Page 55

Friday, 2 February, 1945 – Saturday, 3 February, 1945

[Continued from previous page] We will probably move in a day or two.  After reading the Stars and Stripes today, I am not happy.1The Stars and Stripes was the official newspaper of the U.S. Government that reported military news to members of the Armed Forces.  Founded in 1861 at the start of the Civil War, it is still in print today.  According to it, plans are under way to ship troops to the South Pacific as soon as the war in the E.T.O. is over (what a reward for victory).  The least we expected was a furlough in between wars (maybe I’m being too pessimistic).  The second platoon is right up in the front lines (In Germany) giving protection to the 912th F.A.  The 1st platoon is protecting a bridge several miles behind the front.  Discovered two mine fields today and one German Strong box filled with high explosives.  Air activity has been tremendous in spite of poor visibility.  The snow has practically vanished and every stream is becoming a river.  Soon mud will be as deep as the snow once was.  That will be tough.  I hit the sack at 2200. 

Saturday, 3 February [1945] Braunlauf, Belgium
Up at 0700.  Shaved and had breakfast by 0830.  I am ready to move again.  This is the farthest we have been from the enemy for about 8 weeks and it is rather dull. Wrote two letters today.  Received one package from Bob’s family.2Cpl. Robert J. “Bob” Hertz was a good friend of Vernon’s in the Army. He served with Goetz in B Battery, 549th Anti-Aircraft Artillery, 87th Division. He lived in South Carolina with his wife and they kept in contact for many years.     Interview with Mary Goetz, April 14, 2014.  I spent the afternoon getting ready for a move.  I have a feeling it won’t be long.  I discovered a German Bazooka this evening.  If I can get some German shells, I shall take it with us.  Our food has been rather good lately.  Hit the sack at 2000.

Inserts


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Rene Chauvin, “Nazi Savages in France,” “Lest We Forget” series, Part II, Reader’s Digest, Vol. 45, No. 272, (December 1944), pp. 89-90.
In this article, a condensed version of an article published in the New York World-Telegram, 3 October 1944, French Army Major Rene Chauvin describes his experiences as a prisoner of war and the torture that he witnessed the Nazis commit. He also describes his observations of Fort de Romainville, a Nazi concentration camp in France, after its liberation. He writes about the state of the dead bodies found in a pile inside the camp as well as a dungeon in which fifty people had been confined and then murdered. He ends his article urging Americans to believe his account of the concentration camps and the Nazis’ horrific atrocities. As he did with the first article in this series, Goetz crossed out the “We” in the title and changed the original title from “Lest We Forget” to “Lest I Forget.” For other articles in the “Lest We Forget” series, see Inserts 1 and 33a.


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