EVENING HOURS

In the evening the soldiers celebrated their success by talking about the events of the day and trying to relax. Some men tried to write letters in the evening to their wives and girlfriends but it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Any vital piece of information that could compromise the location of the troop had to be avoided and no one was to give away their identity. [My dad signed his letters “Guck” which I never understood until recently when I started working on this article.] The evening was often spent by discussing the events of the day, having “chow” and consuming an occasional drink, compliments of the French. Town by town the soldiers scoured the countryside. It appeared that the Germans had left the area but it was crucial to verify that the Germans were no longer in France. Once France was completely cleared of the Germans the action could move forward to fighting along the German border.