The Last Letter Home

Aug 20, 1953
Vilseck [West Germany] 

Dear Mom, Dad and all, 

It been so long since I wrote that I suppose you think I am on my way home. Not quite. One of my buddies that gets out Oct 14 leaves the 29th of this month. I get out the 28th of Oct so I figure I will leave Sept. 12th. I should be out by the first of Oct.[1] 

Marylou and family must have had a bad trip. I would like to go to Kansas some day.[2]
As far as I know now I will work at the same place. If I can get in the warehouse. I don't want my old job back. [3]

I haven't hardly turned my hand for a week. I tore the clutch out of my jeep and they sent it to Ord. for a new one. It should be back any day now. 

I went swimming the other day and cut my big toe and hit my head on a log under water. I guess I had better stay in camp. I go to the shows quite a bit over here. I haven't seen a 3D movie yet. [4] 

Has Jr. ever decided about buying a new Mercury yet? [5] 

I guess I will have to sign off for now.* 

Love, V. 

P.S. can't think of much to write but can tell all about it when I get home

______________________
[1] This was his last letter home and so concludes this series, "Letters Home." There is an epilogue: a letter from the German girl he met in Germany arrived in 1955 at the address he gave her before he left. I have no idea whether she is still living and so I hesitate to publish it here. The gist of the letter was essentially "why don't you write me?"  Her letter arrived a month before my parents got married in 1955.

[2] His oldest sister's husband had taken up a ministry in Kansas. He did in fact visit her. One of my first memories was a family trip to visit her and her family who had since moved from Kansas to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Thus, his long ago written words became a real life memory for me which I still carry in my head. And now I'm putting that memory back in words just to affirm that he kept that promise.

[3] He worked in Madison upon his return but took an apprenticeship as a printer in his hometown of Richland Center, Wisconsin.  That led to another job as a journeyman printer in the town of Monroe, Wisconsin, where my brother and I were born. Shortly after I was born, he took a job at Madison Newspapers, Inc. and we moved to Middleton, Wisconsin, where I grew up.

[4] The "golden era" of 3D movies was 1952-55: link

[5] He eventually did buy a used 1952 Mercury: here he is behind the wheel in an undated photograph, probably taken in late 1954 or early 1955 by my grandfather:

* THE END

Letters Home: All the Army does for you is make a bum out of you

Aug 15, 1953
Vilseck [West Germany] 

Dear Folks,
I got a letter from you today so I will answer tonight. We just got back from Frankfurt. We supplied 10 tanks for the parade. [1] We are not doing much of anything lately. I make about 2 trips a week to Frankfurt. It's only 15 miles. A lot of the sergeants have got their wives over here now and I have to carry them back and forth night and morning.

I got a letter from Marylou. She wants me to send her a doll. Marilyn wants one. [2] I went to a carnival and got a teddy bear but I don't know whether to send it or wait till payday and buy one that looks more real. 

I bought myself a new swimming suit and have been in once. There's a lake not to far from here. They haven't got a place to dress and most people change clothes right in the open. They don't think nothing of it. Nothing like the States. [3] 

I had a flat tire on my jeep. I got something to do tomorrow. That's about all I will do. It's going to be hard to work again. All the army does for you is make a bum out of you.
It takes me at least 2 hours to even write a short letter anymore. I am sending a lot of pictures and junk in this letter. Some things I clipped out of the paper. 

I will send you $10.00 the first for the church. Well I guess I will have to sign off for tonight. 

Love, V. 

PS I don't write to anyone else in R.C.

__________________

[1] I have been unable to find anything on the web regarding a military parade in Frankfurt in August 1953. Photos (there must be some somewhere) would be nice.

[2] His niece and my oldest cousin, then about 2 & 1/2 years old.

[3] He himself lost such inhibitions later on. Read this story. Link

[4] A thoroughly execrable character named "J" called my father a bum today on Althouse. Link How did he know?  I am flattered twice: once because it seems that "J" must lurk here and second, as Winston Churchill said:

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.

