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Features and Information:
The Ah Louis Store and Family
Letter from Howard
Louis
to his wife Yvonne,
written from Germany, in April 1945,
printed here with the kind permission
of Howard Louis
From:
Cpl. Howard W. Louis
A.S.N. 39114383
Anti-Tank Co. 354th Inf. Regt.
A.P.O. 89 - c/o Postmaster
New York, N.Y.
To:
Mrs. Howard W. Louis
415 Grant Avenue
San Francisco, Calif.
Stamped: "Passed by U.S. 50230 Examiner"
April 18, 1945
Darling Yvonne:
We are running after the Germans continually but we don't seem to be able to catch up to
them -- they are running that fast! They will have to stop pretty soon because we'll have them hemmed in by us on one side & the Russians on the other. Our big difficulty will then be to prevent [them]
from killing the Russians! I'm certainly glad to know that there are some Germans left with a little sense.
As we go along and free some of the slave laborers in concentration and work
camps -- the poor slaves are so happy to get out they won't wait for transportation back to their respective
countries -- Russia, Poland, England, etc. -- they usually start out on
foot--some ride bicycles-most of them draw hand carts. The people are mostly men with only a small percentage of them being women. The women are usually the "work horse type"
-- big, broad shouldered women. They do the work of men more often than once…There are supposed to be about 20 million of them here in Germany. And as you go down the road it certainly looks like
it -- they all beg for cigarettes & food. Mostly cigarettes.
The ordinary people have been living on very little compared to our mode of living. Their fare usually consists of boiled potatoes and brown bread plus a little milk or cheese. This they
eat three times a day. Even the middle & upper classes don't get much more variety than this.
The houses are well built cement or brick houses. Mostly two-story houses so there are lots of people in each due to emigration from the large, bombed cities. Thus, with this great influx of people into smaller communities, the food situation is acute so the people take to growing their own vegetables to sustain themselves until things are over. These people look pretty healthy in spite of their potato & bread diet.
Right now the situation looks very rosy. Our troops should be crowding into Berlin on or before May Day according to the papers.
After Germany collapses I've been wondering whether I'll be sent to China or not. That seems to be the question right
now -- it will all depend on the progress we are making in the Orient, no doubt. However, I hope they make some drastic reductions in manpower and start in by discharging men over 36 years of age at least.
[At the time of writing this letter, Howard was 36 years, 8 months old.] Things are pretty rough for most men of that age over here and they will increase three times if they are sent to the Orient. Here's hoping for the best.
Yesterday a queer thing happened. We were going down the road when a big bomb burst ahead of us in the distance, the countryside was green, the sun was out shining brightly. And just a few yards out in front of me were seven wild jack rabbits running and jumping around, playing tag, it seemed. Perhaps because this is mating season. They looked so carefree and without a worry in the world. This was going on while seven of our dive-bombers were bombing and strafing an objective off in the distance a few miles away. They dove and floated around in the air just about like the rabbits
did -- only their purpose was different. It goes to show you the variety of things going on even under fire.
I wish I could sit down to a good home-cooked meal once in a while instead of living out of cans all day long. My appetite is really poor now. I ate something bad the other day and got ptomaine
poisoning -- sure made me feel sick for a few days. Am okay now but a few pounds lighter….
Had a sin bok op [grilled pigeon] today-managed to flag one when he wasn't
looking -- deeelicious! I suppose they would cost $1.25 each on the market. How much are
sin op [pigeons] now? Must be in the neighborhood of $5 today. Are meals as high as ever in San Francisco? And how are Chinese foodstuffs like
lop op, ve tsin, ho yao, etc….
Will close now until later when another opportunity affords.
Pleasant thoughts, dear,
Toby
["Toby" is Howard Louis's nickname, given him by his father, from the
Cantonese Chinese phrase for "healing herb."]
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