Dear Mom & Dad,
Well, I thought that I would start this letter to you tonight and try to finish it in a day or so. The first bit of news that comes to mind, is the fact that it looks like I will be a Lieutenant for the rest of my tour. This is because the Army has just changed the time required to be a First Lieutenant before you make Captain from 12 months to 30 months. I should still make 1st. Lt. sometime around July of this year, but I would have to be a first Lt. for 30 months before I could make Capt. By the time I would be up for Capt. I should be out of the Army. I did get a pay raise last month though. This is because of the pay raise that was voted in by congress some time ago just now went into effect. My basic pay went from $916 to $950 per month which isn't too bad.
Well I've been bogged down in a sea of red tape trying to buy that Lotus. As I told you before, I was trying to get a $2,500 loan form American Express which they assured me would be no problem. Well I sent in all the papers for it and waited a week or so and when it came back they said I could only get $1,700. So because I have enough to finance the rest from my own money I sent all the paper work back again, this time asking for only $1,700. This time I had to wait 3 weeks. When the paper work came back again they said I could only get $1,200!
By this time I had more than enough of dealing with them, so I said good bye. I still can't understand their attitude on this matter especially since I had over $2000 in one of their own checking accounts! Well anyway I finally went to the Federal Credit Union and had much better results. I had by now decided that I would only need $1700 and the day after I applied for it I got the check in the mail! It will take me 2 years to pay off the loan but the payments are only $80 a month which will be taken right out of my pay check. The balance of the car, which comes to about $1900, I will pay from my own saving which will mean I own more than half of it to begin with.
Also there was the matter of the customs clearance which took about a week and then Insurance which I just got last week, and then my USAEUR drivers licence which I got this Friday. In order to get that I just had to pass a written test of German traffics laws and road signs. Finally, this Tuesday I have to go to a place about 25 miles from here and pick up temporary licence plates and on Wednesday of this week I will finally get the car!
Well I know you are interested in how my job is doing so I will try to spend the rest of this letter talking about it. In order to become officially in charge of the club there has to be special orders drawn up on me. This is about the only thing that is holding up the show because once you try to get anything done through regular Army channels you might as well expect a long delay. In practice though, I am now fully in charge of the club, singing checks and doing everything else.
My main problems so far have been personal problems. These are the people I have working for me: One manager (Army SSG), 1 secretary (American Civilian), 1 bookkeeper (German Civilian), 1 bar tender (German civilian), 2 assistant cooks (both Army enlisted men), 2 waitresses (German civilians) 1 full time cleaning lady (German civilian) 1 dishwasher (German Civilian) 1 mess steward/handyman etc. (Army SSG). Also assorted part time help and special occasion extras. Now here are some of the problems that I have with all these people. To begin with I can't really say that I can trust any of them fully! Before I came, the bookkeeper had been caught keeping two sets of books, one for the auditors to see and one for himself. Also before I came, the kitchen was short $2600 worth of food that was on the Inventory but was not in the store room. Nobody seemed to have any idea where it was!! Before I got here the food was of a very poor quality, but then we got this German Cook who is very good and we have very few complaints about the food when he is cooking. He could make a lot more on the outside but because he gets some kind of financial assistance from the German Government he can only make so much. That's why he is working here. We pay him about 900 marks a month which is about $250 dollars! On the whole, the wages we pay the German help are fantastically low. (example: cleaning lady makes about .75 an hour) compared to American standards, but still, the wage expense is what really kills us. Mainly because the club is open usually a lot longer than just 8 hours a day so we have to pay a lot of over time. One thing I've done is to try and put a little more control over the time worked. Before, everyone came in and worked as long as they more or less wanted too. There were no written work schedules for anyone. I had my manager prepare work schedules that would give us more control over the hours worked and eliminate people working at times when they weren't really needed. Also the bartender used to keep his own time sheets. Even though he claims to be completely honest, I didn't think that keeping his own time sheets was too good of an idea, so I put all the time sheets in mine or my managers control. Well I've found that when you mess around with the amount of money people make on the job you're looking for trouble. We tried to cut the bartenders hours down from way over 60 a week to 51 which would still give him a few hours of over time, but he wouldn't go along with that at all. Well we're still trying to work out some type of compromise, because on a normal day the club looses $30 to $40 and most of that loss is in overtime wages.
Feb 21
Well, I dug this letter out again, a week after I started it and will try to finish it now. I will drop the subject of the club for now and go on to something more pleasant to write about.
