Chapter 11. France then Germany

The war was winding down. Men were still being killed. Civilians were dieing. The Air Force had run out of targets. Chuck Yeager told how he was down to shooting at farmers in their field for lack of anything better to do. Every large and many small cities in Germany were in ruin from either bombing or combat operations. For myself I was now headed somewhere I found to be Villerupt France. Only when I got there of course. A town on the Maginot line. No longer in use. The army still doesn't tell you anything.
For you wine drinkers Villerupt is in the Moselle district. Not far from Luxenbourg city. Too far to walk however if you are on foot. Infantry excepted.

It was still cold. Not as cold as during the dead of winter. We were put up in old barracks the French occupied during the phony war before the war. The French used a strange way of heating the barracks. There was a pot bellied stove lined with fire brick. The idea was I suppose that when you got the bricks hot the residual heat would keep it going. Great idea unfortunately it took a cord of wood or a ton of coal to get it heated up. And as you know a few feet from the stove you're not likely to feel it. For you vets think of the barracks you occupied being heated by a pot bellied stove. The army had supplied us with the standard sleeping bag made of a wool blanket with a zipper. I was cold until I found that if I kept my feet warm by putting my jacket around them I could keep warm. If my feet were warm I was warm. While waiting for the next replacement depot we amused ourselves by exploring the Maginot line bunkers. The bunkers had been stripped of everything of course but the concrete bunkers were still there. Above is one of me standing in front of a bunker on a trip to Europe in 1984.
The second one is a picture of me and my father in law Frank Brown a ww1 vet. Taken by Kay do doubt.
There were other amusements fortunately besides look at old bunkers. We went to Villerupt some of the time but I don't know how we got there. I think we took a vehicle that happened to be going there. I remember we visited a friendly Frenchman who talked about the war, Nazis, the occupation and before. He'd give us coffee and talk to us. Others visited the army run whore house in the town. You didn't know did you that the military had it's own version of comfort houses as the Japanese called them? The only difference the military didn't have to draft the girls like the Korean girls were. The French girls volunteered.


Villerupt is just south of Luxenburg. One day I and another buddy hitched a ride on a truck going to Luxenburg city. There was a USO there. This is one of the times I almost became AWOL. I forget why but we missed the truck back. Maybe we were touring the city on foot. In 1984 we toured the city by taxi. There is a fine park or place to observe some ruins. Now I cant remember exactly what it was. When we went to Luxenburg in 1984 I took some pictures but sent the entire album to my daughter in Alaska because I didn't have the space to save them in the apartment when me moved. . I did save a very few. During the war a hotel became the headquarters for whatever the army was in control. They were proud of this fact and decorated the lobby commemorating that episode of history. One reason why generals like war so well. They don't have to live in the trenches. Unless they are on the losing side. Here is a picture of the hotel where Frank Brown, Kay and I sat where also the winning generals sat during late in the war. We stayed in a room in the hotel.

I don't think Eisenhower was roughing it here during the war. He was back in London directing from there. Enjoying the war to the fullest with his driver Kay Summersby. Anyway, to get back to our predicament of being in Luxenburg city on foot 20 0r 30 miles from Villerupt. So I think we, as I remember went out a little ways from the USO and stuck out our thumbs to hitch a ride. We lucked out and caught a ride in a jeep driven by a maniac. These guys were in a real hurry. They had come from the front and were in a hurry to get where ever they were going. But it worked out because we made it on time. I believe this was the only time the war really got personal with me. Somewhere along the line I heard the thunder in the distance. Artillery of course. My one battle star. To get a battle star you don't have to be shot at. Just be within a certain distance of the front lines. That is where I got mine. Because the next replacement depot was in Worms Germany and it was further behind the lines as the front lines were moving pretty fast.

Next: Chapter 12. Germany and Austria.