[added:  I'm glad that I put that link up to Althouse.  Remarks like that, obscene blog posts and creepy emails were pretty much the reason I stopped visiting the Althouse blog.  "J" is apparently a much valued commenter at that blog]

Letters Home: "About another month of this and I quit"

Aug 7, 1953
Vilseck [West Germany]


Dear Mom, Dad and all,


I got a letter from you today so I will answer it tonight while I am in from the field. I am not doing much of anything. It sure is cold over here. This morning I had to wear the top of my long underwear and gloves. We got our tops off the jeeps while we are up here and it's dusty and cold. 

About every other night we go out and sleep in the field. I have to follow the tanks (if I can) and after they stop at night 40 miles from no where I have to go back and pickup the chow and guide the gas truck out to our position. [1] It gets tiresome chewing dust and plowing through ditches. About another month of this and I quit. 

I bought myself a portable Radio this month. I have something to listen to at night. I can pick up stations from England, Spain and of course Germany.[2] 

You was asking me about that girl I sent a picture of. Nothing serious just a friend. Her folks like me. They have a nice swimming pool there. I go when it gets warm enough. It was in June, but now it is cold. I think it will snow. 

It's too bad about the girls not being like Marylou but you brought them up like they should have been and now they are on their own more or less. [3]
Bye for now,


Love, V.


Mon. I will have 12 months in Germany

_____________________________

[1] Tanks were fuel-hungry machines and needed constant supply lines. My dad's remark reminded me of General George S. Patton's famous line "My men can eat their belts, but my tanks have gotta have gas." link  I think I first heard Patton's quip from my dad because I don't think it was used in the 1970 Patton biopic (correct me if I'm wrong) and I've never read a Patton biography. He may have heard it first as 3rd Armored Division lore, even though Patton most famously led the 2nd Armored Division.

[2] Radio Free Europe? I lived for a year in Mülheim an der Ruhr, a city located in the former British sector, where I used to listen to the BBC. This was 1992 and Thatcher's successor, John Major, was Prime Minister.  He wasn't very eloquent, but I enjoyed hearing his recorded broadcasts from the House of Commons. The radio broadcasts had a certain intimacy along with a sense of raucous background back benching that make our televised Congressional sessions look and sound like stadium rock concerts by comparison. Years later, I recall watching Tony Blair speaking from the House of Commons (those green leather benches!). I can only imagine what it must have been like to see Thatcher there, or even Churchill.

[3] I can read between the lines here. My grandmother had probably complained to him about one of his sisters. He had three: one older, one younger, and one much younger. Of the three, the oldest was the saint, the middle one was mischievous but level-headed, and the youngest was the absolute wild child. I could share many stories but I would consider this a breech of family ethics.

Letters Home: Vous sortez du secteur français

July 26, 1953


Dear Mom, Dad and all,


I got back from Baumholder Friday. It was wet and muddy there. I had to sleep in my jeep because the ground was too wet to sleep on at night. The officers we had with us were umpires for the 2nd Armor Div. They would judge them on their simulated attacks on hills and city's. I guess they didn't do no good because they didn't get much score. Enough of that.
Sounds like you got a good deal, I was surprised they allowed 600 for the merc. One thing, you forgot to tell me the color. [1]
I don't know what I want to do about a car when I get back. Dad needs a good car for driving back and forth to work.
That Muller boy that came in the army with me lost his stripes. He told his tank commander off. And said something about being a short timer.
We are supposed to leave here no later than Sept. 24. I think it will be about the 15th. [2] I hope anyway.
Bye for now,

Love, V.

______________________
[1] I'm pretty certain it would have been a 40's era Mercury.
[2] My father's time in Europe, and in the Army, ended with his honorable discharge that Fall.

Letters Home: Vous sortez du secteur américain

July 18, 1953
Baumholder

Dear Mom, Dad and all,

I finally found time to answer your letter. I am over in the French Zone driving for an officer. [1] Some other outfit over here is having maneuvers and they are umpires.[2]

I got Marylou's letter answered finally too. Bonnie sent a letter but I haven't answered it yet. [3] It was a bad trip over here. It rained all the way and when it rains the roads are as slick as ice. Cobblestone roads.