Well I finally got my car this Wednesday! It is really great! A Lotus Europa, my wildest dream finally came true.
On Wednesdays I got up at 5:30 in the morning and met the agent here in Illishiem, who sold me the car. He drove me the approximately 200 miles to Kaiserslautern Germany which is west of here. After getting lost in Kaiserslauten, we finally found the Lotus office in town, and at that time I gave them my money, two checks totally $3227. There was very little fan fare fare for this much money changing hands, just a thank you. We were told that we would have to wait about two hours while they gave the car a pre-delivery check out. They gave us this complicated sheet of instructions on how to find the shop where they kept the cars, which was some distance from their office. We spent most of the two hours trying to find it! the shop where they had the car had a very interesting atmosphere - completely British! It was way out in the boondocks and after going down about a mile long cobblestone road we saw what looked like and old bombed-out factory, the old "accordion" type. On the front of the building was a heavy wooden sliding door with a very large "Union Jack" painted on it. The door was opened, and there they were: Europa's, Elans, Elites, some equipped for racing, others stock like mine. The mechanics were just getting through with doing some last minute adjustments on mine. They all had thick British ascents. I will never forget that moment when I knew it was really mine!
I couldn't really believe it until I was in it, and driving down the Autobahn. it is really great! I am going to take roles of pictures of it from every possible angle and send them to you. Even though this is a European car, you see very few of them here. I have only seen one other since I've been here. It causes quite a few stares when I drive it around. the Germans are very interested in cars and every time I stop some place people gather around and asks question, usually in German! I've met a lot of people so far because of this. I had a complete stranger come up and ask for a ride in it one time at a gas station. The other day someone asked if they could take a picture of it while I was stopped for a stop sign! I had one complaint. I was asked not to park in front of this particular store because I was drawing away all their customers!
Well I could go on and on about my car, the club, Germany, etc. but I am limited by the amount of paper I can get in one envelope. I haven't got any letters from you for quite a long time. Please write, even if its short, they really make my day when I get one. I will send some more pictures to you in another envelope. By the way this might be of interest to you. I can get you a round trip ticket to Frankfurt Germany for only $284. I don't think you will find a cheaper price anywhere. Well I guess I will close this letter and send it out tomorrow.
Marty
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
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 #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.
#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.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
January 31, 1971
Dear Mom and Dad,
Enclosed you will find my first roll of film from my new camera. They're not that great but I was mostly just finding out how to use it at the time. You might find some of them interesting, though.
A small part of the combination dinning room, Ball Room, dance floor and meeting room inside the club.
Some beer mugs that belong to the officers in one of the Armored units here. Each new officer in that unit is given one when he arrives and they are kept in the club.
Some our 6 infamous slot machines. All of which are very old as slot machine go. Some of the bigger clubs over here have rows of 20 or thirty of them but since they cost from $700 to $900, this is all we can afford to have.
The BOQ that I live in. The bottom 4 windows belong to my room. The BOQ is right next to the O'Club. I couldn't quite get both buildings into the pictures.. At least here, I'm close to my work!
This is the inside of my room. I have a bedroom and a living room, between which is a bathroom, so it is really a 3 room apartment. the pictures make it look kind of bare. Mainly this is because I don't have my things from the states yet.
Post Cards from Illesheim and Bad Windsheim
This is the only post card I could find of this place. Add about 4 inches of snow and that is what the front gate looks like now! One thing I forgot to tell you in the letter: the village is called Illesheim, but the post is called Storck Barracks. All army posts are called barracks over here. Naturally the officers club is called the "Stork club"
This is an aerial view of Bad Windsheim which is only about 2 miles from Illishiem. If this picture had been taken from the other direction you could have seen Illishiem and Stork barracks. This picture does show you nicely what the land close by looks like though.
This is a good picture of what Bad Windsheim, and most of the other towns around here look like. I took several hours one day and walked all around these streets looking at everything. that church in the center is empty and I don't think they use it for anything. I guess it was damaged in the war.
Like I said in the letter, their are several interesting things to see in Bad Windsheim. This is a picture of the court house or city hall or as they call it the Rathaus.
Jan 28, 1971
Dear mom & Dad
To begin with, I haven't yet got my car, mainly because the American Express has been extremely slow in processing my loan. Also I have to take a drivers test (written only) and get a drivers license which is required of all military person in Europe. Well anyway, I'm still expecting to get it soon, and maybe by the time you get this letter I will have it!.
