Western Union Telegram
New York, New York
PS14 FT16 = New York, NY
29
MRS R A Morris
Box 163 Thatcher Arizona MRS R A Morris
Max.
These are the letters written from Corporal Max Blazzard home to his family in Duncan, Arizona from 1944 to 1945 during his service in WWII.
Monday, June 16, 2014
December 30, 1945
Max.
November 30, 1945
Camp Chicago, France
November 30, 1945
Dear Mother & all,
I had begun to wonder if we were ever going to get out of
Germany. Just as we started to leave to come down here – our orders changed at
the last minute and we were delayed for ten more days or else we would have
been on the boat now. Boy it was snowing like the devil the night we left
Nuremburg. Every time the train stopped, we would jump out and throw snow balls
at the German civilians. It wasn’t too bad coming down in those box cars this
time (40 & 8’s) cause we put stoves in them and built bunks just before we
left. Guess we would have froze if we hadn’t. Anyway it wasn’t bad coming down
and we had a lot of fun. These French would buy the shirt off your back if
you’d sell it to them. It seems funny getting back into France. We could all
speak the German language pretty well when we left and have forgotten most of
our French. We didn’t have much time to learn to speak the French when the war
was on. Come to think of it, we were in Germany a year – liking a week.
This is a big camp here – mostly all tents. It is fixed
up something like the camps back home and isn’t so bad. We have stoves and cots
in our tents. It isn’t as cold here as where we were back in German, but cold
enough. It was foggy when we came to France and that was when we left and guess
it always will be. There are big recreation buildings and theaters here and
even places to buy ice cream, candy, cakes, etc. The prices are just a might on
the high side though. The ice cream is 48 cents a dish and it is about like
sherbet but we think it is pretty good. The cakes are good too. They are
fountain cokes – 16 cents a glass and damn little ones at that. Oh well we can
stand most anything now - - even this damn guard. Guess you know how rough that
is one a cold night Dad? Well I am guard now but I wouldn’t stay out in the
cold for the general himself. I decided it was a good time to write letters. It
is after twelve now so it is December 1st. This is my last relief. I
pulled my last two hours guard in the kitchen eating pork chops with the cooks
– we are old buddies – the cooks are me. For good I think from the looks of me.
At one time just about the time the war ended I was down to 191 pounds but now
I weigh 230. Do you think Rosalie will still have me?
It isn’t certain how long we will be here yet. We are
supposed to sail sometime between the 8th and the fifteenth of
December but you can’t never tell. We won’t be home by Christmas but we are all
planning on being there by New Year’s so that won’t be so bad. I think I will
be discharged at Ft. Bliss, Texas there at El Paso. That won’t be bad. If it
isn’t there it will be at Ft. McArthur, California. We won’t be here very long
cause they usually shoot the troops out of here pretty quick.
Mama get Rosalie a Christmas present for me cause I’ll be
too late. I just wrote to her. I won’t write anymore letters to either of you
after this one. I am swearing off writing. Darn I got a shot today and my arms
is sore. Don’t think I have many more left, they have shot me for everything in
the books. Ha.
Don’t feel bad cause I’m not there for Christmas cause
I’ll be happy as you if I’m on my way. I’ll just wait and wish you all a happy
Christmas when I get there. Hope you are all well.
Love to all,Your son,
Max
November 14, 1945
November 14, 1945
Dear Mother, Dad, &
Girls,
Our moving orders came today and we are to leave Friday
and go down in France around
Reims . That isn’t too far from Paris Camp
Chicago France
This is the most beat up German typewriter that I ever
used in my life. I still haven’t got Norman France
Love to all,Your son,
Max
November 7, 1945
November 7, 1945
I guess it’s about time that I was writing a few lines
and let you know what’s going on over here. They finally called for the 69
pointers and I am on my way home. It will take quite a long time though. If
nothing happens I should be home the last of next month sometimes. We left Munich France
You might just as well stop writing or sending anything
now Mama cause it will never catch up with me. I hate to go without mail but we
can all stand it for a while. We wouldn’t get the mail if the folks at home did
write. I will keep writing a letter now and then until we get in the states.
I was planning on bringing home some shells for the rifle
Dad, but if any man is caught with any he really gets in a jam and I don’t want
to get balled up now. Maybe you can get some made for it off the shells you
have. Wish I knew how you and Norman came out on your hunt. I hope Norman
Love to all,Your son,
Max
P.S. – I haven’t got
October 31, 1945
Munich, Germany
October 31, 1945
Dear Mother, Dad, &
All:
Boy things have sure changed around here in the last
couple of days. Yesterday morning fifty-one of the old men left for home and a
bunch of new men came in to take their places. There are only me and about a
dozen of us old boys left here in the battery. Things are sure balled up around
here and nobody doesn’t know anything. It won’t be long now before the rest of
us will be going, we are next on the list to go out. It wouldn’t be bad when we
left if we would go straight down to the boat in France and sail, but when a
bunch of men leaves this outfit, they go to other outfits that are going home
and are here a couple of weeks and there a couple of weeks waiting their turn
to move into the boats. Then while they are going here and there, they have a
hundred different kinds of inspections on their equipment and clothes. There is
always a lot of red tape in the army, it doesn’t make any difference what you
are doing. That is the reason why I don’t think I will be home until after
Christmas. See, I will most likely leave this outfit to start on my way home
sometime this month but it all takes so much time. Everything has to be just
perfect before you can push right on through with your discharge. Then say,
that men going home now are out of the army and on their way home discharged
inside of three days after they land in New York.