I am sending some pictures along this time. That one of me standing by the bear was taken at a carnival.

This is Sat night and I am just laying around doing nothing.

Did you get that card I sent. I know this is a short letter but there is just nothing happening. Bye for now.

Love, V.

_______________

[1] After the Second World War, the French were understandably vindictive, just as they had been after the First World War. Many, Charles de Gaulle included, were perfectly willing to recreate a Weimar Germany or see Germany vanquished altogether. The draconian Monnet Plan would surely have weakened the nascent Western German economy. The Dutch, also eager to seek reparations from the Germans, proposed their own version called the Bakker-Shut Plan.

The US, meanwhile, had its own plan called the Morgenthau Plan, proposed by FDR's Treasury Secretary (see his signature under the blue seal in the photo below). Designed to neutralize any German resurgence, the Morgenthau Plan was harshly criticized and ultimately rejected.  Herbert Hoover, still active in politics, wrote in March 1947:

There is the illusion that the New Germany left after the annexations can be reduced to a 'pastoral state'. It cannot be done unless we exterminate or move 25,000,000 people out of it.

To our credit, the US eventually rejected all these retributive schemes because they all risked letting a weakened Germany move further to the Soviet sphere. The "Stalin Plan" was already in force in the Eastern sector.

Our Marshall Plan trumped them all.  Interestingly, an evolved version of the Monnet Plan eventually became the seed of the EEU, which eventually became the EU.

Click to enlarge. US Silver Certificate, series 1935

[2] These were tank maneuvers.
[3] His older and younger sisters.

Letters Home: Greetings From Marktredwitz

A postcard my father sent home during his Army service in Germany 1951-53 (click on the tag "Letters Home" for the whole series):

Click to enlarge. Clockwise from top left: [1] Schlageterstrasse, [2] Kreuzstrasse, [3] Krankenhaus, [4] Schillerstrasse. Note the name Marktredwitz is in the old Fraktur script lettering. The Nazis had a love-hate relationship with that style and ultimately sought to limit its use.

The reverse reads:

July 12, 1953

Hi Mom,

I am spending the weekend in Marktredwitz. I have been swimming twice. I am staying at my girlfriends house. They live in a small rented apartment. I will sign off for now.

Love V.

______________

[1] Schlageterstrasse was named after Albert Leo Schlageter who was heralded by the Third Reich. Many German streets were renamed Schlageterstrasse or Albert-Leo-Schlageterstrasse during the NS times. After the war, many were subsequently renamed. By 1953, de-nazification had not yet reached the smaller towns.

[2] Kreuzstrasse, which means, I believe, simply Crossroad.

[3] Krankenhaus, literally the "Sick House", or the hospital.

[4] Schillerstrasse was named after Friedrich Schiller, the great German poet and philosopher.

Letters Home: "I haven't written for at least 3 weeks"

I last updated this series over a month ago. My late father wrote letters home to his family while serving in the US Army between 1951-53. They're all arranged in reverse chronological order from the "present" all the way back to boot camp: Link

His writing pace slowed from almost bi-weekly to about once a month and he wrote just eight more times before returning home in September, 1953. One day, augmented by photos, I hope to republish them all together. Meanwhile, I intend to keep posting them here on their originally posted calendar anniversary, time-shifted by exactly 58 years. Happy early Father's Day, pop.

Part of the lapse was his own--here he admits not having written in more three weeks. The young man who was to become my dad was growing apart from his home too. I wish there were more glimpses into what his life was like then and not just for selfish reasons because I am a part of him. His letters are, quite frankly, unremarkable--exactly what people said about the 1950's--especially the mid-1950's. He is a '50's "everyman" and now just a part of cultural memory.

