20 March 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

20 March, 1945      0845

Germany

Wilma, sweetheart –

With the every increasing length of the days, we’ve changed our eating hours to 0700, 1200 and 1800. We now have our staff meeting at 0800 and so here I am off to an early start before the sick start coming in. It looks like another fine day coming up here. Yesterday was beautiful and in the p.m. I took a ride over to Baker battery. I didn’t do a heck of a lot of inspecting – but I went in that direction because of the scenery. It really is something beautiful and just a little different in its beauty than anything I’ve seen before. Although I didn’t see or hear the Lorelei, I might have. The castles in this region are worthy of their fame – and if I get to see many more castles in many more lands, I’ll really begin to think I know something about them. The castles here are the fairy-book type. They rise out of the heights overlooking the water, with spiral towers, fancy façades and all. And when a white cloud happens to drift by and partially obscure a castle – it really appears as if it’s just an image in the sky. I stood and looked at one yesterday – for some time and I was truly fascinated. I’ve read quite a bit of the history and folklore of this part of Germany and it seemed as if it all ran thru my mind in those minutes that I stood there.

Castle Katz above the town of St. Goarshausen

Baker Battery’s C.P. is in a beautiful home – not far from the water. The people here know how to live comfortably. They all have excellent balconies and in several homes now I’ve seen German translations of ‘Gone with the Wind’, Cronin’s ‘The Citadel’, H.G. Well’s books, etc. They all have exquisite China – mostly Bavarian; and the walls are covered with beautiful oil paintings – with a fine sense of interior decorating. You’ve got to hand it to the bastards – the middle class had a good design for living – certainly better than what I’ve seen in England, France or Belgium.

When I got back – I found two letters from you, dear, 3rd and 4th March. One of them told me of the car-strike which certainly made me angry. How in the world anyone can strike these days unless he is being completely exploited, is certainly beyond my conception. Much as I dislike the thought – I hope somebody becomes powerful enough after the war to break the back of organized labor – which in my mind is just about getting out of control.

I hope by now you’ve got all the details about the law case of mine. It took place in Stolberg – we’re now far enough away from there to be able to mention it – and created quite a stir for awhile. As I’ve already intimated, it was an obvious frame-up and the woman was getting a dirty deal. I’ve told you we went before the lower court – and the judge felt he didn’t have enough power to rule on so serious a charge – so he referred it to a higher court. Had he listened to all my evidence, he could have thrown it out of court – because I could prove fraternization, intimidation, the rest, etc. against the M.P. The latter – incidentally – has been reduced to the grade of private, from sergeant – by his Provost Marshall. Anyway – before we moved out I had to be released from my job as defense counsel – by the Military Government. The case had meanwhile been reviewed by the higher court; I was asked to give my testimony in writing, and on the basis of that, the case was recommended to be thrown out of court because of sufficient evidence, and the woman is now free. And, darling, I’m glad you thought her attractiveness was some compensation for my trouble (heh! heh!)

I’m so glad those pictures got thru. I don’t think I sent more than 26 – and I’m glad you liked them. We must have a fair collection by now. I have 4 or 5 more rolls – undeveloped – with no immediate prospects of getting them done. But I keep taking pictures anyway Darling, if I take close-ups – you’ll see all the wrinkles in my face – and I wouldn’t want that! Seriously, though, I’ll try.

I was surprised to read you knew so much about poker. I had no idea. Good – I’ll show you some new ones when I get back – new games – and now that I mention it – not necessarily card games. Boy! I’ve got hundreds of them – and each with a new twist – shall I say? Well – wait and see.

Tell Mother B, by the way, dear – that I understand perfectly if she doesn’t write often. She really can’t have very much to write me – you cover the picture so admirably. And besides – I realize that she can’t have been much in the mood for writing recently. I’ll drop her a line from time to time – just to let her know that she has a real future son-in-law.

And now – Sweetheart – whether you like it or not – I’m going to tell you that I love you more than you can possibly know by just reading it. I miss you, dear, like the dickens – and once I get you – I’ll never let you out of my sight. Remember!

I’ll have to stop now, dear, and do a little work. Be well, take care of yourself – and for now – so long –

All my everlasting love, darling –

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about Lorelei Rock and the Legend


St. Goarshausen (left) across from Lorelei Rock (right)

The Lorelei (also spelled Loreley) is a 433 foot high slate cliff on the eastern bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, Germany in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. It marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea. A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat accidents there.

Aerial View of Lorelei and Narrowed Rhine

The Rhine, at the Lorelei, is up to 82 feet deep and only 371 feetwide. Because this area is so deep and narrow, it is one of the most dangerous places in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. Ships, crossing each other here and all along the section between Oberwesel and St. Goarshausen, are directed by light signals.

Castle Katz and Lorelei Beyond

There are two theories about the derivation of the name. One theory says that the name comes from the old German words "lureln" (Rhine dialect for "murmuring") and the Celtic term "ley" (rock). The translation of the name would therefore be "murmuring rock". The heavy currents, and a small waterfall in the area (still visible in the early 19th century) created a murmuring sound, and this combined with the special echo the rock produces which acted as a sort of amplifier, giving the rock its name. The murmuring is hard to hear today owing to the urbanization of the area.