I would like to know how your hunting is coming along now
Dad---you and Norman and if Johnson and Uncle Floyd has got out their yet. I
have got my hunting license now. Three other boys and me are going out early in
the morning to hunt until noon. I managed to get a hold of a jeep and hell we
have got it all made now. When you have a jeep, all you have to do is drive
through the woods and shoot them from the jeep and it saves a lot of walking.
Hell, the battery commander even gave me a trailer to take a long. Ha he must
of thought that I (we) were going to bag a lot of game. He knows that I have
already killed an elk and four deer though.
Today is payday, the day you can hear those dice rattle
for three blocks. This is one month that I am going to put my paycheck right
down in the bottom of my sack, and there is where it is going to stay until I
climb off that boat in New York whenever that is.
You know that shampoo that you sent me in that package a
while back? Well I have been looking at it each time I go to take a shower and
saying, “Well I’ll use that damn stuff next time I take a bath.” I waited until
nobody was in the shower room then I slipped down and used it real quick before
someone came in and seen me. The boys would have laughed their heads off if
they had of seen me using that stuff. I couldn’t let it go to waste though.
That shampoo reminds of one of the boys when we first came into the army. This
kid was from the city and had always had his way. He had brought a pair of
pajamas from home to sleep in. The boys laughed at him so damn much that he
threw them away. Ha.
Well I will sign off for this time. Hope you are all well
and that everything is alright there at home.
Love to all,Your son,
Max
October 27, 1945
Munich, Germany
October 27, 1945
Dear Mother, Dad, &
Girls;
I
had a letter from you last night and thought I would answer it while I am on
duty tonight. I have got to write to Rosalie too or she will be quitting me I
haven’t written to her in a week. I have been hunting a lot this last week and
I have been putting everything off, I have been having so much fun. The last
time I was out, I only got one deer and it was another doe. That brings my
total up to four deer and the elk. I think I will lay off hunting for a while.
I am getting kind of tired of it for the time being and we are all either tired
of the meat or else too lazy to cook it. Now that Norman is there, we will just
see who tot the most this season - - - him and ad against me. I am glad to hear
that Hazel and Norman are there and going to be there a while. I hope they are
still around there when I get home whenever that is. That was good news about
Johnny being home too. I can just imagine how happy Aunt Lillie and he must
have been when they seen each other.
Damn, I wished I had of known that
Norman wanted a luger a long time ago. I could have got good lugers a dozen
times before but I didn’t have any use for one and didn’t even think about him.
Now there as scarce as hen’s teeth. The boys that have got them are holding on
to them as if they were solid gold and are going to take them home with them,
but I will try to get him one. I won’t make any promises but I might run across
one before I come back and if I do, I will bring it to him. I can’t imagine
what use Norman has got of another pistol unless he wants to go around (keeping
up the good record of the tribe on our Father’s side) and make a little bigger
wind bag out of his self than he already has. Ha.
Here are some pictures that I have
taken around here lately. I figured that I had better take a picture of some of
the meat that I killed or else Dad would just think I was telling him a big
line of baloney. I wish I had of had my camera along with me just after I
killed some of the deer or the elk so I could have taken a picture of all of it
but maybe you will take my word on this much of it.
So you have got a tractor and are
breaking up lots there now huh Dad. Well, you should do alright doing that for
a while. Mama you better watch yourself or the first thing you know, you will
be owning that store where you work. Getting promoted - - - does that job pay any
more money than you were at?
I was down at the Zoo this afternoon
looking at the animals. I should have taken my gun down with me. There are all
kinds of deer and elk in there, not saying anything about all the ducks. All
the animals are sure in poor shape. I think they are nearly starved to death
during the war and not getting too much to eat now.
I can plainly see right now before I
write anymore letters tonight, I am going on a little raiding party down to the
kitchen. I am starving to death. Since I have been going out hunting and
getting a little exercise, I can’t get enough to eat for some reason I’m afraid
that I will eat you out of house and home when I get home. Well I am going to
stop for this time. Tell Norman and Hazel hello for me. I hope you are all well
and everything is alright at home.
Love
to all,Your son,
Max
October 24,1945
Munich, Germany
October 24, 1945
Dear Mother, & all:
I am sitting in our office as charge of quarters this
afternoon so I decided to write a little line to pass the time even though I
don’t have anything in particular to write about. I just got a letter from Mrs.
Whitaker---gad, but she writes a dry letter. I have to get a glass of water to
go with all of her letters, but I do appreciate her writing to me. She can
write a book and still say nothing.
It rained far a couple of days here but cleared up
yesterday evening. I decided to go out hunting again. I came back in this
morning. I didn’t have such good luck this time as I did before. I got two
deer, but they were both does. I brought in both of their hindquarters though
for us all to have steaks. All of the boys really go for these steaks. I didn’t
see near so many deer this time and no elk at all. I think it was because of
the rain and then it was fogy too where you couldn’t see very far. You are
going to have to do some real hunting Dad to catch up with me this season. That
makes three deer and one elk inside of a week. I guess I will continue to go
out until we all get tired of eating steaks or else I get tired of hunting. I
am going out again tomorrow evening and stay all night again and see if I can’t
have a little better luck. I am going to get me one of those big buck elks or
bust – that’s what I’m after.
