| One such fellow and his wife had been prisoners at Dachau until the camp was liberated by the allied forces. He was probably 30 to 35 years old but to us he looked like a man of 65 or 70. He didn't have all his teeth and he was wrinkled. We, in one sense adopted him or put him under our wings. We felt sorry for him but he did have a love of life and was generally cheerful.! had arrived at the base in late October, 1945. The only member of the crew still there was Chuck. Everyone else had already shipped back to the states. As friends and relatives in the states had been told--"-ship the Christmas packages overseas early to assure a timely arrival." By early November, packages were arriving in ever increasing numbers. As personnel were placed on orders to return to the states they would instruct us with, "I expect to get a package from so and so. Instead of returning it to my home address, open it, keep the food stuff, candies, cookies, fruit cakes etc. If there is something valuable like a watch or a ring, wrap it up and send it to me at my homes'. We had accumulated quite a larder of all sorts of foods. We had commercially manufactured gloves, socks and scarves. We had fruit cakes of every size shape and color. Had the Germans only known what was in that room we probably would have been invaded.
We would share rather generously some of those goodies with our little friend, the ex-Dachau displaced person. I do not remember where his home had been. From time to time he would come in to see us and ask for a condom, saying something like, "Tonight is the night." To provide him with that item was no problem as there was a small basket on the desk at the orderly room full of them. At that time, the anti fraternization regulation had been removed, but it did not mean that peace, harmony and love prevailed throughout the country. There still existed hatred on both sides. Some of the G.I.'s, none the less, would go into the town of Schleissheim for an evening of drinking and socialization. During the time that I was there, on several occasions, American soldiers from the base were found murdered and dumped along the road leading back to the base. Air Corps personnel were particularly vulnerable as we had been party to massive bombing raids in the area. Many of us found it better to remove our wings if we went into town.
I was made the Group Supply Sergeant and had a spot over at Group Headquarters. I had a troop carrier at my disposal,and I never quite mastered the double shifting that was required to change gears. The first thing that I would do after breakfast, was to go over and stop at the P.O.W. Stockade to pick up 4 P.O.W.s to help me with any work that need to be done.
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