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November 11 1944 Saturday- Letter home from Lu on his birthday-Journal-Cliff Hope-Battalion History


Belgium November 11th 1944
Dearest Mom, 
I was going to wait til I had a letter from home before writing, but something's screwing up the mail, so I'll get this off to you and sure as shootin' I'll get a letter from you tomorrow, it's worked several times before.

It looks like the first snow is going to melt and leave things muddy again. For several days it really came down and the landscape was beautiful. It was quite warm all the time it was snowing too, which was quite a relief. You ought to see some of these Belgian girls when they get into a snowball fight with some of the boys!  Most of them have lost their shyness and really have a jolly time giving the boys a drubbing-and I mean they can do it too. One of the boys grabbed a buxom gal round the waist intending to wash her face with snow but instead he ended up on his back getting his fill of the snow. 

I'm waiting anxiously to hear how your trip to Mexico turned out mom. I'll bet it was a thrill to visit places you used to play as a little girl, and I know you still have a great many friends down there. 


I got a letter from Mip a few days ago. She isn't planning for any overseas service I'm glad to say, and seems very happy with her job down in good old southern Cal.

Oh say, mom, will you check up on my skiing equipment for me? The skis should be overhead in the garage along with the poles. The boots and wax etc. are in that pack of mine I think. Here's what I'd like to see-I don't think Ken has tried his hand at the sport before and I think he'd like it if he would try it once. I think the boots will just about fit him right and the skis are just about the right length. He's bound to take a lot of spills at first but if he takes gentle slopes for awhile he'll learn without hurting himself. He doesn't need to worry about breaking the skis either cause we can always get another pair after the war and if he gets some fun out of them it'll be worth it.

Give all my love to the rest of the family. I miss you and all the rest so much I really get blue at times.
Love and lots of it,
-Lu-


Nov 11, Took it easy all day-got package from Leona-sox-soap and shaving lotion

Battalion History:  B Battery celebrated Armistice Day by moving out of foxholes and into houses in the wide spot in a muddy road town, Binefeld. A Battery was in Auw, in houses too. Passes to the corps rest camp at Arlen started. And there was Turkey at Thanksgiving. Gi's thought about Christmas presents and sent home V-Mail greetings. A rough war!

Cliff Hope from his book: back at the war, the routine of several weeks was broken by assignment to a week of KP. At the end of the first day I found myself scrubbing pots and pans after supper in the dark with rain and sleet beating down on the tarpaulin. The pot washing was odne outdoors even though it was snowing all wek. It hadn't been cold enough to freeze the ground, so there was considerable sliding around in the mud as we juggled the cooking utensils in the dark.





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