There is a good deal open to men over here working in the
civil service after they have been discharged. This I the way it works. When
you are eligible for discharge (have enough points to get out) you can sign up
for this civil service for one year over here. You get your discharge and then
go home for a thirty day furlough and then back here to your job. And hell you
should see what they are paying. The lowest annual salary (this is just a rough
estimate) is over two thousand dollars a year and that job is being a chauffeur
and anybody can do that. I could get a job in the civil service over here as a
telegraph operator at about three thousand-five hundred dollars a year. That’s
over sixty dollars a week and your expenses isn’t very high either. Now tell
me, where could I make money like that there back home? This work is run on a
48 hour week basses. Of course there is always the idea of being away for
another year but a guy could sure save a lot of money in a year over here. The
pay on these jobs runs from the lowest of over two thousand to ten thousand.
All depending on what your job is. Don’t go getting excited now Mama, I am just
wanting to know what you and Dad think about it. I haven’t taken any steps toward
signing up for it or anything like that but I have been thinking it over and
wondering if I could stay over here out of God’s country for another year. Ha.
I think I will look into all of the particulars of this civil service business
though. A guy could most likely get a good job back in the states after he had
worked with the civil service here for a year. I just imagine that jobs is
going to be a little hard to get (at least a good one) in the next few years
back there.
I am looking for a letter any day saying that Johnson is
home and Norman is there and that you have all went off on a hunting trip. Well
I will close for this time. Hope you are all well and that everything is
alright there at home.
Love to all,Your son,
Max
October 19, 1945
Munich, Germany
October 19, 1945
Dear Mother & all,
I wrote one letter to you this morning but I thought I
would write again. The mail just came in and I had a package from you with all
the hair-oil, shaving cream – and so on in it. Thanks a lot. I am fixed up to
go to New York now.
I have been getting my bed roll and gun together. I am
going out in the country deer hunting this evening and stay all night – coming
back in the morning. I am going about ten or 15 miles out of the city where the
prisoners have been cutting wood, some of the boys have seen deer there. A couple of our boys has to go out there every
evening and stay around there all night and guard the wood cutting tools after
they take the prisoners back in. It will be good to get out of camp here and
break the monopoly around here. When I am off duty I do just about what I
please. Wish you were going with me Dad, I would show you how to kill these
deer over here. Hell it’s as easy as shooting quail with a shot gun with these
army rifles we have.
The boys are holding a party tonight. Our captain is
leaving for home and they are having a party for him before he goes. Well
thanks again for the nice things. Oh yes, there is going to be a rodeo here in
Munich this Saturday and Sunday I’ll bet it will be a little dandy. Well I’ll
write and tell you how the hunt turns out.
Love to all,Your son,
Max
(In this letter was
included this hand written joke in another person’s writing besides Max)
Does Advertising Pay?
A woman about seven months
pregnant got on a street car and sat down. She noticed a man opposite smiling.
Being humiliated she moved to another seat. This time his smile turned into a
grin. She changed her seat again and he seemed still more amused and when on
the fourth change he bursts out laughing she had him arrested.
The case came in my court
and the judge asked him if he had anything to say. “Well” he replied, it was
like this your Honor, when the lady came in I could not help noticing her
condition. She sat under the sign reading “Gold Dust twins are coming” so I had
to smile to myself. Then she sat under a sign “use Sloan Liniment to reduce that
swelling!” I could hardly hold myself. The fourth time she moved and sat below
“Good Year Rubber would have prevented this accident.” I laughed out loud.
“The
case dismissed” said the judge.
October 5, 1945
October 5, 1945
My Dearest Carol,
I had a letter from Mama the other day and she said that
you were picking cotton after school. She said you just worked and worked but
those son-of-a-guns wasn’t paying you very much for all that work. So I decided
you should get a little extra money for working so hard and going to school
too. You never can tell when a feller might feel like stopping at the drug
store for a soda.
What are you doing in school now? I think that little
German kids are going to school here now. When we walk down the street all the
kids ask us for candy and gum. They do that in all the countries over here. I
will be glad to get back and be home with you girls. Sometimes I get to
thinking how I used to tease you kids and right away I get home-sick. You and
Roberta have grown so much that you will be teasing me instead of me you when I
get back.
What do you do on weekends when you’re not at school? Do
you go to the show lots? I guess I will have to go to school to see Rosalie
cause she is going to school now.
It is raining here now. I think I will stop and go to the
show this afternoon. I am tired of laying around here. Now if I can just get a
jeep, I won’t have to ride the street cars. How would you like to ride in a
jeep? I do all the time.
Bye for this time Carol. Write and tell me what you are
doing.
Lots of Love,Max
October 5, 1945
Munich, Germany
October 5, 1945
Dear Mother & all,
Well I’m going to get a couple of letters off this
morning if it costs the old man a cow. I have started letters the last day or
two then put them off. I carried in a typewriters out of the office to write my
letters on but after about thirty minutes of cussing and crying with the old
worn out thing I fell back to the pen.
I got two of the best packages from you and Roberta last
night. It was really a jack-pot. So last night when we all got back from the
show we had kind of a little party. If you could have seen the guys go down on
those cookies Mama, you would know how good they were. We sure like them.
It is still rain here and we are all doing about the same
things. It has turned winter around here and you nearly freeze when you go out.
There is lots of snow on the mountains.
I was to church again last Sunday and we had a regular
conference like they do there at home. They held three meetings that day but I
just went to the first one. It was all real nice and the talks good ones.
I had a letter from John J this week too He is in Utah
working for one of his Uncles at a fruit stand making around $.50 a day. He
said he thought he would do that for a while until he decided what to do.
