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October 11th, Wednesday- Journal entry-School house digs-Feeding time at the zoo





October 11-Party two packed and left for Maldigan at 0800-SNAFU- Back at 11:30.
Put up tent-worked on log cabin, packed again and left "GOTTERDAMERUNG" for good (I hope).
Arrived at old 3 story school house in Aldringen- school on first floor, apartments on 2nd and third-
(Place filthy with paper, food, flour, seeds, clothing and even used condoms,
slept on feather bed
Rifled some Nazi probaganda leaflets-pictures etc.
Bruno (Mac)-"Take that light out of my eyes or I'll pound you into the floor!" As Gross woke him for guard-Further comments at 2:30 am as Schlusing was grinding his teeth, Hall and Wagner talking in sleep and numerous grunts-etc " Sounds like feeding time at the zoo, Hope!" (Back at Plougastel once wehn shells were bursting not far away, Bruno pipes up "Where's the foot powder, Hope?"

Lu from Interview with Rae Hight" We pulled back to a more 'permanent base in the little hamlet of Aldrigen, a short distance southwest of St. Vith, where our survey team was quartered in an old school building. Until December 16th we led an almost pleasant life, surveying by day and then back in a warm, secure building at night. Of course there was 'Bed Check Charlie,' a 'Buzz Bomb' that came overhead each night about midnight, and we were always aware that there was a German Armn just a few kilometers away. As long as the 'Buzz" was there we knew it wouldn't hit us-When the 'Buzz' ended an explosion would come very soon. Most were headed for Brussels and Liege.

Cliff Hope from his book: After a round of rumors and false starts and after we had added two logs to our chateau, our winter quarters were moved to Aldringen, a small village a short distance to the west. A typical Belgian-German farm village, Aldringen was unchanged in appearance from decades past. The mud in the streets and GIs walking down the middle of the lanes remeinded me of pictures taken in France during World War I. The lanes were composed of a mixture of cow manure and mud. Every farmer had a manure pile in his front yard. After chow, we drove to an old schoolhouse that had apartments upstairs to spend the night. We slept on the floor in a classroom littered with German textbooks and Nazi Party propaganda. That stuff looked like good pickings to me.

The night was fitful. Amid Schlusing's teeth grinding, Hall's talking in his sleep and a symphony of snores and grunts, Bruno shook me awake. "Hope, do you know what this sounds like? Like feeding time at the zoo." With that, he rolled over and went back to sleep, but not for long. "Take that light out of my eyes, Gross, or I'll pound you into the floor!" Bruno's voice boomed throughout the classroom as Gross roused him for guard duty.

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