| Show egl albert J wright writes ot of experiences luzon philippine islands sept 6 1945 dear mother and all just a few lines to let you know I 1 am well and hope this finds you all the same well it is now 7 a in and it is raining all ready but as long as it is raining it so hot there much doing around here we are still waiting for orders there much to write about so ill give you an outline of what ive done since I 1 left the states new years day I 1 have traveled over miles of land and water mostly water we boarded the luxury liner brazil jan 1 sailed for destination unknown on jan 16 we landed in le havre france and moved to camp lucky strike where we lived in tents and had snowstorms snow storms for three days we keep warm we had to sleep with our clothes we lived in this camp but five days after which we move moved d into a city and lived in a beautiful chateau owned some rich frenchman here we waited for our equipment to catch up to us during our stay in france we were treated well although there were very few men in in our company who could speak the french language we left France Feb 25 and after traveling through belgium we stopped in eysden holland where we slept overnight in a very beautiful school building next day we moved J i on into maastricht tricht where we put up our first shop here we lived in an old slaughterhouse and stables which had been used by germans as a prison for allied war prisoners here the dutch people eople were vere very friendly and treated us royal when the germans were chased out from here they stole everything they could take with them including the very best furniture and clothes while here the dutch had a large celebration at the liberation of holland it was on this day we got to see queen wilhelmina she surely praised the american soldiers very highly it was here we got to hear and see the flames from the german buzz bombs and most of them fell outside of the city doing very little damage we would lay in bed and listen to them buzz and as long as we could hear them we had nothing to worry about but when they would burst out an and d there was no more sound in when we would lay and wait for them to hit but they all fell some distance from us here we prepared the cehi vehicles cles for the he ninth army to use in crossing of th the e rhin river we work work until dark for after dark we use a li light lit as we were in a blackout are area ja pot not so very far from the front lines and at night we could ia watch atch the lashes flashes and hear the reports of our heavy guns firing across the rhine into the german soldiers we could see the RAP RAF bombers and fighter planes go by all day headed for germany and at al n night ig h t the americans would take over and lay their bombs where the RAP RAF had left off after the rhine had been taken and crossed we then moved into germany to Gladd bock and all along the way were american and german tanks that had been knocked out a and rid a very large number of german planes the cities were nothing more than a pile of junk and in some cities not a building was left standing you the air forces were in gladd boch we set up our shops again only 3 to 5 miles behind the infantry and tanks we were always in danger of air air raids but lucky none came our way here we lived in very cry modern apartments and it was like home to us we had all the rooms furnished with expensive furniture and spring filled mattresses electric gas and coal stoves also bathrooms baths and showers our shops were large dye factories and the cloth left there by the germans would have filled quite a number of our largest trucks the germans had moved out so fast that they had to leave all their including cellars full of bottled fruit for winter the city was full of snipers and we had to watch our step but the biggest part of f the civilians were as friendly as if nothing had happened at all As soon as we crossed the german border non fra started and we were not allowed to talk to anyone but that st stop op us but iffe if we had been caught it was a fine of 65 and we had a rating we would have been reduced ted red deuced d to a private it was here we received our first battle stars for the battle of the rhine our next move was april 15 took us across the rhine river deeper into germany we stopped at hamm which is ap proximately miles from berlin here we moved into a german caa airy school for officers and the barracks were three stories high and I 1 I 1 equipped with showers and baths we I 1 were h here e re six weeks and were retting getting rete gete ready to move into berlin when the war ended we got our orders changed and was sent to marseilles france which was a convoy ride of miles chinch we covered in 5 days here we were issued new clothing and equipment we were here three weeks on june 21 we boarded the ship general bundy and left for the philippine islands on july 4 we landed in panama city after passing through the panama canal we were here two days we all got to visit panama city and at night we were entertained by the USO shows and the american red cr cross we could have all the ice cold drinks brinks and doughnuts we could eat we left here july 7 and arrived in new guinea july SO 30 buit but here arie we wire were not taren off th the ba abat I 1 r a at aier we arrived in manila philippine islands august 7 after a ride of 45 days on our way from france fiance to manila we covered the following bodies of water and saw the following islands mediterranean sea atlantic ocean caribbean sea straits of gibraltar panama canal english channel pacific ocean san bernardino straits and manila alanola bay we passed Corri gedor bataan tarawa carawa the christmas islands and a great many more passing through the S straits t of gibraltar we could see the rock of gibraltar spain and portugal on one side and on the other side was the coast of africa we crossed the international date line where we gained 24 hours at 6 a in m monday alunday morning we had breakfast and our dinner the same day but it was tuesday at noon when we crossed the equator twice after landing in manila alanola we were loaded into trucks and taken to where we are now a small city called batangan Ba tangas the japs were still in the hills about ten miles from here we were here only a couple of weeks when the war with japan ended and now we are just sweating it out to see if we go to japan or come home we can get all the bananas we can eat for 50 cents pineapples and coconuts cost 50 cents a piece a watermelon costs 2 eggs 30 cents cent q a apiece pi e c e chickens cost apiece the people use water bu buffaloes afa to d do 0 t their heir farm work and for meat the people here are surely friendly they take us to their homes for us to eat we have to eat or they are surely hurt they feed us corn either roasted or boiled and |