I’ve got to end this so it will go out this morning. I
may write the girls while on duty tonight. Thanks for packages and hope you are
all well.
Love to all.Max
September 29, 1945
Munich, Germany
September 29, 1945
Dear Mother & all,
We are starting another day here. All the boys have gone
out to guard prisoners and I am charge of quarters. We get up a quarter to six
and eat then the boys leave and don’t get back until late in the evening. It is
still raining and cold here.
I just read a letter from the mother of the boy who was
killed last month accidentally. One of her boys had just got back from the
South Pacific and discharged and has said she has just taken it for granted
that the one over here was safe now that the war was over. I sure feel sorry
for her.
I got two letters from you last night that you had
written the same day. I was sure glad to hear from you. I can’t imagine what
the heck made Carol cry so when she got my letter. I hope you get this letter
before you go and by any basketball shoes and send them to me. I don’t need
them now that we live in Munich. I wish I hadn’t of asked you to send the old
ones now. I might have known you would go out and buy another pair.
I don’t see why you and Dad don’t take some time for
Lakeside fishing or somewhere. You all need a little trip and rest. I always
hear of everybody else doing that but never you.
Damn I can’t hardly imagine the girls so big. It doesn’t
seem like they could change so much in two years.
Here are some pictures I just got developed. I’ll keep
the negatives for a while. I have to close and write to Rosalie and get it out
in the mail. I have to take all the mail to the post office this morning. I am
sending Rosalie a set of the same pictures.
Love to all,Your son,
Max
September 24, 1945
Munich, Germany
September 24, 1945
My Dear Roberta,
I have finally got around to write you Roberta. I am
working in our Battery office this afternoon and I have written out so many
passes for the boys to go into town that my arm is about to fall off. I am
always glad to get your letters honey and I thought that picture that you drew
for me of that desert sunrise was real nice and I’ll try not to lose it.
I had a letter from Rosalie yesterday from Tucson at the
University and she was just getting settled. She says they are up at the
day-light and are on the go all day long. I’ll bet she has a lot of fun after
she gets started. She said John Jelfinghausen was going to a trade school in El
Paso.
Tell Dad that I wrestled with a damned package for two
good hours this morning sending him some things to clean his German rifle with
and also a few shells for it. I hope they get through and aren’t taken out
somewhere along the line. There are two good hunting knives in it too. Dad will
be getting about enough of those knives pretty soon won’t he? I’ll keep looking
around and find something for you girls before I get out of this country yet. I
think I might come home in January some time. How would you like that?
How are you doing in school now? Have you got to play any
volleyball yet? I never hear anything about Carol, what is she doing in school.
Tell her to write to me. I’ve got to stop for now.
Lots of love,Max
September 21, 1945
Munich, Germany
September 21, 1945
Dear Mother & All,
I got your letter last night telling me about the good
news of Johnson. I’m sure glad the he did pull through and am glad for Aunt
Lilly’s sake. She will be so happy now. Somehow I just knew that letter had
good news in about Johnson when I seen it laying on my bed. It is just a wonder
how he pulled through for so long, there were so many of them killed and died
of sickness. I am in charge of quarters this morning and just finished writing
a letter to Kenneth. I had a letter from him last night and he is sure down in
the dumps and thinks that he will be over here for another year because he
hasn’t got very many points fifty some odd. It said over the radio just this
morning seventy points in October and then on down to sixty in November and
when it comes down to sixty, that takes me in so my turn will be coming up
before many more months.
I forgot to mention in my last letter that I went to
church last Sunday here in Munich. There was a nice crowd there including a lot
of German civilians. The civilians have L.D.S. services of their own here in
Munich but they come to ours too. I helped pass the Sacrament last Sunday and
will probably be asked to administer the sacrament next time but I don’t mind.
All I ask is that they don’t ask me to give the lesson cause there is something
I can’t do to save my life or to open or close the meeting with prayer. I
really enjoy going to church but if they ever do insist that I do either of the
two that I mentioned, I will have to stop coming cause I hate to tell them that
I can’t do it. They hold Sunday school on Sunday mornings at then and church in
the evenings at seven. They also have mutual on Tuesday evenings at seven and I
am going to start going to them. I thought that I was the only Mormon in this
outfit until I went to Sunday school and found two other boys there from here.
You know Mama, I am about half afraid to be an Elder in the church because they
expect an Elder to do too much and I never was much at things like that.
Oh yes there is something else that I forgot to mention
before and that is about the allotment. I had it cut down to fifty dollars
instead of the sixty. I wanted to get ahead a little in the next few months so
when I hit the states I would have a nice little roll. You will get the sixty
this next time but it will be cut in October.
Here is some pictures that were taken up around Hitler’s
mountain home and they show how it was wrecked by bombs. I am going to take
three reels of film that I have taken down town this afternoon and get them
developed or try too. I am going to take them down and then go to the show when
I get off duty.
I have been all morning trying to get this letter to you
and the one to Kenneth wrote. Every two minutes somebody comes in and wants
something so I am going to give up. Tell Roberta that I will get her letter
answered sometime.
Say it would be nice if you could go to California and
see Johnson when he does get home Mama. I wish you could all get out and see
him somehow.
Love to all,Your son,
Max
September 14, 1945
Munich, Germany
September 14, 1945
Dear Mother, Dad, &
Girls,
I am on duty in our battery office now as charge of
quarters and am about to go nuts for something to do so I will try to beat off
a letter or two. This is an American typewriter and I have a little trouble
hitting the right keys cause I am used to using a German machine.
