France

August 25, 1944

Dear Mom,

If this letter take some peculiar turns, attribute it to the bees. Never have I seen so many or such persistent one. They are everywhere indoors and out. (These people never use screens so all sorts of insects & bugs wander through the houses without restraint.)

These bees are really yellow jacks, but they have a terrific sting. One caught me on the finger the other day. Favorite hiding place is to get in your pocket & when you reach in they stab you.

At meal time they are a real nuisance. A half dozen of them will get on your chow and they just won't leave.

We've had a couple day's rest and are at a farm house which is the cleanest place I've seen in all of France. The house itself is just a two-story stone cracker box but the rooms inside are cheerful and exceptionally neat. Everything is scrubbed to the grain.

The room where I am has a cream ceiling and the walls are covered with a gay flowered paper in yellow, orange and brown pattern. There are two double beds, one with a thick orange comforter, the other with a rich yellow comforter. The fireplace is slate blue marble with an off-white plaster lead-in trimmed in gold metal around the opening which is covered with a slate panel when not in use.

On the mantel is a tan & cream marble clock quite modern with a bronze dog lying on top.

There are two wash stands - one of white marble with a gray velour skirt and the other of a light gray marble. Both have the enormous round washbowls very common here. The chairs have the straw bottoms found everywhere we've been.

Both large windows have a single lace curtain, more of a drape, which can be pulled aside and of course there are the proverbial shutters.

There is a large clothes cabinet and another with a full length mirror. Closets, as such, are not typical here.

On the wall are two large framed lithographs of sacred subjects. One shows Christ and the little children. The other shows the Virgin & Child and is a lithographic copy of a Murillo painting which formerly hung in the Louvre. In between is a large wooden crucifix with gold figure. These are ever present in all French homes along with holy pictures of many shapes and sizes.

Along the roads are the crosses or Calvary. Strangely enough I have never seen one touched by war. The churches have not been so fortunate.

The living room of this house where we have our HQ is a cheerful room of brown wainscoting and red plaid wall paper. There is a large oak cabinet and sideboard and a gate-leg round table.

On a small table in the corner is a potted palm and the walls are hung with excellent hand painted plates.

The fireplace here is again marble, this time a warm blend of many colors, predominantly pinkish with a blue plaster lead-in. The opening is covered with a board on which is pasted the same plaid wall paper as in the room.

Surmounting the fireplace is a large gold frame mirror in front of which a slender-leaf fern. Flanking it is a tiny pottery vase with bright fresh flowers and on the other side a brass vase with stalks of yellow grain.

Yesterday afternoon we had mass by the artillery chaplain. Our own chaplain was injured in an accident, and is gone from us.

This priest is a Belgian and was a prisoner of war of the Germans for a year. After he got away he came to the States, and joined our chaplain's Corps. He speaks English with a delightful accent. Of course he speaks fluent French and German.

Like some others he wears robes made of our camouflage parachute silk from the numerous ones we found shortly after we arrived in the wake of the paratroopers who preceded us. Trimmed with gold it make a beautiful robe.

I have taken time out to do some laundry French style - down at the brook. The bees seem to resent it fiercely. I got stung four times before I quit with everything not washed.

Nearly every farm has a water hole where the family does laundry, but they are so green and stagnant that it is beyond me how they ever get anything clean.

Love,

Bob

August 30, 1944

Sure having a time with this. We moved before I could get this mailed. Now my envelopes are all stuck together.

Bob