February 7, 1971

Dear Mom & Dad,

Here are some more pictures.  I hope you find them interesting.  There are 10 in this envelope and I will mail 9 more from the same roll in another envelope.  I will comment on each picture below.  I didn't go too far to take these pictures.  They are all of the post to give you a little idea of what it looks like.  There are also a few that I took of the village Illesheim which is only a 5 minute walk away.

Picture #1 is self explanatory.  it is the sign on the village limits of Illesheim.  By the way this is the story about the Illesheim:  Heim means home, and many many years ago a knight of the dark ages lived in this place.  Evidently his exploits were know far and wide and all in all he made quite a name for himself.  I don't know exactly what he was supposed to have done, but whatever it was it was good enough to get the rinky dink town named after him.  His name was Illes.  Thus, Illesheim. there are a lot of towns around here that end in heim, so there must have been alot of people who got towns named after them, way back when.

Picture #2 this is just an ordinary building in Illesheim.  I believe this is some kind of a bar or restaurant or something although I have never been in it.  It looks kind of shoddy.  Note the Coca Cola sign.

Number 3 and 4 are both examples of the homes on the main street through town.  In number 4 notice the crane.  The crane is used to load human fertilizer into trucks that take it out into the near by fiels.  The smell of this stuff is very noticeable where ever you go in rural Germany.  G.I's call the trucks that haul this stuff, honey wagons and I understand that it is not a wise idea to drive behind them.

Picture #5;  Even though Illishiem is a very small community it does have this fairly impressive church, as does every town large or small.

#6 Back to my home away from home.  The main gate of Storck barracks.  that little A frame type building by the white wall is where they keep sand for when the roads get slick.  the building on the left is the M.P. Station.

#7 This is a picture of the enlisted men's club, which is about 2 times as big as the officers club.  I might be running this one in a few months also.

# 8 and 9 are both pictures of the same tank from different sides.  This tank is just on display, and doesn't run, which I am afraid is the condition of most of the tanks here!  I've met many of the LT's who run the tank platoon here and most of them say that they spend most of their time trying to keep their equipment running and trying to find parts for them.  In case you can't read it the letters on the side of the tank say "Iron Horsemen" which is the nick name of one of the armored battalions here.

#10 A picture of some APC's (Armored Personnel Carriers)

Well that's all I can get in this envelope.  I will send another one with this one.  I hope you get them both at the same time.

Here is the rest of that roll.  The pictures in this envelope were all taken on post, my comments follow.
#1 (above) Picture of a truck parking area.  You probably will  notice that in all of these pictures there is no snow on the ground.  I took these about two weeks ago, but tonight we are once again getting a little of the white stuff.

#2 a close up of an APC.  This particular type of APC is used for scouting and is very fast, as this type of machine goes.  When in use it mounts a 20 mm cannon on top.

#3 Is another type of APC.  Very slow compared to number 2.  It is used as a mobile command post.

#4  This is a picture of the dispensary as you can read on the sign.  It can take care of dental work and minor illnesses, but for anything major you have to go to the Army hospital in Nuremberg.  There have been times in the past when expectant mothers were flown from here to Nuremberg by helicopter.

#5 A picture of an Army ambulance in front of the dispensary.

#6  I don't really know why I took this one.  These are just some junked cars on post.  I guess this goes to show that German roads and American drivers don't go to well together.

#7  This is the grade school for dependent children here on post.  Kids that are in high school have to be bused all the way to Nuremberg.  Many of the teachers who teach here live in the BOQ with the Bachelor officers.  Teaching in Armed Forces schools in Europe is a very good job for any young teacher fresh out of school.

Pictures number 8 & 9 are both of the family housing area, where most everyone lives because there is very little space available in the German communities near by.  They are kind of drab looking on the outside as you can see, but the apartments inside are better than most places you could find on the outside.  The BOQ is only 2 stories instead of 4 like these.  There are very few bachelors on post compared to married people.

Well that all.  I have another roll of 20 being developed now, and I will send them along when I get them.