The other theory attributes the name to the many accidents occurring here, by combining the German verb "lauern" (to lurk, lie in wait) with the same "ley" ending, with the translation "lurking rock".

Lorelei from the Rhine

The rock and the murmur it creates have inspired various tales. One old legend envisioned dwarves living in caves in the rock. In 1801 German author Clemens Brentano composed his ballad Zu Bacharach am Rheine as part of a fragmentary continuation of his novel Godwi oder Das steinerne Bild der Mutter. It is the first story told of an enchanting female associated with the rock. In the poem, the beautiful Lorelei, betrayed by her sweetheart, is accused of bewitching men and causing their death. Rather than sentence her to death, the bishop consigns her to a nunnery. On the way thereto, accompanied by three knights, she comes to the Lorelei rock. She asks permission to climb it and view the Rhine once again. She does so and falls to her death; the rock still retained an echo of her name afterwards. Brentano had taken inspiration from Ovid and the Echo myth.

In 1823 Heinrich Heine seized on and adapted Brentano's theme in one of his most famous poems, Die Lorelei, translated below. It describes the eponymous female as a sort of siren who, sitting on the cliff above the Rhine and combing her golden hair, unwittingly distracted shipmen with her beauty and song, causing them to crash on the rocks. In 1837 Heine's lyrics were set to music by Friedrich Silcher in a song that became well known in German-speaking lands. A setting by Franz Liszt was also favored and over a score of other musicians have set the poem to music.

The Lorelei character, although originally imagined by Brentano, passed into German popular culture in the form described in the Heine-Silcher song and is commonly but mistakenly believed to have originated in an old folk tale. The French writer Guillaume Apollinaire took up the theme again in his poem "La Loreley", from the collection Alcools.

A statue of "Lorelei" can be seen on a small islet in the center of the river nearby.

"Lorelei"

Here is a translation of the "The Lorelei" written in 1823 by Heinrich Heine:

I wish I knew the meaning,
A sadness has fallen on me.
The ghost of an ancient legend
That will not let me be.
The air is cool in the twilight
And gently flows the Rhine;
A mountain peak in the setting sun
Catches the faltering shine.

The highest peak still gleaming
Reveals enthroned in the air,
A Siren lost in her dreaming
Combing her golden hair.
With golden combs she caresses
Her hair as she sings her song;
Echoing through the gloaming
Filled with a magic so strong.

The boatman has heard, it has bound him
In throes of desire and love.
He's blind to the reefs that surround him,
He sees but the Maiden above.
And now the wild waters awaken
Then boat and the boatman are gone.
And this is what with her singing,
The Lorelei has done.

19 March 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

19 March, 1945      0930

Germany

Wilma darling –

Happy first of the week to you – or something! That means it’s Monday, dear – but I’m not blue. Why am I happy? Because I love you and you love me – and that’s good enough reason – too.

We got some mail yesterday and mine included a recent copy of the Boston Herald – 12 September, a letter from you of 5 December, but also one from 5 March – which of course compensated for everything else. Oh – there was a letter from Mrs. Tucker in Salem; I hadn’t heard from here in a long time. And – another V-mail from you, darling, without any date! Now how in the world am I going to compare the relative speed between letters – if I can’t compare the dates! Will you tell me that, huh! What’s this about only V-mail going by Air from now on? We haven’t heard about it over here at all – but I don’t think they really mean it.

Your old letter of December – asked me a very pertinent question, namely: do I think I can fill the bill as your husband? And the answer is, modestly, of course, yes! You were discussing the attention you – as a wife – would want, and would be willing to give; and you said it would be 50-50, of course. That 50-50 is a very interesting expression – and it’s too literal interpretation has led to much trouble, I’m sure. The point about married life, I think, is that situations are bound to arise which call for one member to give 60 or 70 – as against 25 perhaps – at any one time; that member will at some time receive that much or more, in return. There may be a time – more than one – when the situation looks like a 60-40 arrangement; that may be all right, too, so long as it isn’t permanent – because later it will become 40-60. The point I’m trying to make, dear, is that married life should be flexible; you can’t lay down the rules as you do in a ball game and live up to them always. There must be times when allowances, interpretations, giving in, trying to understand – makes the balance swing back and forth; but so long as both parties share in the swing of the pendulum – it all equals up. And – on the whole – I think that life goes that way for two people very often. The trouble comes too often from the fact that one party is afraid it’s giving up too much and won’t wait to see things balanced up. I think that as intelligent people – sweetheart – we ought to be able to see through anything as simple as that. I honestly think we can get along swell and have a heck of a wonderful time doing it, too.

