Sunday, 18 March [1945] Obern, GermanyUp at 0600, spent morning on reconnaissance of new position. Returned at noon, supervised the loading of Btry HQRS and was ready to move at 1400. We moved a distance of about 7 miles and landed in a veritable paradise. Our new location is a pleasant, seemingly peaceful, valley which…

[continued from previous page] decided on an orchard with some overhead concealment. It is well located, tactically and scenically, we will leave tomorrow morning after breakfast. I am taking a few bottles of wine as a protection from frost bite – air activity was on a large scale today. The 1st PLT and 2D PL…

Wednesday, 21 March [1945] 8 miles N.E. ObernUp at 0600, another beautiful day, quite fitting for the first day of spring, Corporal Davis and myself went scouting today as far as the Rhine.  We saw no Germans and very little of anything else.  Later in the afternoon, I went out by myself to try for a…

[continued from previous page] the water, I came forward with the following gem – Cold! Isn’t it? On the way back I flushed a deer and killed it with a lucky shot. We will have venison tomorrow. No mail today. Rumor has it that the Germans are sending out Peace feelers. Hitler may at last have arrived at a…

[continued from previous page] A well-constructed fox hole is a source of great comfort, at such times. I have logs 12 inches thick as a roof and this is Reinforced by another 12 inches of earth. Even a direct hit might not do any serious harm, (I hope). I wish that I could describe the woods…

[continued from previous page] end is in sight. No sleep last night but I wouldn’t mind losing several nights sleep to see such action. Individual acts of heroism are a common place here on the front. We have a wonderful army. 1 Letter today.  Sunday, 25 March [1945] NR. the Banks of the RhineStill up…

[continued from previous page] and every patch of woods conceals at least one piece of Military equipment. The war, as a whole, and the many battles which constitute war are progressing very favorably. At about 2000, Cpl. Davis and myself went for a moonlight reconnaissance along the Rhine, as a supplement to our normal guard.…

[continued from previous page] country. Many women were working in the fields, plowing and weeding. One sees only old men and young boys and these two groups are either talking or playing. The women do most of the labor. We traveled for some distance through beautiful farm land and orchards. The Germans seem to lack…

[continued from previous page] At 1200, we reached our destination for the night. It is a woods just on the outskirts of a little village called “Birlenbach”. We took several prisoners here after a brief discussion. We found them hiding in a partially completed mine, which was built into the side of a hill, deep in…

Saturday, 31 March [1945] Villmar, GermanyUp at 0600.  Sleep was interrupted several times by small arms fire in the surrounding woods.  Our S-2 informed us that several vehicles traveling by themselves were attacked last night and the occupants lined up and shot.  We will take no more prisoners.  Bob and I went on an all-day…