Of course much was going on. He was stationed near the Fulda Gap which was like a Maginot Line between Allied and Soviet forces. East Germany was seething at this time: riots and the subsequent brutal repression culminated on June 17, 1953 in Berlin, just a few weeks away from the time of this letter. Up to a hundred or more people were killed outright (no one really knows) & over a hundred more were later executed and thousands disappeared. But he apparently did not notice, or else he had no real knowledge of events at that time. But the danger was real enough.

May 25, 1953
Hanau West Germany 

Dear Mom, Dad and all,

I haven't written for at least 3 weeks. I was waiting for a letter from you. I finally got one today.

We sure are having hot weather, around 90 every day. Last week we went out on the rifle range. I had to haul ammo in my jeep. I got to fire the sub-machine gun for reward. After everyone had finished, I got to help get rid of what was left over. I was shooting at tin cans and most anything I wanted to. [1]

Day after tomorrow I have to go in the field for a week. They are having some maneuvers north of here and 2 jeeps and 2 officers are going. I will be driving one. They have to umpire the maneuvers. [2]

Do you remember what I was doing 3 years ago tonight? Graduating from H.S. It seems like it's been that long too. [3]

I haven't been swimming yet but I took some pictures out at a lake yesterday.

I haven't been going to church very regular. Maybe I will after I get back. I like to sleep Sun. morning too well. Some weekends I have to drive someone. Still driving about 1000 miles a month. Last Fri. I had to take a AWOL to Frankfurt to the guard house. He had been to France.

Bye bye for now,


Love,
V.

____________________
[1] He probably fired an M3 grease gun, the standard Army submachine gun at the time.

[2] Heavy armor maneuvers involving his outfit, the 141st Tank Battalion in the 3rd Armored Division, US Army.

[3] Military conscription was a kind of "poor man's college" at the time. The original G.I. Bill had recently been augmented. link

Karl Ziegler: "Consequences and Development of an Invention"

Karl Ziegler, German chemist (1898-1973)

Karl Ziegler, then director of the Max-Planck-Institute-for Coal Research, describing what he and co-workers discovered ten years prior to winning the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry:

The catalyst is prepared simply by simultaneously pouring, with exclusion of air, two liquid materials into about two liters of a gasoline-like hydrocarbon, after which ethylene is introduced, while stirring. The gas is absorbed quickly; within an hour one can easily introduce 300-400 liters of ethylene into the two liters of liquid. At the same time, a solid substance precipitates, and can scarcely be stirred anymore. If the brown catalyst* is then destroyed, by the addition of some alcohol and by the introduction of air, the precipitate becomes snow-white and can be filtered off. In its final state it will accumulate in amounts of 300-500 g, as a dry, white powder.

~Karl Ziegler "Consequences and development of an invention"

______________
*The two co-catalysts were titanium and aluminum chlorides

Polyethylene had been known earlier. A British company, ICI, held patents for what they called "polythene" (hmm, maybe related to the Beatles' "plasticene"?), but ICI's polyethylene was different animal than Ziegler's polyethylene. The difference is at the atomic level. Though both plastics were polymers of ethylene, the older, inferior product was highly branched:

Ziegler's new process for making polyethylene essentially made perfectly linear chains of polymer with very little branching. The bulk properties of the two were markedly different. The density differences are akin to what one expects from trying to pack together a bunch of branches versus bunches of straight sticks.

Ziegler and his Institute became independently wealthy as the plastic age began in earnest.

Time For Cocktails: The Vesper

"A dry martini," [Bond] said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet." 

"Oui, monsieur."

"Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet.* Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?"

"Certainly, monsieur." The barman seemed pleased with the idea.

"Gosh, that's certainly a drink," said Leiter.

Bond laughed. 'When I'm...er...concentrating,' he explained, "I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink's my own invention. I'm going to patent it when I can think of a good name."

—Ian Fleming, Casino Royale (1953)

_____________________
*Kina Lillet used to contain quinine, a muscle relaxant. Kinda like how Coca-Cola used to contain cocaine, and 7-Up contained lithium citrate.

Letters Home: "I'll kick her butt when I get home and I mean it."