I had a letter from you last night and a package right
before last. Thanks for all the things I can use them, but Mama, there isn’t
any use for you to send me any kind of clothes like socks, or shorts cause I
can get them from our supply sergeant. Anytime I need them. All you need send
is maybe once in a while some hankies or like the sweat-shirts. I figure that
as long as I am in this army, that I might as well get every damn thing out of
them as I can so there isn’t any use wasting money on things when I can get
them free and all I want here anytime. You will never hear me say anything
about not sending the cookies though. Ha I don’t care if you don’t ever stop
sending them cause I never get tired of eating those oat-meal cookies. Those melons
you were talking about in your letter makes me hungry for some. I don’t’ think
these damn people over here knows how to raise anything else on their farms
besides hay and potatoes – that is about all you see.
I had a letter from Mrs. Whitaker last night too. Boy,
I’m telling you, when I get a letter from her, there isn’t nothing that I
don’t know about the happenings from her girl out in New Mexico to Flagstaff
and on out in Oklahoma where Julia has been with her husband. I know all about
all the babies and kids up and down the valley too, just which ones are sick or
cry the most and so on. She only writes little short ten or twelve page letters
each time and it takes me a good hour to read them but I get quite a kick out
of them.
I got all the boys just where
I want them now while I am on duty here in the office. I am the one that gives
out the passes into town. I remember when I was back in basic training and had
to stand in line for a pass and just hope that I got it when I got up to the
office. I used to just hope and pray that I could hive out the passes and have
some of the other wise guys come in for one.
That was too bad about Wayne Bradshaw. I didn’t even know
that his sister Georgia was married let alone ready to have a baby. Rosalie was
telling me about Harold and Naomi getting married. I wonder what they are going
to do about their difference in religion? Naomi belongs to the “Church of
Christ.” I guess she will change to the LDS church though.
Say, it is about time to go deer hunting again isn’t it?
Have you been able to get any shells for the German rifle that I sent Dad? I
will try to make up a little package of something in the next day or two and
smuggle in a shell or two for that gun, but it might not get through if it is
opened somewhere along the way. I can
get it in the mail and by the censor here alright but I don’t know about any
place else. I’ll take the chance anyway. I would like to be there to hunt with
you this year Dad, but I guess I will have to do all of my hunting over here if
I do any. I will be there to hunt with you next year for sure. Well I will stop
for this time and thanks again for the package Mama.
Love to all,
Your son,Max
September 7, 1945
Ergerthausen, Germany
September 7, 1945
Dear Mother & All,
Here are some negatives of some pictures of I don’t know
what all. Some of me, some of the boys, and some of that concentration camp,
and maybe some of Munich and I don’t know what. I think I sent you a set of
them but you can get them printed up. I had them lent out to different boys to
have prints made for themselves and now they are pretty well scratched up but
maybe prints can still be made of them. I still have two rolls of film that
needs developing and two rolls to take up yet so someday if I ever get in the
notion I will get some more pictures made.
Love,
MaxSeptember 7, 1945
Ergerthausen, Germany
September 7, 1945
Dear Mother, Dad, &
Girls,
I got to thinking it over this morning and I decided that
if I didn’t get busy and write home to my family, I wouldn’t be getting anymore
letters from them at all. I have been getting quite a bit of mail here the last
week, from you all. I got our package with the hair oil and aftershave lotion
and things. I was sure glad to get those things, thanks a million. It’s been so
long since I have seen any of that aftershave lotion that I am almost afraid to
use it, it looks so good. I just sit around and look at it. Here this last
week, I have been in to Munich again on a 48 hour pass. I was lost most of the
time as usual but I had fun in spite of it all. I have got to where I know
which street car to catch to go where I want to go. I had to learn the hard way
though. At first I thought I was really doing something to get on one of them
and ride free but somehow I always ended up way out in the country at the end
of the line and had to walk back. The pass that I would really like to get is
the one up into Switzerland. One or two of the boys have been up there and say
it is the most beautiful sights that they ever seen in their lives. You really
have to be lucky to draw one of those passes up there.
We drew new over coats and winter under-wear this morning
so it looks like we will be over here this winter. I don’t expect to be back
before next Feb or March anyway. If I knew that I would be on my way by then I
would be happy. Oh well, there isn’t too much hurry any way. I don’t know what
in the devil I am going to do when I get out of the army. I still have a long
time to think it over though. I could go to school on the army but I don’t
think that I could get anything out of it. I doubt if I will ever get to go to
school that I put in my application for. The army does a lot of talking but
doesn’t do anything about it. If I could just get the knack of running some of
this big machinery like a crane, cat, or blade like you used to run Dad or
learn how to weld I would be alright. Radios is a good trade but hell I don’t
know enough about radios to fix broken radios. All I ever did learn was just
how to operate them using voice and this Morse code. Oh of course I have fixed
my own radios here in the army like put in a new fuse or new tunes when they
burned out but I don’t know nothing about the wiring. I like farming but it
takes so damn much to get a start in it and if things doesn’t go just right you
are ruined and another drawback is the way your money comes in all at once. If
a guy had enough to run him from one year to the next and not be without all
the time it wouldn’t be so bad. SO I don’t know just what the heck to do when I
get out of the army. I wouldn’t mind farming when I get a little older. The
government will help you make loans up to two thousand dollars and pays half of
the loan for you but I don’t like that much. I think that I will look things
over when I get back before I decide. If I could get a good job some place I
would take it. Damn if there was more money in the army I might even stay in it
for a while but it would have to be quite a bit so I wouldn’t worry if I were
you Mama. Ha. Dad, I wish you would write me a letter and give me your advice
and what you would try to do if you were in my place. Give me the situation as
to how the chances of getting a good job would be and your opinion of things. I
can tell you one thing else too. This old boy isn’t about to get himself
married for a long time (At least several years) when I get back to civilian
life until I see whether or not I’m going to amount to anything or not or else
find a gal that will make all the living ha or I may even go down into Oklahoma
and marry one of those rich sqaws. I have gave that some thought here lately.