Another thing I haven't gotten yet are all the things I shipped from the U.S. I am still more or less living out of a suitcase, which is kind of bad but I'm still not too worried. I understand that this long delay is fairly normal and sometimes they say it takes 2 or 3 months to get your stuff.
I have been surprised at the winter here. It hasn't been near as bad as I thought it would be. They had their first snow on the day I arrived in Frankfurt, and there were only one or two light snows after that. Although it did get mighty cold at times, there was never more than two or three inches on the ground., For the last week or so, all the snow has melted and all we are having now is windy, rainy weather and a lot of mud. Now that the snow is gone it is easier to tell what the land looks like. I am in a river valley here so that means that this is mostly farming land, with wooded hills around it. I have been trying to figure out what this area looks like compared to areas I've seen in the US, and finally came to the conclusion that it reminds me a lot of western Oregon in the area of the Willamette Valley. There are a lot of open fields but always in the distance are pine covered hills and small mountains.
Since the last time I wrote, I have been around the country a little more and have got more of a feel for it. I have discovered that only 3KM's from Illishiem is a bigger town, called Bad Winsheim, which has quite a few little stores and places to see. When people here on post say they are going to town, they mean Bad Winsheim, not Illishiem!.
I should pause here for a moment and say that there is so much to tell you, that I just can't seem to ever get it all into one letter no matter how long I make it, so please forgive me if I seem to skip around or not cover any one area fully. By the way in case I have never said so in so many words, I really like this place. Everything is new to me over here and even the smallest details of this country and the people interest me.
I bought a camera a week or so ago, so I am going to start sending you all of my pictures if you will keep them for me in a safe place. I want you to see everything I am seeing. In this case I think a picture will be worth a 1000 words. I didn't get a 35 mm camera like I thought I would, because after I get that Lotus, that will be enough luxuries for a while, and I will have to start living a little more thriftily. It is a nice one, though, better than a Kodak at least.
As far as the "Dinning In" goes, everything went OK despite my nervousness about it. I never did get any dress Blues, but to my great relief, I wasn't the only one in Greens. As I think I told you I had to make two toasts, one to the President of the US and one to the dead soldiers of the Division. I have always had a hard time speaking loudly enough to be heard in a group, but this time I concentrated every bit of energy in me to be loud! I had to do this good because there were 300 officers there, plus two generals (1 three star and 1 two star) plus one German colonel. Also all my immediate superiors were there. Well I guess I did OK, at least no one complained and on the toast to the dead of the Division, everyone stood up and cheered, but I can write that off to patriotism or too much wine, but at least they heard me! I also passed out cigars and wine to the head table with the Generals at it, but that was easy compared to the toast. Well anyway I am mighty glad it is over with and I just hope some Lieutenant, junior to me comes in before we have another one!
I've got a lot to say about the club, but I don't think I will get to it in this letter. I should take over officially some time in February, in the meantime I am learning quite a bit about it, and I am thankful for this period of "on the job training". I am going to mail another envelope along with this letter with some post cards and odds and ends in it that you may be interested in ..
Auf Weiedersehen
To begin with, I haven't yet got my car, mainly because the American Express has been extremely slow in processing my loan. Also I have to take a drivers test (written only) and get a drivers license which is required of all military person in Europe. Well anyway, I'm still expecting to get it soon, and maybe by the time you get this letter I will have it!.
Another thing I haven't gotten yet are all the things I shipped from the U.S. I am still more or less living out of a suitcase, which is kind of bad but I'm still not too worried. I understand that this long delay is fairly normal and sometimes they say it takes 2 or 3 months to get your stuff.
I have been surprised at the winter here. It hasn't been near as bad as I thought it would be. They had their first snow on the day I arrived in Frankfurt, and there were only one or two light snows after that. Although it did get mighty cold at times, there was never more than two or three inches on the ground., For the last week or so, all the snow has melted and all we are having now is windy, rainy weather and a lot of mud. Now that the snow is gone it is easier to tell what the land looks like. I am in a river valley here so that means that this is mostly farming land, with wooded hills around it. I have been trying to figure out what this area looks like compared to areas I've seen in the US, and finally came to the conclusion that it reminds me a lot of western Oregon in the area of the Willamette Valley. There are a lot of open fields but always in the distance are pine covered hills and small mountains.
Since the last time I wrote, I have been around the country a little more and have got more of a feel for it. I have discovered that only 3KM's from Illishiem is a bigger town, called Bad Winsheim, which has quite a few little stores and places to see. When people here on post say they are going to town, they mean Bad Winsheim, not Illishiem!.
