Page 93 - Anthology

We got a loaf of bread for the week for about six of us and it would make you about three sandwiches. I
thought it was rolled in saw dust, but I learned they somehow incorporated it into baking the bread. I
would use my can of meat to make my sandwiches.

We played Rook a lot and Cribbage and Roll Call. The rest of the day we visited, we didn't have anything
we had to do. I took the schools, one in Mechanics and one in First Aid and got certificates for it.
Classes were given by people in camp who knew it. They got the books from the Red Cross After
returning home, I received Certificates of Merit for each class I completed. We did not have any medics
that were flying.

We had a Catholic Priest; the Germans had captured him. He was not flying, but they assigned him to our
camp. He would hold Catholic Mass and then a Protestant service. He had them every Sunday. I
couldn't tell any difference from our preachers. And they had a choir, they were good singers. They had
one building set aside like a theater. They would put on shows and guys that told the stories. They had a
band that would go around to the barracks. They had loud speakers.

Leon Issacs from Berea was in my barracks. This one guy claimed he was from Kentucky, from Bear
Waller. Well, I was from Kentucky, but he wasn't from the one around here. He said when he was in the
states he ran around with Slim Miller of The Grand Old Opry, that he was his little brother. He was a good
singer. There were three guys who dressed up like them women singers, they would sing and then rock
and jump and make it comical. And there was one guy who came around about every day. They made
little crystal radio sets; they had maybe two or three around camp. When they had something, they would
come around and tell us what was going on. You could get the wire out of the flying suits, but I don't
know where they got the crystals. Those had to be hidden. They didn't tell us anything and I don't think
they knew much either.

Once, they asked "Tip, when you going to shave?" Well, I said when the war is over. Well, it got warm
and my beard got to itching and I went down and got a bowl of the German coffee. They said, 'Tip's hard
up, he's drinking that German coffee," I said: "I'm not going to drink it, I'm going to shave with it." It was
hot, so I shaved before the war was over.

One day a wagon pulled by two horses was pumping the latrines; it was going between our barracks.
There was a tunnel and the wagon fell in it. We rushed out and lifted the wagon out of it. They had other
tunnels.

Christmas in Camp; we knew it was Christmas. I had gotten a parcel from Mamma earlier. I told her to
ask the Red Cross what she could send me. I requested a cap and a pair of long johns and there they
were along with a box of Jell-O. There was a group of us who ate together. I said I would furnish the Jell-
O. It was pudding that had to be heated. We got the cardboard we needed and made pudding. So, I
furnished the Christmas pudding. I told everybody it was about 20 below for two months. The book I
read said it was 30 below at that barracks on Christmas Day. No stove, just us. I don't think it got much
below freezing. Here you wore your heavy clothes. I had my long johns and my flight suit. They gave us
a big, heavy, long overcoat that was US Military issue. I don't know if we wore that in the barracks, but
we wore it for roll call.

I got a sleeveless sweater through the Red Cross and I ripped it up. I had on a pair of heavy socks, and
two pair of medium and one pair of light socks. It must have taken me a month to knit one sock, took half
that to do the other. I had a guy show me how to put the heel in. There was a guy, Burly, they called him
"sock a day Burly". He could knit a sock for a candy bar if they had the yarn. Looked like a bobbin, he
could look off and talk and knit right on.

We got some radish seeds from the Red Cross. We planted them between the barracks. The Germans
brought in some Russian POW’s to cover them up. The Russians tried not to put too much dirt on them,
but we could not save them.