Your letter also mentioned having been out with Verna and discussing politics, marriage, and in-laws – quite a combination at lunch time, dear. You say that Verna speaks rather vigorously on the latter subject – and how! It’s quite a while now – and I don’t remember all the details, but I do know Verna never got along with hers. Whose fault it is or was – is hard to say, but as I remember it – quite a serious rift developed between Irv and Verna because of it. Living away from in-laws – on the whole – is a good thing for a couple, and yet it shouldn’t serve as an escape mechanism. It should help eliminate the little but sometimes very irritating things that crop up – for both members. Again – I feel we haven’t got a real worry at all on that score. Interference is usually the thing that starts it off – and we shouldn’t have that.

Well – I’ve rambled on today without saying a heck of a lot. What I’d look to do is get married right away and give all these ideas a tryout – incidentally. I mean incidentally we’d be trying things out. Actually we’d be married – and to Hell with the theories! Boy how I’d love that, and how often I think about it! And Spring isn’t going to help it one bit, is it dear? Anyway – we know we love and want each other – and when that Spring feeling does creep in – we can at least feel that someone we love is thinking about us and thinking of the same future. The sad aspect of Spring was always depicted by the unrequited lover. Darling – I love you and you love me – and that makes everything infinitely easy to bear.

And so much for that, sweetheart, or I’ll get to missing you too acutely. Love to the folks, dear – and –

All my sincerest love

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about Book Relief

From TIME, 19 March 1945, Vol. XLV, No. 12 comes this:

One of the first moves in both German and Jap schemes of conquest was to destroy free men's ideas by destroying their books. In 1938, while the Nazis were systematically looting some 400 libraries in Czechoslovakia, the Japs deliberately dropped 50 bombs on China's National Hunan University in Changsha. The National Tsinghua University at Peiping lost many precious books and manuscripts, some irreplaceable.

With the beginning of World War II, these ravages became wholesale. In Naples, the Royal Society Library was burned in reprisal for the shooting of a Nazi in a nearby street. In Athens, the books of three American colleges reportedly were used to stoke furnaces. Not all the destruction was deliberately aimed at books, but the results were the same. In England, the contents of at least 50 libraries, plus some 6,000,000 books in stalls and publishing houses, have been bombed into dust.

ABC, Inc. Since October 1943 this stupendous loss has been the prime concern of the American Library Association's Board on International Relations. After much exploring of ways & means, the Board, with the help of the State Department and the Library of Congress, convened representatives of all interested agencies, last week took steps to form a corporation. Its name: American Book Center, Inc. Its purposes: 1) to replace lost books; 2) to supply the world's libraries with recent U.S. publications.

ABC will ask every potential source in the U.S. to donate both English and foreign-language books and periodicals. It will store them in warehouses on the East and West Coasts. There representatives of the various countries may make their selections. Another suggestion: orders may be taken at a sample-library, set up somewhere in Europe, of single copies of all wartime U.S. publications.

Funds for ABC will be solicited from business concerns which have foreign interests. The Rockefeller Foundation has already chipped in $2,500 for a starter. Kenneth Shaffer, librarian at the University of Indiana, has been appointed director of ABC at $5,000 a year.

ABC's sponsors well realize that they cannot hope to replace more than a fraction of what has been lost. But they would not, even if they could. Said brisk Luther Evans, Acting Librarian of Congress: "Those libraries oughtn't to get back all the books they had. ... All libraries ought to destroy about three times as much as they do. ... [They] clutter up their shelves with too much junk, and they never weed out the deadwood. . . ."

18 March 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

18 March, 1945      0840

Germany

Dearest Sweetheart –

This is pretty early for me – but it’s Sunday today and the Staff Meeting didn’t last long. I’ve already shaved and I’m waiting for sick-call. Then I’ll probably go out to visit one of the batteries – unless something else turns up here.

Yesterday was a dull day with nothing particular happening. Oh – I managed to get a bath – in a bath tub, too. Funny thing about Europe, but bath tubs certainly aren’t common – and even in the better homes – bath tubs are often missing. I don’t know how these people keep clean. Anyway I did get cleaned up and dressed up; that means a fresh uniform – field – of course, but even at that I was all ready to visit you, dear. Gee – it’s over 9 months now since I’ve worn anything but combat shoes, O.D. trousers, shirt – no tie, and a field jacket. It’s very simple though. You’ll have to keep checking up on me, dear, after we’re married. I’ll probably get hold of one suit and tie and just keep wearing it.

Again, darling, there was no mail at all for me from the States. I got one V-mail from my cousin Jack Alexander who is with Third Army – still in France. He was studying or getting ready to study dentistry, I guess, when the Army got him. He had had 4 years at the U of Alabama and one year at Dental School. Anyway – he’s now a corporal in an Ordnance Bn – but he’s in the medical detachment as a dental assistant.