US military scrip from the era



April 3, 1953
Hanau

Dear Mom, Dad and all,

It's raining over here today and I am on guard. I have to check all the trip tickets of all the jeeps and trucks that leave the motorpool. I'm in a shack so I'm not getting wet.
Last Sat. I had to take a Lt. to Frankfurt for the payroll. I had to help count it before we left the place. $8500 in script and $1500 in marks.[1] I guess I told you before we get paid in script and then can change that into German marks if we go off post. I haven't seen any American money for months. 

Bye the way how is my bankroll coming? I should have quite a bit by now.

You tell P. she had better settle down like a high school girl should and quit smoking or I'll kick her butt when I get home and I mean it.[2] I was going to write her a letter. She must have got in with some of that Muscoda bunch.[3]

The way things look now it will be about the 1st of Sept before I can leave here. Every month someone is going home and new guys are coming in. They all have been serving for 2 years.

How long does it take a letter like this to get to the states? It comes by German air mail and is suppose to take 3 days.

As ever, V.

______________

[1] GI's were paid in military scrip which came in all denominations, even fractional dollars.

[2] P. is his younger sister, then about 16 years old. She is my aunt and the one who saw to it that I received these letters. link

[3] Muscoda (pronounced MUSS-co-day, i.e., stress on the first syllable) was a rival high school located about 20 miles south and across the Wisconsin River from Richland Center.

Letters Home: "I finally made P.F.C."

Mar 25, 1953

Dear Mom Dad and all,

Its been another nice day. I finally made P.F.C. It took long enough. Ratings are just starting to come out good now. It shouldn’t take us long for Cpl. 

Nothing new is happening over here. I think I’ll take the top off of my jeep. I already got the doors off. 

I sure didn’t do much work today. Just changed oil in my jeep. 

I sure wished R. could take my job. He would have it made. How is he getting along with the draft board?

Love,

V. 

___________________
R. was his younger brother. He was drafted and also served, even though hostilities ceased in Korea that summer.

Letters Home: "I'm spending the day in Heidelberg"

Heidelberg: View from Philosophenweg in 1953

 My father wrote the following message on the postcard pictured above:

March 24, 1953
Heidelberg

Dear Mom,

I am spending the day in Heidelberg. I had to drive a Lt. down here to 7th army headquarters 76 miles from Hanau. It sure is a nice day. Yesterday was our warmest day, 69°.  I suppose it's warming up around there too. The farmers are out in the fields plowing.

Love, V.

That's the Heidelberg Castle or Schloß in that early 1950's postcard. The view has scarcely changed since then thanks to stringent zoning laws.

In the early 1990s we had a young friend who was a native Heidelberger. His parents lived outside the city limits and we spent many a long, beer-soaked weekend there. He showed us around town and one day he surprised us by taking us up into the hills to an interesting but lesser known site called Thingstätte. 

Thingstätte is the name for an open-air amphitheater inspired by Heidelberg native Albert Speer. Numerous outdoor amphitheaters were planned and built throughout the Third Reich during the early 1930s, but were disused because radio broadcasting proved a more effective means of mass communication.

The Heidelberg Thingstätte was built on a site sacred to ancient pagan worshippers. Our friend told us that "they built it but he [Hitler] never came."  After the war the Thingstätte become an "unloved inheritance from the Third Reich."  More info can be found here.

Heidelberger Thingstaette

Thingstätte is an interesting word. First, the "Th" combination is orthographically rare in German and went the way of the Neanderthal some years ago. "Thing" is cognate with our word "thing" (in modern German, Dinge). A quick look at the OED etymology of "thing" gives a sense of the old Germanic meaning now lost in modern English.

The Thingbewegung "Thing Movement" was the closest that the Nazi party had to spiritual core beliefs. Josef Goebbels wrote of the Heidelberg Thingstätte:

In diesem monumentalen Bau haben wir unserem Stil und unserer Lebensauffassung einen lebendigen plastischen und monumentalen Ausdruck gegeben. Diese Stätten sind in Wirklichkeit die Landtage* unserer Zeit. Es wird ein Tag kommen, wo das deutsche Volk zu diesen steinernen Stätten wandelt, um sich auf ihnen in kultischen Spielen zu seinem unvergänglichen neuen Leben zu bekennen.

