Before long guys
returned to camp with horses and wagons, buggies and anything else
they could find.
I understood that some men packed up their belongings and started
west toward France as they couldn't wait any longer. They traveled
west by catching rides on the supply line vehicles. Most of us,
however, stayed in camp as we had been told we would be transported
out in a couple of days. When the day came to depart I left the heavy
overcoat and took only what I needed. I took the baseball suit and
the Royal Air Force blanket along with me, but somewhere near this
time I must have discarded the long orange sweater that had served me
so well during the cold of winter. We marched out of camp a couple of
miles to a large flat grassy field where DC-6 planes were going to
fly us to France. It was a nice warm spring day and we had to wait a
couple of hours for the planes so we spread out our blankets on the
grass and sat down to chat. It was a special time because we were
just beginning to realize that all the friends we had made would soon
be separated from us, never to be seen again.
The planes finally came and when it was time for me to board I had to
make a big decision. I stood there looking at that nice blue air
force blanket laying on the ground. It was so heavy and I didn't know
whether or not I could carry it all the way home or not. At the last
minute I decided to leave it there on the grass.
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