I should pause here for a moment and say that there is so much to tell you, that I just can't seem to ever get it all into one letter no matter how long I make it, so please forgive me if I seem to skip around or not cover any one area fully. By the way in case I have never said so in so many words, I really like this place. Everything is new to me over here and even the smallest details of this country and the people interest me.
I bought a camera a week or so ago, so I am going to start sending you all of my pictures if you will keep them for me in a safe place. I want you to see everything I am seeing. In this case I think a picture will be worth a 1000 words. I didn't get a 35 mm camera like I thought I would, because after I get that Lotus, that will be enough luxuries for a while, and I will have to start living a little more thriftily. It is a nice one, though, better than a Kodak at least.
As far as the "Dinning In" goes, everything went OK despite my nervousness about it. I never did get any dress Blues, but to my great relief, I wasn't the only one in Greens. As I think I told you I had to make two toasts, one to the President of the US and one to the dead soldiers of the Division. I have always had a hard time speaking loudly enough to be heard in a group, but this time I concentrated every bit of energy in me to be loud! I had to do this good because there were 300 officers there, plus two generals (1 three star and 1 two star) plus one German colonel. Also all my immediate superiors were there. Well I guess I did OK, at least no one complained and on the toast to the dead of the Division, everyone stood up and cheered, but I can write that off to patriotism or too much wine, but at least they heard me! I also passed out cigars and wine to the head table with the Generals at it, but that was easy compared to the toast. Well anyway I am mighty glad it is over with and I just hope some Lieutenant, junior to me comes in before we have another one!
I've got a lot to say about the club, but I don't think I will get to it in this letter. I should take over officially some time in February, in the meantime I am learning quite a bit about it, and I am thankful for this period of "on the job training". I am going to mail another envelope along with this letter with some post cards and odds and ends in it that you may be interested in ..
Auf Weiedersehen
Monday, February 27, 2012
January 6, 1971
Dear Mom & Dad,
I was very happy today when I got your letters. It was the first mail that I've received here so far. I've got a lot of things to tell you and I hope I can get them all in this letter. I will start out with what I consider my biggest news! I've ordered a car! Yes I didn't wast much time in ordering it, and guess what kind it is! A LOTUS EUROPA!
I can hardly believe it my self, even though I've already paid 10% down on it and I should get it in a week or two. The total price, including transportation and everything came to $3577.00. That's about $800 less than the one I priced in Portland if I remember right!
I'm in the process of getting a $2599 loan from the American Express which gives fairly good deals to military personnel, and the balance of it I will pay with my own funds, (about $727.00). So when I get it I will have $1077 paid on it, and I will have the loan paid in 24 months. The only thing that will really kill me is the insurance which will be very high, although I don't know yet exactly how much. But this car is so great, and I want it badly enough, that I am willing to pay the extra for the insurance! The color will be what they call burnt sand.
Someone is going to drive it direct from Britain to a place called Kaiserslaten Germany, and the agent who sold it to me will drive me there so I can pick it up. It's a brand new 1971 and the only miles on it will be what it takes to get it here from England. Needless to say I am very excited about getting it!! I went out a few days ago and bought a coat that was made in England, and it's a Harris Tweed which you probably have heard of...It really looks sharp and I thought it would be appropriate with the Lotus! I will write later and tell you all about it when I get it.
Now I will go back in time a few weeks and tell you about my trip over here because I guess I neglected to do that in my last letter.
I was very nervous about making my flight to Germany from Ft. Dix, but as it turned out I didn't have anything to worry about. I got to Ft. Dix at about 9:00 PM and if you remember, I had to be there no later than 1:00 AM. Well it turned out that the flight wasn't supposed to leave until 3:00 AM. That's a night I won't soon forget because the plane didn't really leave until 6:45 AM, so I spent the night (about 9 1/2 hours) waiting in that terminal with about 300 other people. But finally we did leave! The plane wasn't the best I've flown but it was a regular commercial DC 8. It was a charter outfit called universal Air Lines which I have never heard of and probably will never hear of again. The pilot was a fat old man who looked like he just got off an all night drunk and the stewardesses were nothing to write home about...so I won't. But I won't gripe too much, because they did get me here one way or the other. The flight over was the shortest day I've ever seen. the sun was just rising when we left, and since we were flying against it, 3 hours or so later it was already getting dark out the window. I didn't see much on the way, except what the pilot said was Nova Scotia as we left, a patch of ocean here and there between clouds, the coast of England in the dark and the lights of Paris just before we landed. It was about 7PM in Frankfurt when we landed.
