Letter from Clarence Williams to Gretchen Williams, May 3, 1945

I received three letters from you last night also one from mother and one from Ruth White. I think I told you of writing Earl in care of Ruth at Texas so she sent me his new address and informed me of forwarding my letter. Said she would love to hear from you and the address is 1202 Market Street, Hearne, Texas in case you happen to write. She also said she was working in a jewelry store and that they wanted us to visit them when Earl and I return. Sounds so easy doesn’t it?

I can tell you now we were in Munich and it was really damaged from bombs. I saw Hitler’s home known as the Brown House, the Sportspalast and the tombs of the sixteen men killed in his march on Munich which was all very interesting. The Brown House was a large stone building but not too elaborate. It had been bombed and badly damaged. We moved again today and where we are now located can see the beautiful snow capped Bavarian Alps. I can also see the difference in the types of houses here, they are of Alpine models with the lower story of stone or stucco and the upper of frame construction or logs. It snowed here again today but I understand that is typical of their summer here. I can’t understand how the vegetation stays so green and grows so fast in such a cool   climate. Cap’t O’Brien remarked that he asked an Englishman when they had summer around here and he replied, last year it fell on Thursday.

Do you remember of my writing you about our chicken dinner? It was a few days back but thought you would enjoy hearing about same in detail. We had a linen table cloth and napkins and ate by candlelight I’ll have you know. There were nine of us with the two captains and first of all we drank a shot glass of whiskey to a toast by Cap’t O’Brien. We then had some sardines and herring for an appetizer. After that we had chicken soup made from the odd pieces of three chickens plus some bouillon cubes and my chicken noodle soup, it was really delicious. Then we had fried chicken, french fried potatoes, German brown bread, butter, jam and coffee. For desert we had a choice of home canned pears or blue berries. How does that sound to you? The only bad feature was the fact the chicken didn’t cook quite long enough and was a little tough.

Apparently there are a lot of changes in this world when Mrs. Francis will accept a drink. I’m almost amazed. Does Ruth smoke in front of her as yet? I’m sorry to hear that Max doesn’t like his new work in the army but then, who likes the army.

Well darling I guess thats about all the news for now except to tell you again that I love you