You mentioned once – in a fairly recent letter, dear – that you wonder what it will be like when I come home. It can be a frightening thought – I agree with you there. Will it be the same – you want to know – you and millions with you. I wonder, too, sweetheart, – and it’s natural. If people who have been married, lived together and had children – wonder about it – certainly we have a right to. But our problem is not one of re-adjustment – the word so much in use these days, for strictly speaking – we have yet to be adjusted. What I mean is that whether you wait 3 months – or a couple of years – the plunge into marriage is always a big step, and that is our only problem. All this elapsed time has served to make us know each other a whole lot more – and marriage is the logical conclusion. I have no fears whatsoever about what you’ll be like when I get back – I trust my judgement and I know I would have married you had I remained at home. Sure – I’m getting dimmer in my ability to picture you – etc., but I’m relying on that initial judgement – backed up by my knowledge about you through our correspondence. No – dear – our only problem is one which every couple has to face and that is – one of adjustment. That can be answered – only by marriage – and I feel quite certain we can hit it off. I say that not lightly, for I’ve given it a lot of thought myself.

What irritates me particularly is to read and hear about married couples who are doing all the wondering and worrying. Damn it – if 2 people married and got along – why should a wife worry about her husband? Sure – he’s been to war – but he’ll be goddam glad to get back to her – unless he didn’t love her in the 1^st place and uses the war as an excuse. And why should a husband worry about his wife? She’s either faithful – and he need not worry – or she isn’t – and she’s no good. I just can’t agree with everyone who maintains the step from Army life to civilian status will be a big one. It ought to be as easy as rolling off a log – and anyone – outside of the sick – who says otherwise is merely looking for an excuse to ‘act up’.

And with that – sweetheart – I’ll have to sign off. I don’t think you’ll have much trouble with me – or I hope not. Just give me the chance, and I’ll show you how adjusted I can be. Love to the folks, darling, and

My deepest love,

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about The Canadian Rabbi


Honorary Captain Rabbi Samuel Cass
Cleve, Germany - 18 March 1945

Rabbi Samuel Cass was born in Toronto in 1908. He served as the senior Jewish chaplain in the Canadian Army from 1942 to 1946, and by 1944 he was stationed overseas at the Canadian military headquarters.

On 18 March 1945 Rabbi Samuel Cass of Vancouver, Canada conducted the first worship service celebrated on German territory by Jewish personnel of the 1st Canadian Army near Cleve, Germany. Rabbi Cass assisted with the reorganization of Jewish communities liberated by Canadian forces in Belgium and Holland. He also worked with Holocaust survivors after the war.

For Canada and Jewish Canadians, the Second World War was the Jewish community’s most sustained war effort ever. Out of a Canadian Jewish population of approximately 167,000 Jewish men, women and children, over 16,880 volunteered for active service in the army, air force, and navy. There were an additional 2,000 Jews who enlisted, but who did not declare their Jewish identity in order to avert danger if captured by the Nazi forces.

Of the 16,880 who served, which constituted more than one-fifth of the entire Jewish male population in the country, 10,440 served in the army, 5,870 in the air force, and 570 in the navy. 1,971 Jewish soldiers received military awards. Over 420 were buried with the Star of David engraved on graves scattered in 125 cemeteries. Thousands returned home with serious physical and mental wounds.

Saskatchewan Jews were among the first to volunteer during both World War I and II, and many lost their lives in the European trenches. The province honoured those who sacrificed their lives, including a number of Jewish heroes, by naming several lakes and mountains of the vast northern region after them.

The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network provides the date of death and place of burial of many of the Canadian Jewish servicemen who died serving in the Canadian Armed Forces in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War.

17 March 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

17 March, 1945         0940

Germany

Wilma, darling –

As I remember it – they used to have quite a time of it on this date in Boston. I wonder how they’ll celebrate this year. They ought to send the Irish over here – there’s plenty of celebrating going on all over the place. One of the funny things around this town at the present – is the group of local policemen who wear the typical Nazi uniform but who were not part of the Army proper. Anyway – none fled and when the Americans came they were checked by the Military Government personnel and allowed to carry out their usual municipal duties. Well – an Armored division is in the area, too, and when the Commanding General saw these ‘guys’ – he ordered them to salute the Americans – not only officers, but every American soldier. And it sure is a riot to see these fellows saluting along the main street where the GI’s are driving or walking by without cease. The temptation, particularly on the part of the enlisted men – is to salute back, but that is strictly taboo. We have orders never to return the salute of a German.

Yesterday saw one of my boys getting the Silver Star – presented to him by the General of this Corps. He’s one of my corporals – and a good soldier under pressure – although I had trouble with him in the States and also in England. You may or may not remember – but he’s the one I had to court-martial in England. He was reduced to the Grade of private. But when we hit Normandy he showed he had the stuff, when he ran out into an open field to take care of 2 of our boys who were hit by 2 strafing planes. The planes were returning for another run on the field – and everybody hit the foxholes – but he got out and administered first aid nevertheless. This last episode – he went into a mine field to help one of our men who had been severely wounded. The field was covered with mines – but he went in anyway and got him out. We recommended the Bronze Star – and the Corps boosted the Award itself. Incidentally that’s the 1st such award for the battalion and I was glad a medic got it.

Lieutenant General J. Lawton Collins
Awards the Silver Star to Eckle Ashworth
16 March 1945

Other than that, dear, it was a rather quiet day with no mail again. As usual when we start moving about – the mail gets kicked around but I understand the APO has caught up with us and we may get mail this pm.

