and Don’s to dinner.  Afterwards we ran into Bob Walker downtown and made the rounds.

Friday Bob, Willie and I took off for Furtslenfeldbach, the Randolph Field of Germany.  It is supposed to be the best geometrically designed field in the world.  Bob’s brother is club officer.  On the way we stopped at Landsut for dinner.  We got to Fursty about 1200.  Then we decided to go gasthausing until the wee hours.  We came back to the club and got Sgt. Mills up to fix breakfast for us.  (Kind of a bossy pair, aren't they?)  Then we went to bed until about noon.  After lunch we went over to the field for the air show.  All of their planes were on display.  The jets and the trainers performed and then an amphibian.  I have never been close to jets, so it was quite thrilling.

         Afterwards we went back to the club.  We started playing the slot machines.  I won 130 marks without hitting the jackpot.  It must be kind of unusual because they all talked about it.  That night we went to a dinner party.  Well I have never seen Bob and Willie put on such a show.  Everyone just sat there with their mouths open and listened to us.  I’m sure they’ll never forget us.  Then we went back to the club to the dance.  Afterwards we went gasthausing again.

Bob Walker and Willie

Sunday we got up about noon and ate breakfast.  Then we left.  We went to Dachau to the Crematory.  That must have been horrible.  We saw the ovens, the room where they went first to undress, then they went to the gas chambers but were told they were to take a shower, then the death room where the bodies were stacked.  (I really wish that Mother had taken some pictures of this place.  Although I suppose pictures can't really give you a sense of the horror of a place like this.  Trying to imagine the reality of all of this is a little mind numbing.  I personally find it hard to comprehend the level of evil that was behind the Holocaust, I can't wrap my mind around it.  The sadness and senselessness of it and the complete lack of humanity that spawned it overwhelms me.  I imagine that it must have been the same for Mother and Daddy while they were there.)

We saw the mass graves, where they had target practice, one of the execution spots with a blood trench, the hanging tree, and the gallows.  At the entrance is a statue with “Never again will the dignity of man be voided” in German.  Next to it is the DP camp behind walls.  Bob says it is filthy.  The road leading to the Crematory certainly must have been heavily guarded – there are bunkers all along the way.  In the oven rooms there are hooks where the men who worked there were chained.  The people in Dachau declare that they didn’t know what was going on.  That’s mighty hard to believe.

Then we were on our way.  We stopped at the Dachau Freising, and Landshut Officer’s Clubs.  We even had a flat tire in Landshut.  We got back here in time for the movie.  I really had a grand time.

Bob Walker changing tire

Willie changing tire