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| "Just keeping our tanks and jeeps cleaned up and ready for combat" |
March 15, 1953
Hanau, Germany
Dear Mom, Dad and all,
I guess it's been a long time since I wrote or heard from you. I got those pictures of the cars. I also got those pictures and story about that man turning into a woman. [1]
It looks like Russia is wanting war over here too. I hope they stay on their side. [2]
The sun is shining bright now days. I guess spring is here for sure.
I think I'll take a 3 day pass one of these days and go see a girl I met when we was stranded up in Marktredwitz last fall. I haven't got too many girl friends over here. The ones that live in towns near army camps are bad girls and can talk English because they have been with so many GI's. Anyway this one I know is all right but only 15 years old. I have trouble understanding German and she English.
I was writing to her but quit because she had to have someone translate my letters and also write hers to me in English. I got a card from her the other day and she said why don't you write. I was up to their place for Christmas dinner. Her folks can't speak a word of English. They sure make you welcome though. Met me at the train station and all. I guess she would like to come to the States, but I told her she was too young, and she said no. I told her I would be up to see them before I went home after it's warm enough to go swimming.
I sure am getting lazy. We don't do anything anymore. Just keep our tanks and jeeps cleaned up and ready for combat. I am going to take a picture of the guys I drive and send it to you. I've been doing more driving now then I was back home. About 30 miles a day.
I got that 400 day clock mailed. You should be getting it one of these days. I hope it don't get broke on the way. It's insured if it does. I hope you can put it together. [3]
I guess I will have to sign off this time for lack of something to write about.
Love, V.
[1] Christine Jorgensen was not the first transsexual, but was perhaps the first "celebrity" one. link
[2] Josef Stalin had died earlier in the month on March 5, 1953. This was big news and perhaps caused apprehension. Later in the year in June, the East Germans waged general strikes and the uprising was brutally suppressed by the Soviets.
[3] I mentioned the clock back here.
A fifteen year old girl friend would be a big problem in the US. For GI's overseas, the numbers blurred and it wasn't unusual for a girl mid teens to hang with the soldiers. One could brand such a girl as "bad" or morally loose, but it wasn't always the case. They weren't all that much younger than the 'men' serving Uncle Sam.
ReplyDeleteWell, the girl in this case wasn't loose in the morals department--she just wanted to get the hell out of Dodge I think. The parents were always around when they met too. The family lived in a tiny apartment.
ReplyDeleteAs for the age difference--my mother was 16 or 17 when they met after he came back. She had to wait until she turned 18 (and finish high school) before they married.