Say, darling, I want to make or take exception to one of your statements in a letter of yours – to the effect that I said “less about everything than any other man” – referring to such things as complimentary remarks etc. Hell, girl – I actually thought I was overdoing it! I guess you’re right, though, Sweetheart – I never did say very much – although I thought a lot. I never was the flattering type and always felt that rather than have you think I was just trying to say the right thing – I’d keep quiet. And I was making you like me without telling you all I thought. That – at that stage – was enough. I didn’t know we’d become engaged and grow to love each other so. And I do remember your hair, sweetheart – and it was lovely – but why single out the hair! All of you was lovely and I’d just love to show you what I mean –

So you’ll come to San Francisco if I arrive there 1st. I hope you don’t have to, darling. The chances are though that it will be back thru N.Y. or Boston. I just don’t know what reactions I’ll experience that day. Most likely I’ll have to call you –sweetheart – to tell you I’m back. Damn it! I’ll bet your line will be busy! Well – I’ll wait – honestly.

I’ll have to go now, dear. I’m treating someone with Penicillin today and it’s time for another injection. Hope all is well at home, darling. Love to the folks – and

My own sincere, deep love to you –

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about The Silver Star

According to the Home of Heroes web site:

The Silver Star Medal is the United States' THIRD HIGHEST award exclusively for combat valor, and ranks fifth in the precedence of military awards behind the Medal of Honor, the Crosses (DSC/NC/AFC), the Defense Distinguished Service Medal (awarded by DOD), and the Distinguished Service Medals of the various branches of service. It is the highest award for combat valor that is NOT unique to any specific branch; it has been bestowed by the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marines. It may be given by any one of the individual services to not only their own members, but to members of other branches of service, foreign allies, and even to civilians for "gallantry in action" in support of combat missions of the United States military.

The Silver Star was established by President Woodrow Wilson as a "Citation Star" during World War I, and was solely a U.S. Army award, though it was presented by the War Department (U.S. Army) to members of the Navy and to U.S. Marines. (More on that can be found in the introductory pages to WWI awards.) Originally it provided for a 3/16" silver star to be worn on on the ribbon of the service medal for the campaign for service in which the citations were given. Based loosely upon the earlier Certificate of Merit, the Citation Star was available retroactively to those who distinguished themselves by gallantry as far back as the Spanish-American War. (Subsequently it has been awarded for gallantry to Civil War heroes who were similarly cited for gallantry in action.) Prior to 1932 the General Orders announcing awards of the "Citation Star" typically began:

By direction of the President, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved July 19, 1918 (Bul. No. 43, W.D., 1918), the following-named officers and enlisted men are cited for gallantry in action and a silver star may be placed upon the ribbon of the Victory Medals awarded to such officers and enlisted men." (A narrative of the act or acts followed for each man thus cited.)

On February 22, 1932, the date that would have been George Washington's 200th birth day, Army Chief of Staff General Douglas MacArthur revived General Washington's "Badge for Military Merit (1782)" as the Purple Heart. That same year he also successfully advocated for conversion of the "Citation Star". When his recommendation was approved by the Secretary of War, the 3/16' silver star was converted from a "ribbon device" to a full-fledged MEDAL.

The Silver Star Medal was designed by Rudolf Freund of Bailey, Banks and Biddle, and consisted of a gilt-bronze five-pointed (point-up in contrast to the point-down design of the Medal of Honor) star bearing a laurel wreath at its center. The ribbon design incorporated the colors of the flag, and closely resembled the medals earliest predecessor, the Certificate of Merit Medal. The reverse of the medal is blank, save for the raised text "For Gallantry in Action", beneath which is usually engraved the name of the recipient.

The gold hue of the gilt-bronze star seems at odd with the award's name, Silver Star. That title derives from the medal's World War I lineage and the 3/6" silver star, once displayed on a victory ribbon, and now prominently displayed in the center of the medal.

The Silver Star Medal remained exclusively an Army decoration until August 7, 1942, nearly a year after World War II began. On that date the Silver Star Medal was expanded by Act of Congress for award by the Navy Department for actions on or after December 7, 1941, (Public Law 702, 77th Congress).

It is estimated that the number of Silver Stars awarded from World War I to present is somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000. While that number seems quite large, when compared to the more than 30 million American men and women who have served in uniform during that time period, it is obvious that the Silver Star is a rare award, bestowed on fewer than 1 in every 250 veterans of military service.

Eckle Ashworth, Silver Star Award recipient, was born on 09/28/1908 and died at the age of 90 on 11/15/1998. He is buried in Lakewood Memorial Park (cemetery), which is located in Hughson, California.

16 March 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

16 March, 1945      1100

Germany

Dearest darling Wilma –

I started out to write you about an hour and a half ago but got sidetracked until just now. Perhaps I can keep going for awhile. It’s another swell day here today. I’m up in my room writing this. It’s a small room, but was left tidy. This could be an awfully nice, quiet neighborhood – but the damned artillery – our own, I mean – is so noisy – we couldn’t sleep much last nite, and these cottages are so lightly constructed – the whole place quivers and shakes every time they open up.