I just found out a few days ago that I'm not where I thought I was! That might sound funny, but it's true. When I first got here the only clue I had as to where I was was to look for the city Neustadt on the map since that was the place I went to on the train. Well it turns out that there are about a half dozen Neustadt's in Germany and I was looking at the wrong one. So I'm not right on the East German border like I told you before, in fact I am only about 35 miles from Erlangen, where I was going to go in the first place, about the same distance west of Nurenburg. It's not really a bad position to be in, except that there isn't any big city real close.
Now I'm going to try and tell you something about my job, or at least what I know about it so far. The first two weeks I spent in Headquarters mostly waiting, which I am used to by now, but on the pretext of "processing in" to the unit. During the holiday it was very hard because most everything was closed down, and when they were open they only worked half days. But I finally finished going through all the red tape and got to see the Colonel. Right now I am in a rather strange position in that I am not actually in charge of the club and won't be for another month or so. They want me to just hang around the club and the manager and try to learn as much about it as possible before I am put officially in charge. This is really good for me and I didn't really expect to get such a good deal. The only thing is I feel kind of in the way and useless and I will be glad when I actually have some authority. Although I am not officially in charge, I've been hanging around enough and bugging everybody that I was finally given a little responsibility today. In fact tonight at 12:00 PM I am going to take in the money and lock up. Right now its 9:30 PM and I'm writing this letter in the office of the club (trying to look busy) The bar stays open till 12:00. We serve 3 meals a day, but just about the only people who eat here , unless there is a banquet or something are the single officers and teachers (who teach at the school on post and also live in the BOQ) One thing I would really like to start is getting more married people coming to dinner etc. The food isn't too bad now that they got this new German cook, but everybody is still scared off from the last cooks who were enlisted men, and from what I understand smoked dope in the kitchen and I guess their food showed it. Also along with the club I will be in charge of the BOQ's which are right next to the club. I have already been given the job of finding furniture for quite a few of the rooms that are completely bare and also I have to find and hire some German cleaning lady to do the upkeep over there which they are also lacking. I've got to get this done by the 15th.
Right now the Custodian of the club and the NCO club and the enlisted men's club is a SSG who was put in as an emergency measure after the 2nd LT. who had been custodian of the O cub was kicked out. I will be taking the O club off his hands in a month or so. He will be leaving about March and at that time if everything is OK at the O' club I will be given the NCO club and the enlisted men's club. I don't know if I should look forward to that or not.
There are 135 members of the officers club, and it is fairly small as O'clubs go, but the building is only about 4 years old and is fairly nice inside although the plaster on the outside is falling off which gives one a bad impression at first. It has a good size bar and a separate little room which has nothing but slot machines in it! Also it has a fairly large room which is used for banquets, dances, etc. and of course an office which I don't really feel I can call mine yet!
My biggest worry doesn't have anything to do with my job at the club. On Jan 16th the Brigade is going to have a real big formal dinner at somplace near Nurenburg. They call it a "Dining In" for some reason. There will be two generals invited to it and it is really a big deal. Well anyway I am now the junior officer of Headquarters and Headquarters company of the 1st Bde, so this give me the dubious honor of being made what they call "Vice President of the Mess" This doesn't have anything to do with the club. What it means is that I have to make two toasts at this big dinner with the Generals. One to the dead soldiers of the Brigade and one to the President of the mess, who is the Colonel. Also along with a few other junior officers I have to recite the history of the 4th Armored Division. My biggest worry about this whole thing besides the fact that I hate to speak in front of groups and the fact that I have never seen a formal toast and don't really know what to say, is the fact that I don't have and Dress Blues! Mainly because the things I shipped from the states haven't got here yet, and it doesn't look like they will by then! Well it's a problem, but I will get a pair one way or the other. Probably will end up borrowing a set from soneone. I will be glad when it's over with.
Well I've written enough for now......
I was very happy today when I got your letters. It was the first mail that I've received here so far. I've got a lot of things to tell you and I hope I can get them all in this letter. I will start out with what I consider my biggest news! I've ordered a car! Yes I didn't wast much time in ordering it, and guess what kind it is! A LOTUS EUROPA!
I can hardly believe it my self, even though I've already paid 10% down on it and I should get it in a week or two. The total price, including transportation and everything came to $3577.00. That's about $800 less than the one I priced in Portland if I remember right!
