We were watching the top of the hill and saw the little L4 spotter planes flying low and directing the artillery fire. Bullets from rifle fire began hitting the camp and next to my bunk one guy was sitting against the center tent pole writing a letter when a bullet hit the tent pole and dropped into his lap. He put the bullet in his pocket and we headed for the trenches which were about six feet deep and ran throughout the camp. We looked up at the hill and the tanks were just coming out of the woods toward us. In my trench there were several British prisoners and of all things, at a time like this they had their 1ittle stove and were making their morning tea. Nothing could stop them from doing that.
Someone came running across the open space and jumped in the trench yelling 'Mail Call". I had a letter and when I opened it, there in the trench, I found it was from Eastman Kodak Company telling me that a Job was waiting for me although not the job I had 1eft. They sent greetings and hoped I would soon return. I can't imagine how they knew where I was and what an odd time to receive that letter, with the bullets flying all around.
chapter 12
Liberated
The rifle fire soon ceased and we were all running around the camp excited and yelling. It was just eight days less than a year that I had been held prisoner and, as happy as I was, you can imagine the feelings of the men who had been held for two or three years. We saw a tank coming down the road into camp, ran to the main gate, broke it down and rushed out to meet them. So many of us climbed all over the tank that you couldn't even see the metal. The soldiers in the tank threw out whatever food and cigarettes they had to us. The second tank rolled into camp and General George Patton, with his two pearl handled revolvers, was riding on the top of it. He was one general who was right at the front with his men. Our cheers of celebration were just deafening as hundreds of us poured out of camp and ran around the countryside, thrilled to be free. Before long guys returned to camp with horses and wagons, buggies and anything else they could find.
I understood that some men packed up their belongings and started west toward France as they couldn't wait any longer. They traveled west by catching rides on the supply line vehicles. Most of us, however, stayed in camp as we had been told we would be transported out in a couple of days. When the day came to depart I left the heavy overcoat and took only what I needed. I took the baseball suit and the Royal Air Force blanket along with me, but somewhere near this time I must have discarded the long orange sweater that had served me so well during the cold of winter. We marched out of camp a couple of miles to a large flat grassy field where DC-6 planes were going to fly us to France. It was a nice warm spring day and we had to wait a couple of hours for the planes so we spread out our blankets on the grass and sat down to chat. It was a special time because we were just beginning to realize that all the friends we had made would soon be separated from us, never to be seen again.
The planes finally came and when it was time for me to board I had to make a big decision. I stood there looking at that nice blue air force blanket laying on the ground. It was so heavy and I didn't know whether or not I could carry it all the way home or not. At the last minute I decided to leave it there on the grass. I have always regretted leaving it and bringing the baseball suit instead. Bruce and I got onto the same plane and flew to a place along the French coast. Along the way we flew over Paris and I at least had a chance to see it from the air. We were put in an area with barracks known as Stage 1 and were told to stay in that area only. Bruce and I found beds together, left our gear and walked down to the mess hall. We each got one of the cheese sandwiches they were passing out and they were really something. They were two slices of white bread each two Inches thick with a one inch inch thick slice of cheese in between.
The bread tasted like angel food cake to us after all that hard black German bread; it was unbelievable how much flavor there was in white bread. We were to eat in this area only for the first day, as, due to our weakened condition, our diet and amount was to be limited. The second day, in Stage 2, we went to a different, mess hall and on the third day to Stage 3. Each day we received more food. As there were no fences between these areas some guys would go to all three mess halls for the same meal. The man named Irons (who had won the mustache contest back in Sagan and still wore the mustache here in France) was in the bunk next to me and at night we heard him moving around at all hours. We later discovered that he had a helmet full of food and was eating all night. Some of the guys got sick from eating too much and there was a rumor of one man dying from eating too many candy bars.
It was almost Mother's Day and each man was allowed to send a Mother's Day greeting telegram home. I sent one to my stepmother so everyone at home would know that I was okay and heading home. After three days here we were taken by truck through the city of LeHarve, France through narrow streets with the French people waving along the way. When we arrived at the harbor a liberty ship was waiting for us. After coming over on such a huge ship, this one looked like a rowboat and we weren't too excited about crossing the Atlantic on anything so small. We got on board and were surprised that there were so few of us, about 200, and that we were not at all crowded. the bunks were hammocks put up below decks and I was in the bow. We sailed across the English Channel on water as smooth as could be and enjoyed this part of the trip. When I was out on deck I stayed in the middle as the ship was so narrow you could stand in the middle and see over both sides. We sailed to Southampton, England where we joined a large convoy heading home.
Being an American ship, the food was wonderful and I had no seasickness to spoil my appetite. The meal just alternated between steak, chicken and turkey. After each meal we took oranges, apples, or bananas up on deck and ate them while laying in the sunshine. Although there were only about 200 of us, one meal we ate 75 jars of peanut butter. The seas were quite calm the first few days out, so we spent most of the time on deck to avoid the dark and unpleasant below decks area. There were ships all around us and I could count twenty plus destroyers for escort as there were still German subs operating.
At about the middle of the Atlantic we ran into very stormy weather with high seas. When you were an deck it sometimes looked as though our ship was alone and the other ships would come up from behind the swells only to disappear again. While laying in the hammocks trying to sleep at night we would hang on to keep from falling out. The bow, where I was, would come way up out of the water, shudder quite violently, then fall to hit the water hard. The force was so hard that it gradually broke all the light bulbs in the ceiling. This weather was probably normal for the Navy, but airmen were not used to it and worried about what might happen. After a few days like this the weather improved for the remainder of the trip home.