Germany

February 9, 1945

Dear Mom,

Your letter of January 31 came tonight. Many thanks. It certainly is welcome news to hear that Aunt Jennie Carroll is better.

I believe it would be good for you to get away from the cold for a while. Why don't you try it? Marn can give you the necessary money from my account.

Steele's yard must look odd without the big tree. It certainly was a nuisance but too bad in a way that it had to go. The space left by that cut down tree would be a good description of what a town I saw today looks like. It just isn't there. It's one of the most thoroughly destroyed places I have seen in this war. Not a building is left untouched. Most are leveled, scattered like paper in a city park. Of those standing, none have roofs; few have four walls. Yet, complete and total as is this destruction, I saw the inevitable civilians. That tremendous reluctance to leave their shattered homes is one of the amazing things of this war.

Love,

Bob