Brussels, Belgium
1 October 1945
Dear Irene,
TIME would say, “As it must to all men, disappointment came this week to M. J. Schober. Scheduled for shipment to the States as far back as 20 July 1945, Sgt. Schober now faced the cruel reality of having to remain in the ETO for several months at least”.
To have received a “rear-echelon” assignment such as this a few months ago would have seemed heavenly. Even now it isn’t so bad, all things considered. In the first place, Brussels is not the worst place to be by a long shot, at least as far as the Continent is concerned. In fact, I have never been here, and I can look forward to at least several weeks of pleasant sightseeing. And the longer I am here, the more I realize what a snap the “rear-echelon” had in comparison to the combat troops. Many of the men still with this unit admit having lived under such comfortable circumstances for over a year. They have a charming dining room, kept spotless by German POWs. Yes they even eat from chinaware. The hot showers are conveniently located. The barracks are kept brightly polished by a crew of POW valets. Shoes are shined, clothes washed and pressed, cloths hangers made, and a myriad of other things are done by these valets.
We left our hell-hole at Camp Lucky Strike several days ago via truck to Dieppe, famed for the 1942 Commando raid, and thence to Brussels esconced on “40 & 8’s”. 2021 PWE O/H Det. is not exactly in the heart of Brussels. Rather, we are on the outskirts, by a former horse race track (Hippodrome to the natives). Barracks were built by Army Engineers to fit in very nicely with the attractive surroundings.
The Personnel Adjutant grabbed the most promising man in the group to remain at Hq. as Personnel Clerk. Of course, that’s me! The unit no longer has many German POW’s, except those that are necessary to insure that the GI’s have a minimum of work to do. The big job is the rehabilitation of 1000 odd GI “bad boys” who undergo rigid training to return them to the Christian Way.
Sunday is an ˇoff day. Special Service cooperating, a lot of my Sundays are going to be spent in visiting nearby cities of interest such as Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, and Liege. There is even talk of scheduling a trip to Rotterdam, Holland this coming Sunday. I’m all for this one because I have yet to set foot on the soil of The Nether-
lands, and there’s nothing better than covering the whole lot of European countries while I’m over here. My resources may be limited when I make my return trip to Europe some ten years from now.
Speaking of Special Services, there are two educated German POW’s working there, who are most interesting. One of them speaks perfect English — as a consequence, an intended ten-minute visit to SS last Sunday ended up in a stay of several hours. This man had a prosperous leather goods business in Frankfurt/Rhine before the war. He married an English girl and lived in England while maintaining his business in Germany. He made periodic visits to Germany and when he saw the Nazi trend he evolved an idea for salvaging his assets in Germany. The War in 1939 caught him short … in 1940 he was drafted in the Wehrmacht. He said he always detested the army life, and he laughed at the talk of the invincibility of the 1940 German Army. There were plenty of Snafu’s, says he, one of which, he intimated, was the clerical PFC job he was given. He admits with a blush that he deserted his duties and comfortably waited in quarters in the hills near Frankfurt until American Troops arrived. He obviously reads volumes of American literature. One of his favorites appears to be READERS DIGEST, of which he keeps a file of well-thumbed copies. He stated a like for Americans and English, and a dislike for the Russians. When I questioned his remarks on the Russians, he immediately pulled out the December 1944 and January 1945 issues of READERS DIGEST and pointed out the two-part condensation of W. L. White’s “Report on the Russians”. “Read this”, he said, “and when you finish, come back and we will talk about it”. I am half way thru the Dec. ‘44 portion now! He hopes some day to secure a job that will have to do with working out Germany’s problems with the English and Americans. He is so radical as to suggest that Germany be a colony of England or America. “They know how to treat their people”, says he, “but the Russians, NO!” Then he goes on to say that Americans might not be concerned with Russian policies to a great extent because we are on the other side of the world. But in Europe, with Russia dominating Baltic and Balkan States, the concern is immeasurably greater. He made many other statements, such as a remark that it is true that Hitler had full support of the German people in his early years of rule — he explained this as resulting from Hitler’s restoration of order in a Republic that was not strong enough to do so.
The other POW is supposed to be a very well known and talented German artist. At present, he draws displays, training aids, and the likes, but in his spare time he sketches drawings from pictures, paints GI’s, and has even volunteered to make sculptured book ends in image of various GI’s. The latter art has not been allowed by the Special Service Officer because of fear of censorship by higher-ups.
I’m enclosing a clipping from the London Daily Mail, Continental Edition, which gives an accurate description of the condition of Belgium today. It mentions the war aid given us by the Belgians — I’ve seen “made in Belgium” stamped on our canteen cups, “jerricans” (5 gal. gasoline containers), and small stoves. In Brussels yesterday I noticed the huge grapes mentioned in the article. And roasted walnuts are for sale everywhere along the streets. Most GI’s have a lot more respect for Belgium than for France, for example. It’s a pretty nice country!
Just hitting my stride on Page 3, I’m now wondering if any of this material is appreciated by you, dear Sis. Rather than waste more words, perhaps I’d better wait to hear from you first on the matter. After all, you can probably get the same sort of info from TIME or NEWSWEEK written in more interesting fashion. Come on, write and tell me that you cannot — raise my ego — or tell me the truth!
Well regardless of your comments on the above, write anything real soon. I’m dying to get some mail, now that I have a permanent address — 1 letter in three months doesn’t count for much you know!
Milt