I'm in the process of getting a $2599 loan from the American Express which gives fairly good deals to military personnel, and the balance of it I will pay with my own funds, (about $727.00). So when I get it I will have $1077 paid on it, and I will have the loan paid in 24 months. The only thing that will really kill me is the insurance which will be very high, although I don't know yet exactly how much. But this car is so great, and I want it badly enough, that I am willing to pay the extra for the insurance! The color will be what they call burnt sand.
Someone is going to drive it direct from Britain to a place called Kaiserslaten Germany, and the agent who sold it to me will drive me there so I can pick it up. It's a brand new 1971 and the only miles on it will be what it takes to get it here from England. Needless to say I am very excited about getting it!! I went out a few days ago and bought a coat that was made in England, and it's a Harris Tweed which you probably have heard of...It really looks sharp and I thought it would be appropriate with the Lotus! I will write later and tell you all about it when I get it.
Now I will go back in time a few weeks and tell you about my trip over here because I guess I neglected to do that in my last letter.
I was very nervous about making my flight to Germany from Ft. Dix, but as it turned out I didn't have anything to worry about. I got to Ft. Dix at about 9:00 PM and if you remember, I had to be there no later than 1:00 AM. Well it turned out that the flight wasn't supposed to leave until 3:00 AM. That's a night I won't soon forget because the plane didn't really leave until 6:45 AM, so I spent the night (about 9 1/2 hours) waiting in that terminal with about 300 other people. But finally we did leave! The plane wasn't the best I've flown but it was a regular commercial DC 8. It was a charter outfit called universal Air Lines which I have never heard of and probably will never hear of again. The pilot was a fat old man who looked like he just got off an all night drunk and the stewardesses were nothing to write home about...so I won't. But I won't gripe too much, because they did get me here one way or the other. The flight over was the shortest day I've ever seen. the sun was just rising when we left, and since we were flying against it, 3 hours or so later it was already getting dark out the window. I didn't see much on the way, except what the pilot said was Nova Scotia as we left, a patch of ocean here and there between clouds, the coast of England in the dark and the lights of Paris just before we landed. It was about 7PM in Frankfurt when we landed.
I just found out a few days ago that I'm not where I thought I was! That might sound funny, but it's true. When I first got here the only clue I had as to where I was was to look for the city Neustadt on the map since that was the place I went to on the train. Well it turns out that there are about a half dozen Neustadt's in Germany and I was looking at the wrong one. So I'm not right on the East German border like I told you before, in fact I am only about 35 miles from Erlangen, where I was going to go in the first place, about the same distance west of Nurenburg. It's not really a bad position to be in, except that there isn't any big city real close.
Now I'm going to try and tell you something about my job, or at least what I know about it so far. The first two weeks I spent in Headquarters mostly waiting, which I am used to by now, but on the pretext of "processing in" to the unit. During the holiday it was very hard because most everything was closed down, and when they were open they only worked half days. But I finally finished going through all the red tape and got to see the Colonel. Right now I am in a rather strange position in that I am not actually in charge of the club and won't be for another month or so. They want me to just hang around the club and the manager and try to learn as much about it as possible before I am put officially in charge. This is really good for me and I didn't really expect to get such a good deal. The only thing is I feel kind of in the way and useless and I will be glad when I actually have some authority. Although I am not officially in charge, I've been hanging around enough and bugging everybody that I was finally given a little responsibility today. In fact tonight at 12:00 PM I am going to take in the money and lock up. Right now its 9:30 PM and I'm writing this letter in the office of the club (trying to look busy) The bar stays open till 12:00. We serve 3 meals a day, but just about the only people who eat here , unless there is a banquet or something are the single officers and teachers (who teach at the school on post and also live in the BOQ) One thing I would really like to start is getting more married people coming to dinner etc. The food isn't too bad now that they got this new German cook, but everybody is still scared off from the last cooks who were enlisted men, and from what I understand smoked dope in the kitchen and I guess their food showed it. Also along with the club I will be in charge of the BOQ's which are right next to the club. I have already been given the job of finding furniture for quite a few of the rooms that are completely bare and also I have to find and hire some German cleaning lady to do the upkeep over there which they are also lacking. I've got to get this done by the 15th.
Right now the Custodian of the club and the NCO club and the enlisted men's club is a SSG who was put in as an emergency measure after the 2nd LT. who had been custodian of the O cub was kicked out. I will be taking the O club off his hands in a month or so. He will be leaving about March and at that time if everything is OK at the O' club I will be given the NCO club and the enlisted men's club. I don't know if I should look forward to that or not.