We got some mail yesterday – but mostly from back in December – a couple of Christmas Cards, old issues of Time; there were none from you, dear; one was from Charlie Wright. He is now with a convalescent hospital – not as a patient – at Daytona Beach, Florida. What a set-up! The scenery around here is not so tough, though. From where we’re located we can look across and see the famous Castles that this area is noted for – tremendous places with spires, etc. – sitting in a cleared area in the middle of a wooded high spot. This must have been quite a spot in peace times.

And today is 16 months overseas duty from us, sweetheart, a pretty good stretch – it seems to me – 9 of them in combat – and that’s what counts most. Half of my Army Career has now been spent away from the States. But all that is nothing. The thing that interests me more than anything else is the fact that I’ve been away from you, dear. For over 16 months. I just can’t conceive it – and yet it’s so true and undeniable. I don’t know what I thought, actually, when I said ‘so long’ that day. I knew you for about 4 months and I knew enough about you and us to know I’d keep after you until I could marry you if I were only sticking around. I honestly didn’t dare dream that you’d not only keep up your interest in me – but consent to become engaged to me the way we did. No – I haven’t forgotten the excitement, tenseness, impatient waiting I went thru – and you, too – a year ago – winter – February, March and – April. Yes – it was April before I knew. And in two weeks – we will have been engaged one full year. You’ll just have to excuse me, sweetheart, if I say I can’t realize it; I just can’t. To be in love with you all this time is one thing; to be engaged to you in addition – and to have missed the intimacies and affection which an engaged couple are entitled to – is something we’ll never exactly make up – and for which I’ll always feel extremely bitter when the subject of war is brought up. And no celebration, no party, no anniversary; just a letter from me, sweetheart, telling you – reminding you how happy a man you made me when you agreed to become engaged to me the way you did, when you thereby gave up all others – and devoted yourself to being constant, lovable, sincere – to me alone. I was happy – a year ago, dear – but not so deeply happy and content as I am now – in the realization that what might have been criticized as a flighty decision on the part of either of us – has turned out to be a permanent and binding one, respected by time and by our continued and growing love for each other. You’ve been the best and most lovable fiancée a fellow could ask for or dream of. I can say only, darling, that I’m aware of it and I’ll never forget it. Good luck, dear, and many many more anniversaries together with me.

Love to the folks – and

All my everlasting love is yours

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about Castles of the Lower Middle Rhine

There are six castles along the banks of the Rhine from Bonn to Koblenz, including the baroque castle "Freiligrathaus", built in 1760 in Unkel, and the fabled castle of Drachenburg, atop Drachenfels - one of the best-known mountains in Germany and arguably the most scenic. Two views of Drachenburg are shown below:

Schloss Drachenburg is a private Villa in Palace style located on the Drachenfels hill in Königswinter, a German town at the Rhine River near the city of Bonn. Baron Stephan Sarter (1833-1902), son of a Bonn-based restaurant owner, who became wealthy as a stock broker and was therefore known as the “Baron of Sarter”, purchased a piece of land right underneath the ruin of a fortress at the Drachenfels, in order to fulfill his living dream. Between 1882 and 1884 an imposing work of art from the period of "promoterism" was erected here. Although the Baron planned to live there, he never did.The architecture and design of the castle put visitors into times long past.

The castle was heavily damaged during the 2nd World War and in the post-war period, so that in the 1960s it was empty and about to fall into decay. It was Paul Spinat, who saved it from its destiny as he purchased the castle and opened it for the public in 1973. Up until his death in 1989, the lord of the castle resided in the Castle Drachenburg. Today the Palace is in the possession of the State Foundation of North Rhine-Westphal

Another notable castle is Godesburg Castle near Bonn, of which only ruins remain, although the tower is still standing and can be climbed. Below are an etching from 1646 of how the castle once looked and a photo of the castle today.

The Godesburg is a castle in Bad Godesberg, a formerly independent part of Bonn, Germany. The castle was founded in 1210 and enlarged in 1244 and 1340. It was built on the Godesberg, a hill of volcanic origin, on the former site of a former Roman fortification. It was largely destroyed following a siege in 1583 at the start of the Cologne (Truchsessischen) War (1583-1588). The attackers penetrated into the castle complex through the lavatory, leading to its destruction.

In 1891, the German emperor Wilhelm II donated the castle's ruin to the city of Bad Godesberg. In 1959, the ruin was rebuilt according to plans by Gottfried Böhm, to house a hotel and restaurant. Today, the restaurant is still in operation, but the hotel tract has been divided into apartments.

Other castles in the area include Rheineck Castle, located between Bonn and Koblenz, which is now a museum and restaurant. Erzbichofburg castle (near Eltville) sits right on the river and offers one of the most impressive sights to visitors. Built in 1353 and partially destroyed in 1635, it has been restored and is now open as a museum, offering reenactment rooms featuring Middle-Age artifacts and items, including a 15th century printer's workshop.