I ironed a little this morning and have got some clothes
to wash sometime today. I have found an old German tailor in a little village a
couple of miles away that I am going to get to do my washing and ironing form
here on. We have three German girls here that comes every day and cleans up our
barracks. Boy they really work too. They sweep and scrub the floors every day
and all they get out of the deal is just their three meals a day but they are
glad to do it. Oh yea something new has just came out. We hunters must have
deer hunting licenses to hunt form here on out and out limit is one deer a day
but only one elk per year. I don’t think the licenses will cost us anything.
They army issues them to us and all we have to do it put in for them. We aren’t
supposed to hunt them with our automatic rifle but heck I am. We are supposed
to use these German rifles to hunt them with. Heck a deer can’t hardly get away
with these guns we have. They fire eight shots quicker than you can bat an eye.
You ask how many points that I have now. I have 64 and another
five points as soon as our fifth battle star is made official. That is a little
on the short end but I will get out in time. Most of the boys in this outfit
all has between 60 and 70 points.
After reading so much in the papers about the way the
Japs treated the American prisoners I don’t know whether Johnny can be alive or
not. It looks like Aunt Lilly would have heard something by now. Of course a
lot of the prisoners haven’t been got to yet and there is still a chance. I
don’t see why they put all the things in the papers of how the prisoners were
treated and killed it just makes the Mother suffer that much worse even if her
son does come home from the prison camps. I do hope that Johnny does come
through for Aunt Lillie’s sake or she is apt to go crazy.
Say I would like to be there and help you eat some of
those big watermelons. I guess there was a lot of them in the valley there this
season. Well one of these days we will have a farm again Dad and raise some
melons of our own. Say a hedge would look nice out in front of the house there
by the sidewalk wouldn’t it. Didn’t there used to be a hedge along there at one
time Mama? Say Dad, I want you to be looking around for a deal on a new car
cause about next summer or next fall we should get us a new one, what do you
think?
Mama, here is a little pin that I got in Munich. I guess
you wear it on your dress. I wish I could get you all something nice from Munich
but there isn’t anything there to buy. There isn’t anything there much but
ruins. Well I’ve got to stop for this time and write to the girls and to
Rosalie.
Love to all,Your son,
Max
P.S.
– I’m going to have to scratch the label off that bottle of after-shave lotion.
It says 50% alcohol and I am afraid that one of the boys will see it and drink
it. Not that it will hurt them, but I don’t want to lose the lotion. Ha.
September 1, 1945
Ergerthausen, Germany
September 1, 1945
Dear Mother & all,
Night before last I had letters from you and Mrs.
Whitaker and one from Rosalie. Last night I played basketball and
our team won. It was sure a lot of fun. I am so big that I can’t get around as
good as when I played in school. Rosalie said in her letter that she had seen
John J at the Grove at a dance and that he was discharged and is once more a
civilian. John told me that he was getting out in his last letter. Kenneth and
I should be out in a few more months.
I have been working on a telephone line nearly all day
trying to get my phones to working and haven’t yet. There is a short in the
line someplace and I can’t find it. I guess I will have to put in a new line.
Here is an example of in this picture of how it was with
us ever since we left the states and it isn’t running things in the ground a
bit.
The people back there must have really went wild when they
heard the war was over. Rosalie said they roped off the streets there in the
main part of Duncan and danced and there were a lot of drunks. We didn’t do
anything unusual here. Oh we were all glad, but it passed right off after we
heard the news. Aunt Lillie should hear or have heard about Johnny by now,
cause all the prisoners have been taken about hospital ships now.
It is nearly time to go to the show and I have got to
gather my blankets off the line where I had them airing. I have to change
clothes too. I think I will catch a ride into Munich early in the morning in
time to make church services. The building is apt to fall on me. I haven’t been
in so long but I’ll take the chance.
I hope all is well there at home. I am anxious to see the
place since you have fixed things so nice. Mama if those old tennis shoes that
I used to play basketball in are still laying around send them to me. If not
that’s ok. I don’t need any enough to get a new pair.
Love to all,Your son,
Max
August 11, 1945
Three Miles from
August 11, 1945
Dear Mother, Dad, &
Girls:I have had two letters from you one each evening for the last two nights. We have moved since I last wrote and I don’t know the name of this little place. Hell, there is just two farm houses here and the big place that we live in, but the living quarters are the best since we have been overseas and it is just beautiful here. I would give anything if you could all see this place. It is just a big hotel—I guess, there are about sixty men of us in this platoon and there are enough rooms here for four or five men to the room. The house is sitting right on the top of a hill. Their house is white with flowers all around it and green grass is everywhere and all over the hills. It is green everywhere you look. Out in back we have an orchard and it is all fenced off and benches there just like a park. There are apples and plums and cherry trees there. On all sides of us are pine forests and farms. Right at the bottom of this hill about a mile away is a river. I can’t half tell you how this all looks but it is just too good to be true. We have good piped in water, electricity, good furniture, and showers and a bath tub. Then we eat out of plates and cups just like in a restaurant. It is the first time we have eaten out of plates for over a year and a half. There isn’t anything to do here either except keep the place clean and take care of our guard posts. We have a show truck come by to take us into town each night and we are getting passes to
No Mama, I have never been sick since I left home, that
is except maybe home-sick. Ha. The army takes darn good care of you, of course
sometimes they can’t keep you from getting lead poisoning but that is to be
expected. Yes I did get Roberta’s letter and answered it a long time ago. She
should have it by now. The reason she didn’t get the answer sooner was because
it didn’t get to me for a long time after she wrote it.
