Dec 15 1944
S France
Dear Pop,
I’ve got a few pictures enclosed that I hope pass the censor as this letter will be meaning less with out them. They were taken along the Marne river where the germans blew out the big Viaduc I wrote of in past letters. Since then the germans have been driven many miles from it and the F.F.I has captured many “Bosch”. Now “Bosch” is fixing that which he had blown up. The first pictures is a general view of the blown out in the middle. The rocks in the foreground are being rebroken by the german prisoners and reused in the rebuilding. The second is of the german prisoner sergant standing at attention before the French officer in charge of the reconstruction. He was tall, blonde and still very proud. The third is of a german hauling gravel for plaster. (Note the germans have wooden shoes on.) The fourth picture shows a girter being put in place and a cable car for directing [unreadable]. On the fifth you will notice the germans at work in the frame work and the cable car from a different angle. In the sixth picture you will notice the french couple watching the “Hun” putting the square of rock in the wheelbarrow. The man remarked to me in English later “Now they work for us.” In the last pictures you can see the guard at the arrows [unreadable] and the german at the tale end. Again the french watch their once powerful conquers work for them.
The germans saw my camera and were not very interested in having their photo taken they turned their back each time they saw me coming. “Ya” what would little Hans say if he could see “Pap” working for France.
I guess the motto or moral of the story is “Don’t blow out the other guys bridge, he’s liable to make you build it back up.”
Love,
Bill
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