Journal Entry February 20-New assignment

Feb 20 Got things straightened out. Assigned to B Battery sound survey.

Blades and Cooper to flash survey.

Have a bad case of G.I.s

Lu, in Ray Hight's book: My work was now quite a bit different, as the 285th was a "letter" battery. We were dedicated to direct observations and operating the outposts, rather than a headquarters battery, where the focus was more in helping to set up observation outposts and put in the sound bases. I also now had an opportunity to see how the plotting boards worked and how the information looked when it came back from the observation posts. For the technology we had in those days, it was pretty doggone good!

We did our best work at night when we could see the flash of the guns before we heard any sound. When we saw a flash from a gun firing, we would turn on our equipment to make sure we caught the sound before it hit the microphones. We held it on until after the sound had gone past us, then we would turn it back off again. This way, the gun battalions had all the action on film and knew right where to direct their fire. Once they received all the information, they reported back to us, letting us know if they'd gotten a good mark on it or not.

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Journal Entry March 27, 28th And Battalion history

March 27 Crashed B-24 March 28 Put in mike base-taped-Jeep broke tape at road intersection. Put in flash OPs. Picked up Helmet, leather. Battalion History: On 28 March, headquarters of the Barnstorming 16th crossed the Rhine, followed the next day by the Letter Batteries. With advancing armor taking the fight out of the Germans, the 16th found itself scouring the woods around Henmethal --- for prisoners, souvenirs and eggs. Souvenirs and eggs were more plentiful than prisoners. From Ray Hight's book: By the time the 285th crossed the Rhine toward the end of March, much of the area was in American hands and things were moving so quickly we hardly had time to set up. The German forces were pulling back, and there was very little opposition as we crossed the southern part of Germany almost up to the boundary of Czechoslovakia.

Journal Entry March 4th- New jacket and boots

Lu in June wearing field Jacket 1945 issue Combat Boots 1945 issue Field Jacket March 4 Got Laundry. Got ready to move. Red cross girls serve chow. Surveyed in rain. Oh yes, got new field jacket & combat boots.

October 20th, Friday-Movie, steak and fries

10/20/1944- Wrote Wes and Deane and Bud- Saw "Cassanova Brown" with Garry Cooper, Terresa Wright-in St. Vith. Fried Steak and French Fries in evening. Packed to leave on D.S. Cliff Hope from his book: Within the next week we drove to Luxembourg City and back twice. The scenery was beautiful, the terrain honeycombed with small, swift streams. On the second trip, we returned by way of Arlon, Belgium, stopping there for about an hour. Arlon was a clean, small city. The stores resembles those back home. I bought postcards, maps, steaks, three scarves, a buffet piece, and, most important of all, a small dish of ice cream. It was the first ice cream I'd had since Fort Bragg. Along the way we checked out the farm girls of the region. Some of them looked strong as oxen. I saw a girl pulling a four-wheel wagon. They had to be husky. Some of the men sized them up as "13 ax handles wide" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casanova_Brown Cass Brown is about to...

Winsor War Notes-Luther Snow Winsor's WW II experiences

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