I’m glad that you all had a good time on the 24th
of July. Rosalie was telling me about the doins they had up in Duncan
It was sure too bad about Frank Adams being killed. I feel
more sorry for his poor old Mother than I do for his wife. I never did think
too much of the girl that he married.
I told you before that Kenneth was in the occupational
army too. He is in the seventh army though and about three hundred miles from
me.
You say that you seen the show “Hotel Berlin,” well, I
talked with a young woman who used to dance there at that hotel with the big
German officers just before the Russians took it. She had moved out of there in
a hurry. She said that they could hear the booming of the Russian guns in the
distance and they would just take another drink of whiskey and try to drown it
out.
We are starting to play basketball here now. One of the
batteries have found a big gym where we can play on the inside. There are lots
of deer around here close so I can see where we are going to have a lot of deer
steaks here too. We have a good little stove here in our room so we can do what
we like. I have spotted a swell garden here close with cucumbers and all in.
Ha.
Oh yes, I got the other roll of film that you sent mama.
Thanks, I will have some more pictures to send home before long. I got the comb
and two pictures of my buddies in your letter last night. You can send some
cookies out of the store or “egile, as the Germans say” makes no difference. I
will be glad to get the hair oil and stuff. I’m tickled to death that you and
Dad have got the placed fixed up like you want it. Now if you just had
yourselves a little farm and a new car, everything would be just right. I hope
you are all well. I have got to stop and write to Rosalie.
Love to all,Your son,
Max
August 4, 1945
August 4, 1945
Dear Mother, Dad, &
Girls:
I have been sitting here for the last thirty minutes
listening to the radio and wondering what in the devil I was going to write
about. There isn’t too much to write about from around here. I was on guard all
night last night at one of our guard posts guarding about two hundred trucks
and cars that the 19th German army left here when the war was over.
We are keeping the civilians from stealing them. I have been sleeping all
morning and we are off this afternoon. I think another kid and I will go to the
show later on this evening. They are having a USO show in Munich
How are you all there? All well I hope. I guess the house
is nearly finished by now. Here is two pictures that one of the boys took of me
in June on a German bomber, I just got them back yesterday. I have got another
roll of pictures to be developed if I can ever think to turn them in. Two
red-cross girls came around here right after dinner and served us coffee and
donuts. They come around every so often and serve us and play records.
Two days ago, one of my best buddies was killed while he
was on one of the guard posts. One of the other boys accidentally shot him. It
sure seems funny that a guy can go through a war and have to get killed like
that. I guess his Mother will take it pretty hard now. She probably thought
that now that the war was over that her son was safe. He was twenty-six years
old and from Oklahoma
I guess we will be spending the winter around this area.
We hauled wood for two days out of the hills this last week, and stacked it up
ready to use later on. You can sure haul a lot of wood in a trip with twelve
trucks. The wood was already cut and in cords. All we had to do was go get it.
I think sometime next week, we will move to a different village here close. We
have found a little better place to live in another little village about three
miles from here. I think I will write a little note to Rosalie and quit for
today. I hope everything is alright at home.
Lots of love to all,Your son,
Max.
July 28, 1945
Egling, Germany
July 28, 1945
Dear Mother, Dad, &
Girls:
Well yesterday I made the trip up to Bertches Garden up
in the mountains and it was sure pretty up there. Hitler had quite a home up
there and the most beautiful view of the country that I ever saw. His home
looked like most any other house of Germany might look except it was big, but
he had everything under the sun on the inside of it. Why, he even had his own
moving picture shows in there and I don’t know what he didn’t have in there.
One whole side of a big room facing the valley below was a big window and it is
said that he got his ideas for world conquest while looking out of this window.
We also went over and looked at Gering’s (sp) house too. See all of Hitler’s big
shots had homes up there on the mountain. There was a big hotel there that had
three hundred rooms in it here where they all hung out. Well Gering had a big
swimming pool right by the side of his house and it was made out of marble. It
was really pretty I guess at one time. A big twelve thousand pound bomb hit
right in the middle of it. There was a house on the hill that didn’t have bombs
dropped on them and they were all ruined. I have a little booklet of the place
but Hitler’s house is the only one in it that is shown. I will try to put it in
an envelope and send it to you. It is all written in German but you can look at
the pictures and I will write on it about the different things. Up on the
highest peak of the mountain Hitler had an Eagles nest where he and his big
shots done all of their planning of big things. This mountain home of Hitler’s
is close to the city of Salzburg, Austria, only it is in Germany. We stopped in
Salzburg late last night and had a swell supper there including all the ice
cream we could eat. I took a few pictures while I was up there. I will send
them home as soon as I get them developed. I have some pictures that I am
sending home for you know. They aren’t very good though. Oh by the way, I got
the real of film that you sent and that is what I used up at the garden. They
got here just in time for me to take them cause I didn’t have any others. The
films came to me in nine days. That isn’t bad is it? If you can get any more,
send them to me.