There are 135 members of the officers club, and it is fairly small as O'clubs go, but the building is only about 4 years old and is fairly nice inside although the plaster on the outside is falling off which gives one a bad impression at first. It has a good size bar and a separate little room which has nothing but slot machines in it! Also it has a fairly large room which is used for banquets, dances, etc. and of course an office which I don't really feel I can call mine yet!
My biggest worry doesn't have anything to do with my job at the club. On Jan 16th the Brigade is going to have a real big formal dinner at somplace near Nurenburg. They call it a "Dining In" for some reason. There will be two generals invited to it and it is really a big deal. Well anyway I am now the junior officer of Headquarters and Headquarters company of the 1st Bde, so this give me the dubious honor of being made what they call "Vice President of the Mess" This doesn't have anything to do with the club. What it means is that I have to make two toasts at this big dinner with the Generals. One to the dead soldiers of the Brigade and one to the President of the mess, who is the Colonel. Also along with a few other junior officers I have to recite the history of the 4th Armored Division. My biggest worry about this whole thing besides the fact that I hate to speak in front of groups and the fact that I have never seen a formal toast and don't really know what to say, is the fact that I don't have and Dress Blues! Mainly because the things I shipped from the states haven't got here yet, and it doesn't look like they will by then! Well it's a problem, but I will get a pair one way or the other. Probably will end up borrowing a set from soneone. I will be glad when it's over with.
Well I've written enough for now......
Sunday, February 26, 2012
December. 22, 1970
Dear Mom and Dad,
I hope you got the post cards I sent you along the way. If you did, you will know that I made it to Germany OK. It was a very long and involved trip, but I finally made it to my duty station, in fact I just arrived about an hour and a half ago. I am now sitting in my BOQ room writing this letter. Guess what! I'm not in Erlangen, but in a place called Illesheim. Not only is the name unpronounceable, the town is so small you won't find it on most maps. The Post is also very small, but about 10 times the size of the town, which consists of about a half dozen buildings and a Guest House. Not only is it small, it is also a long way out in the country. to get here I took a train from Frankfurt to a town called Neustadt which is big enough to be on the map, but probably won't be on the one I left home. Neustadt is right on the East German border and as close as I can make out, about 65 miles due North from Nurnberg.
Anyway after I got off the train in Neustadt a Lieutenant from Illesheim picked me up and after about a 30 minute drive on winding country roads we got here. So all I can tell you about where I am is that I am about a 30 minute drive from Neustadt in some direction which I don't know, and about 65 miles from Nurnberg. Why my orders were changed like that at the last minute, I really don't know...that's just the Army's way of making you more confused I guess.
But I do have a club here, which I had my doubts about getting. After hearing what little I did hear so far about it from this lieutenant who brought me here and after a brief inspection, myself over a beer, I'm not so sure that I should be too happy about it. It appears as thought the club is in real bad shape financially. The last club custodian was a 2nd Lt., like me and also "school trained" at Ft. Lee, like me, but I guess he had quite a hard time with it, and was put in some other job after a few months. So I'm the one who is going to replace him.
Well tomorrow morning I have to report to the Colonel who is in charge of the post, so I think I will go to bed now and get some rest. I will try to continue this letter tomorrow
Sat. Dec. 26
Well it's been about 3 days now since I started writing this letter. I was very tired the night I started writing. As I am writing now, I figure that it must be about 6:00 AM your time, the morning after Christmas. I've had kind of a hard time adjusting to the drastic time change. I really hope you had a good Christmas.
Really, at this time I can't say much about my impressions of Germany, because I haven't seen any of it yet, to speak of. Right now my biggest job is to get into my job as Club Custodian and start doing as well as I can in it. I don't really plan to start doing any real sight-seeing for a month or so, or until I get settled. The only contact I've had with Germany so far was the train trip from Frankfurt to Neustadt which was really quite an experience in it's self, even though it was dark, which made it difficult to see outside. The passenger cars are divided into little separate rooms with 6 seats in each. The rooms are closed off with a glass door and windows that look onto a very narrow hallway that goes from one end of the car to the other. I had one heck of a time trying to go through that narrow hall, with my 3 heavy pieces of luggage, looking in each glass enclosed room for an empty seat. To make matters worse there were hundreds of people also in the hall walking around and I was clogging up the whole works with my suitcases! I finally did find a seat and had an interesting conversation with a German girl who was anxious to try out her English - which wasn't too hot.