In this monumental construction, we have given living sculptural and monumental expression to our style and approach to life. These sites are in reality the Statehouses* of our time. There will come a day when the German people will convene to these stone sites in order to avow their new eternal life in ritual drama.

__________________________
*The German word Landtag has no satisfactory English equivalent. Some dictionaries give Parliament, others Diet. The meaning here is an outdoor gathering place for elected leaders.

Letters Home: It Looks Like Russia Is Wanting War Over Here Too



"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.

Letters Home: "I'm just living till the day I get home"

February 26, 1953


Dear Folks,

I got a letter from you yesterday so I guess I had better answer it tonight. We sure are having nice weather now. It's dry but not too warm. About like May back home. The sun is real bright. Good days for taking pictures.

We have to be on parade the 4th. I'll be in a tank that day. I think only one jeep out of  the 141st is in it. It's suppose to be in the newsreels and on television back in the States.

You asked me about that shirt. I guess I sold it to some GI at Campbell that wanted it.[1] I believe I would sell the shirt off my back for enough money Ha! I am going to get that watch and a 400 day clock sent next week for sure.[2]

Did dad ever trade the Mercury off? I suppose it's about all in??

I guess there's not any thing of importance happening over here. I'm just living till the day I get home.

Bye for now.

Love, V.

____________________

[1] "Campbell" refers to Fort Campbell, KY/TN, where he completed his specialized tank training the previous year.

[2] These were intended as gifts. I had to Google "400 day clock" to figure out what he was referring to here. Then it was obvious he meant a clock which I recall as a living room fixture growing up. My family was like that. They would gift each other things all the time and then end up with them in the end! I once gave my grandmother a bone china ceramic chicken (she had a collection). Before she died, she made sure that it got back to me and I still have it.
The 400 Day clock looked something like the one in the photo above. It stopped working after about 400 weeks, sometime in the 1960's. My mother tried to have it fixed then, but unsuccessfully. My brother now has it and as far as I know it still doesn't run. I never really cared for the thing and preferred the Kit-Cat Clock.

Dosvedanya To All That

Josef Stalin died on March 5, 1953. I note this only because the event affected (I think) one of my father's upcoming letters in the series Letters Home. He wrote home in mid-March talking about Russia wanting to go to war. 

The event certainly had a global effect. President Eisenhower, then in office just a little over a month, spoke to his cabinet days later, telling them:

Ever since 1946, I know all the so-called experts have been yapping about what would happen when Stalin dies and what we, as a nation, should do about it. Well he's dead. And you can turn the files of our government inside out--in vain--looking for any plans laid. We have no plan. We are not even sure what difference his death makes.

In private, and to his speechwriter Emmet Hughes, Ike was more circumspect: link

Look, I am tired--and I think everyone is tired--of just plain indictments of the Soviet regime. I think it would be wrong--in fact, asinine--for me to get up before the world now to make another one of those indictments. Instead, just one thing matters: what have we got to offer the world? What are we really going to do, to improve the chances of peace?...

Here is what I would like to say: The jet plane that roars over your head costs three-quarters of a million dollars. That is more money than a man earning ten thousand dollars a year is going to make in his lifetime. What world can afford this sort of thing for long? We are in an armaments race. Where will it lead us? At worse, to atomic warfare. At best, to robbing every people and nation on earth of the fruits of their own toil. 

Already in 1953, Eisenhower was foreshadowing his famous "Military-Industrial Complex" farewell speech in 1961. His perspective came from a lifetime of national service. 

Eisenhower went on to say to his speech writer:

Now, there could be another road before us--the road of disarmament. What does this mean? It means for everybody in the world: bread, butter, clothes, homes, hospitals, schools--all the good and necessary things for decent living. So let this be the choice we offer. If we take this second road, all of us can produce more of these good things for life--and we the United States, will help them still more...This is what I want to say. And if we really don't have anything to offer, I'm not going to make a speech about it.