Well Dad, I wish you were here with me tonight. We have
the hind quarters of the fattest little buck in the ice box that we are going
to fry steaks off from tonight. We eat both hung quarters in one evening. They
aren’t too big and we are all a bunch of hogs too. If you were here, I would
take you trout fishing every evening and hunting too if you liked. You know it
is against the law of the army to fire a shot unless it is necessary over here
now. Our platoon commander knows that we go hunting though and even comes up
and eats some of our steaks. It isn’t against the law to kill the deer though.
We tell them that we ran the deer in a cave and then beat them to death with a
club. He just laughs and keeps his mouth shut cause he likes his deer steaks
just as well as we do and he loves to hunt so he understands. Well I hope you
are all well and everything is all right. I typed this thing in a hurry and
made a lot of mistakes but I am in a hurry to go hunting again. It has cleared
up now and a swell time to go hunting now. Ha.
Love to all,Your son,
Max
P.S. – Here are the negatives to the pictures. I sent Rosalie some of the same pictures so don’t send any on to her.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
July 11, 1945
July 11, 1945
Dear Mother, Dad, &
Girls:
I wish you had of been here last night Dad. I slipped out
and went deer hunting by myself. I got the prettiest little six point buck that
you ever saw and he had about half-inch of tallow on him. Boy you talking about
something being good, that sure hit the spot here last night late. A six point
buck over here is just about the size of a spike buck there at home. There
biggest deer only weigh around a hundred pounds. I have got to six point bucks
this week and they have both dressed about seventy-five pounds. The last few
deer that I have got, I have got them with one shot, so I am going to be all
ready to hunt deer when I get home. When you get one of these army rifles
shooting like you want it, you can’t miss.
Yesterday I mailed you a sword, a German bayonet, a good
hunting knife, and a cartridge belt. The belt is for a pistol like the one
Norman wore when he was there hunting last season. You can hand your lunch of
water or whatever you like on it though. When I come home I am going to try to
bring a regular rifle cartridge belt, a good rifle and some clips for it. It is
against the law to hunt with an automatic gun but I can’t help that. On this
sword that I sent Dad, I had to cut off the handle of it because it was too
long to mail. I took the handle apart and cut off the little iron prong that
the handle fits on. You can take it and have it welded and it won’t ever show
after you put the handle back on. I don’t know what the hell you will ever do
with a sword. You can always tell some big story when you have company and tell
them what you had to go through getting it in the last war. Ha. Are there
anything else that you would like to have from Germany
Mama, I want you to send me some after-shave lotion and
some hair oil. That last bottle of hair oil was swell and I would still have
some, but when I got the oil it so happened that everybody else was out except
me so we had to use mine. Ha. Well I hope you are all well at home and that
everything is under control. What are you doing for milk now? I just wondered.
I get a hankering for a big bowl of cornbread and milk and I don’t mind
admitting to you Dad that I would also like to be out behind the old gray horse
cussing em’ up and down. Well I am going to write to Rosalie now so will stop
for this time.
Love to all,Your son,
Max
P.S. – Here is a picture of the
July 8, 1945
July 8, 1945
Dear Mother, Dad, &
Girls:
I was out hunting again today and again this evening but
didn’t have any luck. We didn’t even see one. Another kid and I got one of the
prettiest little bucks the other night that I have seen over here. He had six
points and was sure fat. We have a little room of our own here in this Inn , that is four of us, and every night we have to have
something to eat when we all get in from whatever we are doing. We usually have
deer to fry but when we don’t have any we get some potatoes or eggs. This isn’t
a bad place to have to stay in but it gets tiresome doing the same things over
and over all the time. We are losing a lot of our men in the morning. They are
leaving for the Pacific. They just couldn’t stand for this kind of doins that
we have around here and all the chicken so they volunteered to go down there.
We sure hate to see some of them go cause we have all been together for so long
and came through this war alright and will most likely never meet up with them when
we all get back home. One man left for home this morning too. He was one of the
men that had enough points. He was married and had two or three kids so we were
all glad to see him get to go although we will all miss him. When any of the
boys leave, it is just like losing part of the family, I guess you know hot it
is Dad.
Mama I want you to have another set of prints made of the
last pictures that I have just sent home, the ones of the concentration and of
the plane. I won’t have the negatives to send home for at least a month, so see
if you can have a set of prints made of the pictures that I sent and then you
can send them on up to Rosalie. I let one of the other boys borrow the
negatives to have himself a set made and it will be sometime before I get them
back.
Here a while back I wrote to Mrs. Whitaker and was
telling her about Rosalie and her job there at the office and I said that she
was getting gray hair trying to run it like it should be. Well the old lady was
in Duncan one day with Charlie and she said that she just had to go in and see
how Rosalie was and what she was like cause she hadn’t ever see her before and
I always talk so much about her. Well she says--- “Max, you was wrong about
your girl, she hasn’t got a gray hair in her head and is just as pretty as ever
so she says don’t worry about her anymore.” The dear old soul was serious about
the whole thing too.
Well how is the house coming along now Dad? I would like
to see it now and give it my inspection. I will be glad when I find out what
whether or not you got your rifle that I sent, but I guess it will take a long
time to get there if it does. It is really a dandy gun if you can just get the
shells for it. I hope you are all well and everything alright. I have got to
stop and get a letter wrote to Rosalie it is nearly twelve o’clock. I am just
lucky that I’m not on guard tonight or I wouldn’t be up this late.
Love to all,Your son,
Max
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