Soon it was Christmas and my third away from home. Under such bad
conditions it was very hard to be cheerful. We did the best we could
with decorations. Even though we were in a forest of pine trees, we
couldn't get any inside the compound. We mixed the gritty powder that
the Germans gave us for toothpaste with water and pasted it in the
corner of the windows like snow. We also saved up a little extra food
so we could have one good meal. The Germans had promised us each a
bottle of beer for Christmas and we were eagerly looking forward to
that. We each got a bottle, to our surprise, but when we got back to
the barracks and opened it we found it was only a bottle of charged
water, not beer. The only thing we could do was dump it out and save
the bottle. Our spirits were low and this didn't help any. We spent
the rest of the day thanking of our loved ones at home and wishing we
were with them.
In January 1945 we began to hear the big guns from the east and we
knew the Russians were advancing from that direction. On January 23
we were notified by the camp commander that the Germans had told him
to prepare to leave this camp before the Russians came. They didn't
want any of the highly trained airman to be liberated and have the
chance to fight against them again. We were instructed to walk 10
laps around the perimeter each day for a total of 7 and 1/2 miles.
This was not easy due to the weather and our weakened conditions, but
we knew it was necessary to build up our bodies for long marches.
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