It was almost Mother's Day and each man was allowed to send a
Mother's Day greeting telegram home. I sent one to my stepmother so
everyone at home would know that I was okay and heading home. After
three days here we were taken by truck through the city of LeHarve,
France through narrow streets with the French people waving along the
way. When we arrived at the harbor a liberty ship was waiting for us.
After coming over on such a huge ship, this one looked like a rowboat
and we weren't too excited about crossing the Atlantic on anything so
small. We got on board and were surprised that there were so few of
us, about 200, and that we were not at all crowded. the bunks were
hammocks put up below decks and I was in the bow. We sailed across
the English Channel on water as smooth as could be and enjoyed this
part of the trip. When I was out on deck I stayed in the middle as
the ship was so narrow you could stand in the middle and see over
both sides. We sailed to Southampton, England where we joined a large
convoy heading home.
Being an American ship, the food was wonderful and I had no
seasickness to spoil my appetite. The meal just alternated between
steak, chicken and turkey. After each meal we took oranges, apples,
or bananas up on deck and ate them while laying in the sunshine.
Although there were only about 200 of us, one meal we ate 75 jars of
peanut butter. The seas were quite calm the first few days out, so we
spent most of the time on deck to avoid the dark and unpleasant below
decks area.
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