August 30, 1944

France

August 30, 1944

Dear Mother, Dad, and Girls,

             I’ll start on this letter this morning cause it will take me the biggest part of the day to think of something to write about. I got up this morning to a good breakfast of ham and three fried eggs. We have been having it right along now. I think we got just about the best old cook in the army. He is short, fat, and bald headed. Just the size of Doc Edington. He is quite a character too. He drinks like a fish and is grouchy as hell though. When he is stewed, he goes around singing “I don’t want to set the world on fire,” and says that he just wants to put a flame in our heats. Ha. He took off last night and when he came back he had eight chickens, so I guess we’ll be having fried chickens for dinner. The good Lord only knows where he got them, but he managed. He gets along good with the French.

            I felt so good when I got up this morning that I washed some clothes. I’ve got to go take a bath down to the river. The peaches and grapes are getting riper around here now. I had the belly ache yesterday evening and last night. Guess I must have ate more of the Frenchman’s peaches that I thought I did. Ha.

            I watched an old thrashing machine at a French farm the other day. It was a real old timer. They had an old steam engine for power and it burned wood but it seemed to get the job done alright. They pull the rig from one far to the other with oxen. They had two crews of men and thrashed lots of grain and never stopped during the day. Instead of a water boy, they had a kid bringing wine and cider to the men.

            Tomorrow is payday and the mail also comes in then too, so we ought to have quite a haul. I hope you are all well. It has rained here the last couple of days on and off.

Love to all

Your son,

Max