Well anyway, to get back to life here in Illesheim, things are really dragging along at a slow pace. I haven't started working yet and have spent most of my time in my BOQ reading and writing. This is a very bad time of the year to check into a military post. On Wed. and Thurs., everybody was only working half days which made processing in difficult. Friday was Christmas and everything was closed tight. Today and tomorrow are also semi- holidays, so I won't be able to finish processing in until next week.
There is about a half inch of snow on the ground, and it is very cold here which makes going outside difficult in my yellow windbreaker. Very soon I think I will buy a heavy coat.
I want to get this letter off as soon as possible. Please drop me a note so I know that you got this OK. My address is below:
2LT. M L B ss# (we would put our SS# right in the address)
HHC 1st Bde, 4th Armored Division
Attention - Officers club
APO NY NY 09140
I hope you got the post cards I sent you along the way. If you did, you will know that I made it to Germany OK. It was a very long and involved trip, but I finally made it to my duty station, in fact I just arrived about an hour and a half ago. I am now sitting in my BOQ room writing this letter. Guess what! I'm not in Erlangen, but in a place called Illesheim. Not only is the name unpronounceable, the town is so small you won't find it on most maps. The Post is also very small, but about 10 times the size of the town, which consists of about a half dozen buildings and a Guest House. Not only is it small, it is also a long way out in the country. to get here I took a train from Frankfurt to a town called Neustadt which is big enough to be on the map, but probably won't be on the one I left home. Neustadt is right on the East German border and as close as I can make out, about 65 miles due North from Nurnberg.
Anyway after I got off the train in Neustadt a Lieutenant from Illesheim picked me up and after about a 30 minute drive on winding country roads we got here. So all I can tell you about where I am is that I am about a 30 minute drive from Neustadt in some direction which I don't know, and about 65 miles from Nurnberg. Why my orders were changed like that at the last minute, I really don't know...that's just the Army's way of making you more confused I guess.
But I do have a club here, which I had my doubts about getting. After hearing what little I did hear so far about it from this lieutenant who brought me here and after a brief inspection, myself over a beer, I'm not so sure that I should be too happy about it. It appears as thought the club is in real bad shape financially. The last club custodian was a 2nd Lt., like me and also "school trained" at Ft. Lee, like me, but I guess he had quite a hard time with it, and was put in some other job after a few months. So I'm the one who is going to replace him.
Well tomorrow morning I have to report to the Colonel who is in charge of the post, so I think I will go to bed now and get some rest. I will try to continue this letter tomorrow
Sat. Dec. 26
Well it's been about 3 days now since I started writing this letter. I was very tired the night I started writing. As I am writing now, I figure that it must be about 6:00 AM your time, the morning after Christmas. I've had kind of a hard time adjusting to the drastic time change. I really hope you had a good Christmas.
Really, at this time I can't say much about my impressions of Germany, because I haven't seen any of it yet, to speak of. Right now my biggest job is to get into my job as Club Custodian and start doing as well as I can in it. I don't really plan to start doing any real sight-seeing for a month or so, or until I get settled. The only contact I've had with Germany so far was the train trip from Frankfurt to Neustadt which was really quite an experience in it's self, even though it was dark, which made it difficult to see outside. The passenger cars are divided into little separate rooms with 6 seats in each. The rooms are closed off with a glass door and windows that look onto a very narrow hallway that goes from one end of the car to the other. I had one heck of a time trying to go through that narrow hall, with my 3 heavy pieces of luggage, looking in each glass enclosed room for an empty seat. To make matters worse there were hundreds of people also in the hall walking around and I was clogging up the whole works with my suitcases! I finally did find a seat and had an interesting conversation with a German girl who was anxious to try out her English - which wasn't too hot.
Well anyway, to get back to life here in Illesheim, things are really dragging along at a slow pace. I haven't started working yet and have spent most of my time in my BOQ reading and writing. This is a very bad time of the year to check into a military post. On Wed. and Thurs., everybody was only working half days which made processing in difficult. Friday was Christmas and everything was closed tight. Today and tomorrow are also semi- holidays, so I won't be able to finish processing in until next week.
There is about a half inch of snow on the ground, and it is very cold here which makes going outside difficult in my yellow windbreaker. Very soon I think I will buy a heavy coat.
I want to get this letter off as soon as possible. Please drop me a note so I know that you got this OK. My address is below:
2LT. M L B ss# (we would put our SS# right in the address)
HHC 1st Bde, 4th Armored Division
Attention - Officers club
APO NY NY 09140
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)