Germany
April 6
(I think)
Dear Folks,
If you remember from last winter how long it would take our mail to catch us whenever we’d move, you’ll understand thoroughly why it is habitually slow now. It’s been several days now since I heard from you and as usual I begin to get anxious. Not worried because that wouldn’t even do any good but just anxious to hear.
I got the box of souvenirs (junk) started that I spoke about in the last letter. In the last couple of weeks I could have picked up a million things and I have said that I didn’t want a thing from over here. But it would be a shame not to have one single trophy. Of course, we aren’t allowed to take any civilian property because that would be stealing but practically all captured military equipment may be sent home. Lots of fellows send rifles but unless I change my mind I want none of these. Pistols can’t be sent because of laws concerning them in the States. As you can see most of the stuff that you could and would want to send is worth very little except just for its souvenir value.
Now my stuff: the medals and knife are from prisoners we took and the flag is from the house (in a town our outfit captured) of an ardent Nazi. The house seemed to have been some sort of a military headquarters. The knife may not seem like a military article but we take knives of all kinds from prisoners just for safety sake. This little knife reminded me of my pearl handled knife that I lost while serving in the army. It’ll serve me the twofold purpose of being useful as a pocket knife and also be a trophy. It’s just about the right size knife to carry to school. I don’t believe I would have taken three times its value for my other little one just for that reason. After I had my package wrapped I found a medal just like one of those I had intended to send. I couldn’t be sure whether it is the same one or one like it. Several of the fellows had them. Just in case I missed wrapping it up, in the first attempt, I am sending it in this letter. If it turns out that I have actually sent two, Jim can have one of them.
Hope everything is OK back there. God be with you all.
Love,
Donald