Reading about Stalin, I learned that his little Himmler, Lavrentiy Beria, shared Eisenhower's view, and desired a strategic peace with the United States. Beria may have even poisoned Stalin. Beria was executed later that year.

Letters Home: "I wouldn't know because I wasn't no family man"

A 1949 Ford

February 16, 1953
Langendiebach


Dear Mom, Dad and all,

I guess I haven't wrote for about a week so I will tonight. I've been driving my jeep about 100 miles a day. Mostly handling Brass between here and the other post (Hanau Sub-post). I had to take the First Sergeant to a town near here to look at a house. His wife is coming over next month. He asked me what I thought of the place he picked out and I told him I wouldn't know because I wasn't no family man. [1]

It's been kind of cold here but we haven't no snow. I asked a German how much longer it would be cold and he said about a month. I won't mind it so bad over here after it warms up.

I don't know what to tell dad about trading for a 49 Ford. They had weak frames and you couldn't keep the front wheels in line. They corrected it in 50. I know the Mercury is about wore out and should be traded off. It's up to him if he thinks it's a good deal to go ahead and trade. The Ford shouldn't cost over $950.00.

I guess I will have to sign off now.

Love, V.

p.s. not much news this time.

___________________

[1] Little did my father know that just two years later he'd meet and become engaged to my mother. Two years later my brother was born and then me three years later. Love does mysterious things.

Letters Home: What percent of a dollar is held back for income tax?

February 3, 1953
Vilseck

Dear Mom, Dad and all,

Well I guess there isn't much news going on over here. I got those books R. sent. We had about 6 inches of snow, but the temperature stays around 30° above. I found out the other day that I am not due for rotation until September. That's 8 long months yet. What do you think of this German paper? I am sending a money order home next week. You can put it in the bank.

I suppose if Jr. goes back to Madison he will be working at Oscar Mayers. I would think R.C. could have some big factory where a person could make a living.[1]  I am planning on going back to Celons if I can work 48 hours or more a week. If they hold out at 40 it's hard to tell where I will be working. Anything but the Army.

We got our withholding statement today. I had $1,043 for a wage and they took out 74.80. We are going to get another statement, and when I do I will send them all home. I shouldn't have to pay anymore. By the way what percent of a dollar is held back for income tax? Is it 20%? [2]

I guess I will have to sign off this time.

Love, V.

__________________
[1] R.C. is Richland Center, his hometown.

[2] Here's a form 1040 for 1953 which shows that the tax rate for his income was well below 10%. link  Still, the tax code was much more progressive in the 1950s. The top tax rate for income above $300,000 was around 91%. That's not say that someone earning that much in 1953 was taxed at that rate on all their income--just what they made above that amount. Note also that the poor paid a fair share. Link.

Here are some interesting comparative cost-of-living numbers I got from a pamphlet I picked up tonight at a Borders Bookstore called 1953 Remember When...

New House                               $9,525.00
Average Income                        $4,011.00
New Car                                    $1.651.00
Average Rent                            $83.00
Tuition to Harvard University   $600 per year
Movie Ticket                             70¢ each
Gasoline                                     20¢ per gallon
1st Class US Postage                 3¢ each

Granulated sugar                        85¢ for 10 pounds
Vitamin D Milk                          94¢ per gallon
Ground Coffee                           76¢ per pound
Bacon                                            55¢ per pound
Eggs                                              24¢ per dozen
Fresh Ground Hamburger          54¢ per pound
Fresh Baked Bread                     16¢ per loaf

Everything is inflated by at least a factor of ten or more, including our egos.  The Judds sing about it here.

Letters Home: I Got 9 Months Left

January 25, 1953
Vilseck, West Germany


Dear Mom Dad and All,


I haven't been doing too much lately. We are in Vilseck for 2 weeks. It's a tank training center.[1] Now that I am a jeep driver I suppose I will just be driving. We are in almost the same place where we was stranded last November. It's colder and there is more snow here than there is in Hanau. The coldest I've seen so far this year was 14 below but mostly it's been 30 and above freezing.