15 March 1945

V-MAIL

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

15 March, 1945

Germany

Hello Sweetheart –

Another Ides of March away from you, dear. The weather here suddenly cleared and the sky is blue and the sun real warm. I’m writing this outdoors on an easy chair – and it’s really comfortable here.

Our present set-up is again a novel one. We occupy a row of small cottages on one side of the street. It’s suburban and a good location. We have a house of our own – with running water – but no lights. Well – we can’t have everything, darling.

March 1945 - Greg in Friesdorf

As usual – on such days – I’ve got quite a lot of work – getting set up etc. – and therefore the V-mail and the brevity. All else O.K., sweetheart and I hope you’re well. Love to the folks and remember I love you very very much.

All my love, darling

Greg

Route of the Question Mark


[CLICK TO ENLARGE]

(A) Bruhl to (B) Friesdorf, Germany (17 miles)
12 March to 15 March 1945

March 15... Freisdorf.  The sure arrival of  Spring, and we lived in a row of neat little houses facing an orchard where our trucks were parked. A dozen men, T/Sgt [Albert W. or Roland C.] WRIGHT, S/Sgt [Ralph D.] SIGLER, T/Sgt [Robert E.] WHEELER, T/4 [William] BIEDERMAN, T/4 [Glenn M.] ASH, T/4 [August] STARK [Jr.], T/4 [Cecil W.] ALEXANDER, Cpl [Myron F.] SCRAFFORD, T/5 [Walter] KURAS, T/5 [Miles E.] CONWAY, T/5 [Robert E.] BEGGAN, Pfc [John] CALICYO, had to sleep in tents in the orchard because their beds were untidy, called the row "The dirty dozen" and "Pig-alley" - complete with pig. We lost our motion picture projector... Cleaned out our trailers... painted our trucks.

* TIDBIT *

about More from General Hodges

The snapshots that follow were taken from Normandy to Victory: The War Diary of General Courtney H. Hodges & the First U.S. Army, Page 334, maintained by his aides Major William C. Sylvan and Captain Francis G. Smith Jr.; edited by John T. Greenwood, copyright 2008 by the Association of the United States Army, pp.334-335.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

14 March 1945

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 230 % Postmaster, N.Y.

14 March, 1945      0930

Germany

Dearest sweetheart –

0930 of late seems to be the time to write you. I’ve been less often disturbed at that hour than at any other time – but the military situation has a great deal to do with it.

This spot is still as comfortable as ever – but I guess people are very queer and nothing will ever change with them. Here we’ve been without modern conveniences for so long a time – and then we strike this place. Last night – for some unexplained reason – the lights went out in the evening – and we were positively annoyed. We still had a good house, warmth, running water and a place to sit around in – but we didn’t like the fact that we had no lights. Of course – for months now – we’ve got by with flashlights, candles and kerosene lamps. Anyway, dear, the lights came on after about two hours and everybody was happy.

Yesterday I visited Charlie battery – Pete’s – but he was out on reconnaissance and I didn’t see him. I do get to see him or he – me – on the average of about once a week – but we never can spend much time together – these days. I then went on a little sight-seeing tour into the center of a large town. What a mess the air force made! You have only to picture a city the size of Boston laid waste about 85% – to get the picture. The true picture, though, is that the center of the city is 100% down, and a little of the outskirts has some buildings with walls. Well – we tried several different ways to get to one particular spot I wanted to get a snapshot of – and in each case – the road was impassable. We heard that Margaret Bourque-White was in the area – also trying to photograph the same place – apparently for Life Magazine. We didn’t run into her – and if she got her pictures – I’ll bet it wasn’t yesterday – because – the city suddenly got kind of hot and we made a beeline out of town – but not before we had a flat tire and had to sweat out a change.

Cologne - Steeple of Cathedral in Distance
14 March 1945

The Rhine at Cologne showing remains of Hohenzollern Bridge.
We got this close by accident and got out fast because the Germans
were on the other side. We were shelled (mortars) shortly afterwards.
14 March 1945

Gate and wall to inner city - Cologne
14 March 1945

Severinstor Today
One of three medieval city gates still remaining
This photo belongs to Letícia F. Terra's Flickr photostream

Near Cologne - A little better - March 1945
Note Germans and cart - Evacuating - We had just moved in.

When I got back I found a V-Mail and an air-mail (28 February) from you – and an old letter – from Dad A. Your V-Mail was undated – dear – but must have been of a recent date because it sang of the Spring – ah – the beautiful Spring! Your air-mail had an enclosure in it – the note from Betty Levine. I didn’t hear from her directly, but I got a V-mail from Stan the other day – thanking us for the gift. I don’t remember whether I mentioned that to you or not.

In a V-mail from you the other day – you mentioned hearing from Shirley Feldberg. I’ll bet you were surprised hearing from her after a lapse of time of months – I guess. I wonder if you’ve seen her yet – I suppose she must know about Stan’s marriage. I liked Shirley; she has a good head on her – she proved that by not getting tied up with Stan. That’s not a very fair thing to say about a guy that was once one of my closest friends – but the fact is – he wouldn’t have been marrying her for love – and I guess she was smart enough to sense it. Every now and then I think back to the days when I first met you – and the days when I first left the States – and I get very angry at Stan – all over again – for the way he acted behind my back, – and I wonder how we’ve managed to remain friends. What I should have done is to have written him what I thought of him and let it end right there. Anyway – I know I’ll never trust him again. I remember your telling me your father’s opinion of him – and I thought your father must have been all wet. He wasn’t.

