Wednesday, 11 October [1944] Camp “G” Newbury, England
Miserable weather all day. We are living in tents, all of our men except 25 were sent to other camps for details, to last from 3 days to 3 weeks. We converted our American money into English currency. The first mail came in today, 3 letters. I got one of them. It must have been mail that we brought with us on the boat. England so far has shown us little of interest. The weather is bad, mud is everywhere, and the vehicles scare the hell out of us by driving on the left side of the road. We will like it better after we have settled down but at the present time England has much to acquire before it takes the place of the U.S.
Thursday, 12 October [1944] Camp “G” Newbury, England
Another miserable day. This airbase is tremendous. Most of the planes are C47’s and one leaves every 8 minutes, 24 hours of the day, for the continent, loaded with supplies. We moved at 1230 to our Base camp, which turned out to be Littlecote, a 600 year old British Estate.1Littlecote is an Elizabethan country house near Hungerford, Berkshire, England. Littlecote served as a headquarters for several Allied units, including the U.S. 101st Airborne Division and Goetz’s own 87th Infantry Division. It was owned by Lady Caroline and Sir Ernest Wills (see entry of 23 October 1944, below). “101st Airborne Division.” Accessed April 24, 2014. Ramsburyatwar.com. Words are inadequate. It’s what you read in books or see in the movies. The grounds are beautiful and especially so, is the garden. I wish that you could all be here to see it. It is impossible to describe it as it is. Parachutists have been dropping in the surrounding fields, from C47’s and gliders. They have very vigorous training and seem to thrive on it.
We are now about 70 miles from London. I don’t know how long we will be here, but I could spend a couple weeks just exploring the castle grounds.