World War II Woman

It Wasn’t Fruit Juice

Roger, the brother of my friend Ellen, has provided a detailed account of his war experiences in Europe during 1944 and 1945. He was involved in some very heavy fighting, but he also included some incidents of a less serious nature.

While attached to a British unit, he recalls getting up in the dark one morning. With his canteen cup and mess kit, he joined the chow line and received an inch of what he thought was fruit juice. He drained the cup with one gulp so as to prepare for some coffee to be poured into it, when he realized he had not been drinking fruit juice. He was just about floored by the jolt of rum.

During the Battle of the Bulge, company headquarters was always several miles behind the line. The cooks never knew for sure where the soldiers would be but they always loaded up the jeep and trailer with a hot breakfast, K rations for lunch, and a clean pair of socks for everyone in the company. Most of the time they brought a hot meal at night. Their appearance was always most welcome.

At one point, some of the men were stricken with food poisoning from food which had been left unrefrigerated too long. They were fed a solution of soap suds and water to clean out their stomachs. They spent the afternoon resting in an attempt to recover.

In April of 1945, he recalls sitting on the banks of the Elbe River watching and processing German soldiers come across the river to surrender rather than be captured by the Russians. They came by the thousands by boat or by anything that would float. Some of them even swam across.

Towards the end of his tour of duty, every morning he would pay a German POW two cigarettes to shave him and to trim his mustache. As he mentions, “Think about a POW wielding a straight razor.”

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