Well – the hell with that subject. Here it is about time for me to be getting back to work – and I haven’t even talked about us – about you and me and our own world! That’s what we’ll have some day, sweetheart, our own world, and do you know what we’ll use to generate power in it? Love! Of course – plenty of strong concentrated love. I can hardly wait –

I’ll really have to stop now, darling and get on my theoretical horse. I hope everything’s O.K. at home and that Mother B is feeling steadily better. Love to the folks, dear – and

All my everlasting love

Greg

* TIDBIT *

about Margaret Bourke-White

Margaret Bourke-White
American Photographer and Documentary Photographer

From Wikipedia comes this:

Bourke-White was born in the Bronx, New York, to Joseph White, a non-observant Jew from an Orthodox Jewish family and Minnie Bourke, the Protestant daughter of an Irish ship's carpenter and an English cook. She grew up in Bound Brook, New Jersey, but graduated from Plainfield High School. Her father was a naturalist, engineer and inventor. His work improved the four-color printing process that is used for books and magazines. Her mother, Minnie Bourke, was a "resourceful homemaker." Margaret learned from her father perfection, from her mother, the unabashed desire for self-improvement." Margaret's success was not a family fluke. Her older sister, Ruth White, was well known for her work at the American Bar Association in Chicago, Illinois, and her younger brother Roger Bourke White became a prominent Cleveland businessman and high-tech industry founder.

From a Combat Camera's former web site came this bio of Margaret-Bourke White:

She is most famously known as the first foreign photographer permitted to take picture of Soviet Industry, the first female war correspondent (and related, the first female permitted to work in combat zones) and the first female photographer for Henry Luce’s LIFE magazine, where her photograph graced the first LIFE cover.

Fort Peck Dam, Montana
Credit: Margaret Bourke-White

Bourke-White was the first female war correspondent and the first woman to be allowed to work in combat zones during World War II. In 1941, she traveled to the Soviet Union just as Germany broke its pact of non-aggression. She was the only foreign photographer in Moscow when German forces invaded. Taking refuge in the U.S. Embassy, she then captured the ensuing firestorms on camera.

Kremlin Bombardment by German Luftwaffe
Credit: Margaret Bourke-White

As the war progressed, she was attached to the U.S. Army Air Force in North Africa, then to the U.S. Army in Italy and later Germany. She repeatedly came under fire in Italy in areas of fierce fighting. The woman who had been torpedoed in the Mediterranean, strafed by the Luftwaffe, stranded on an Arctic island, bombarded in Moscow, and pulled out of the Chesapeake when her chopper crashed, was known to the LIFE staff as "Maggie the Indestructible." This incident in the Mediterranean refers to the sinking of the England-Africa bound British troopship SS Strathallan which she recorded in an article “Women in Lifeboats”, in LIFE, February 22, 1943.

Photo from "Women in Lifeboats," LIFE, 22 February 1943
Credit: Margaret Bourke-White

In the spring of 1945, she traveled through a collapsing Germany with General George S. Patton. In this period, she arrived at Buchenwald, the notorious concentration camp. She is quoted as saying, “Using a camera was almost a relief. It interposed a slight barrier between myself and the horror in front of me.” After the war, she produced a book entitled Dear Fatherland, Rest Quietly, a project that helped her come to grips with the brutality she had witnessed during and after the war.

Buchenwald
Credit: Margaret Bourke-White

To many who got in the way of a Bourke-White photograph — and that included not just bureaucrats and functionaries but professional colleagues like assistants, reporters, and other photographers — she was regarded as imperious, calculating, and insensitive.” She had a knack for being at the right place at the right time: She interviewed and photographed Mohandas K. Gandhi just a few hours before his assassination.

Ghandi (1951)
Credit: Margaret Bourke-White

Eisenstaedt, her friend and colleague, said one of her strengths was that there was no assignment and no picture that was unimportant to her.

Also from Wikipedia:

During the 1950s, Bourke-White was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. She had just turned 50 when she had to slow her career to fight off the disease, initially with physical therapy, then with brain surgery in 1959 and 1961.

She wrote her autobiography, Portrait of Myself, which was published in 1963 and became a best seller, but she grew increasingly infirm and increasingly became more isolated in her home in Darien, Connecticut. Her living room there "was wallpapered in one huge, floor-to-ceiling, perfectly-stitched-together black-and-white photograph of an evergreen forest that she had shot in Czechoslovakia in 1938." A pension plan set up in the 1950s "though generous for that time" no longer covered her health-care costs. She also suffered financially from her personal generosity and "less-than-responsible attendant care."

She died in Connecticut of Parkinson's Disease at the age of 67, nearly 18 years after she developed her first symptoms.