I got a Christmas card from Elma and Frank. I got the Democrat from you the other day. [2] I bet B. is still looking for her watch. I still haven't got the darn thing mailed. Any day now. I haven't got a letter from R. for quite a while. What has he been doing? Who is he going with now? I suppose he is thinking about coming to the Army sometime this spring. I got 9 months left. It's been 7 months since I been home. It don't seem that long does it? July 5 was when I was there last. We are supposed to get a shot for flu. But haven't yet. I got a letter from M. Friday. She said her and m. both had bad colds.[3] I had one but got rid of it.

Has the car been starting this winter? I am going to try to send more money next month. I'll need a lot when I get out. Ha! Ha! I might want to buy a Model A.

Bye for now,


Love, V.

_______________________________
[1] Vilseck has a long long history as a military town in Germany. Link

[2] The Richland Democrat, his hometown newspaper. Back in those days newspapers had no compunction about which political party they were for. This was fine because the other side had their voice too.

[3] "M" and "m" are his oldest sister and his baby niece respectively.

Letters Home: Maybe before I am 21. Time will tell

January 14, 1953


Dear Folks,


It sure has been cold over here lately. I am on the road quite a bit now that I got a jeep. I went a total of 63 miles yesterday, and I didn't go anywhere. It's hard to drive over here. The roads are narrow and have a lot of traffic. There is more Bicycles on the road than Cars.
That jacket you sent I sold already for $12.00. I only paid $8.00 at Louisville for it. I suppose B. is looking for the watch. I still haven't got it sent. Too lazy to pack it I guess. I'll get it sent soon though.
I didn't know Donna G. was married. What's this world coming to? The teenagers sure aren't any good anymore.
Has the new Oldsmobile come out yet? Maybe you can send me a picture and price of the 88. I would like to get one when I get out but I'm afraid of the price. How has the Mercury been starting this winter?
We are having some big Inspections lately, but I am always gone somewhere and I don't have to stand them. I got K.P. Friday.
Every month guys in the 141 are leaving for home. Usually about 60 days before discharge.
If nothing happens I should be home in August. Maybe before I am 21. Time will tell.
I got all those hankies you sent. Each letter had 6 cents due on it. I don't know who paid that. I used them too. I just got over a bad cold. It was the change of weather I guess.
Would you have anyplace to put a 400 day clock if I sent one. Almost everyone has sent one home before Christmas.
There sure have been a lot of plane crashes in the states so we hear.[1]
How is Stud and Duke getting along in school? [2]  I suppose they will be wanting me to get them a car when I get home.
Well I guess I will have to sign off for this time.


love,
V

________________________

[1] I checked what records I could easily find online and found nothing unusually frequent about 1952-53. He may be talking about the small shoulder on the right of the big wartime spike in this graph.
More likely, he had been thinking about flying back to the states or had friends who had flown and he began paying attention to such news.

[2] His nicknames for his two younger brothers, then aged 13 and 14.

Letters Home: April In Paris

Jan 4, 1953


Dear Mom,


It seems like a long time since I wrote so I guess I had better drop you a line tonight.
We had our first real snow the other day. It looks like it is going to stay for a while. I got a chance to go Paris in the spring.  All it would cost me for the trip is to drive part way. I would have to take leave of about 10 days because its 500 miles from here.
If I take a leave I might not get home as quick because I will have 28 days coming before discharge.
That Christmas card came little late but I got it. It sure was big.
I got the wrist watch but now I have to get a wooden box to send it in.
Some of the guys that get out of the Army next month left for New York today.  They sure were happy. I hope I can get home by the time I am 21.
I got a box of candy from M. Friday.* It sure was good. I wanted to send some thank you cards to the Church and V.F.W. for the boxes, but I couldn't find any at the P.X.
I found a picture of a house I like but look at the price. I suppose because it's close to D.C.

Bye for now,


Love, 

V

______________________
* M is his oldest sister, my aunt.