They came in with machine gun squads and the guard dogs. They were about ready to open fire when our C.O. intervened and told them we were merely having a Labor Day Parade. They said they never heard of such a thing. He explained that in our country, all the laboring people do this on this day, to honor the laboring people. Their Commandant said:

"The British P.O.W.s across the fence from you are going crazy, at about a rate of three or four a day, but you Americans have nothing to worry about as you were all crazy before you got here."

Several times, the Germans would drive a truck into our camp to empty the latrines. They would put the effluent on their fields for fertilizer. The trucks were not gas powered, as they needed all the fuel they had for the military. Our bombings were beginning to have an effect on the production and transportation of their fuel. These vehicles were powered with carcoal burners. They had a tank mounted behind and to the side of the cab. The tank looked like a hot water heater. When they ran low on fuel they would dump a sack of wood in the top, wait a few minutes and then go chugging off. Not very efficient, but they would run--sort of. We liked to see them come into our compound, as the truck would have several small gunny sacks of small wood billets. Someone would distract the guard and others would steal the wood. Their wood burned better than the material we normally used in our "Kriege" burners.

On Christmas Eve of 1944 I got my best and most memorable Christmas present ever: I got my first word from home since I was shot down. I had a daughter, born September 18, 1944. Mother and daughter were both doing fine. What great news!