July 28, 1945
Wabern, Germany
Still in Tents
No. 43
Dear Folksies,
Things and rumors change so frequently around here these days that it is difficult to keep up on the latest dope. Here’s some of the most recent items:
1) Col. Yarbrough, the C.O., is leaving to go to the 129th Evac., which is supposedly somewhere near Rheims. Whether it is a C.B.I. [China-Burma-India]-Bound outfit by way of the U.S. or direct, we know not. Anyway, not sorry to have him go. He don’t do nuffin’ but he certainly has some screwy ideas. Both Jack and I tangled somewhat with him. By all common sense we were right, but he had his ideas and he stuck to them. None of us ever saw him do anything but sit under a shady tree and read, mostly funny-books, or sit at his desk in the crowded office and write letters.
2) Lt. Col. Burlinghof, the Chief of Medicine, is also leaving to go to the 77th Evac. He is a nice guy and a hard worker and, actually, would probably be a good C.O. if he had been kept here with us. The 77th is, I believe, from South Carolina, and is a good bunch. They boarded with us in Sicily for a while. They are near Chalon, France, apparently, servicing some of those staging areas.
3) Capt. Hoffman, from the original 108th, is back from school in Paris and is acting as Exec. He is a chubby, good-natured guy, a G.P. who has had nothing to do with administration before.
4) Gil Bishop is stuck in some hospital near Rheims at the moment. We had a letter from him and so far nothing has been done regarding his athletes footsies. Apparently, Schuster is in the bed next to him and has improved considerably. It looks as if Gil won’t be back for ages, from the way his letter reads.
5) Bob Treadwell returned from school in England. His “school” was also pretty much of a farce, as there were only 100 patients in the hospital he was sent to. Actually he spent practically all of his time touring England and Scotland.
6) Hattie Myren has been transferred to another Evac – the one that is the closest to the 7th Army Hdq. That saves Bill Dunn a considerable amount of gas. In a way it is good – for him – but we will miss seeing him and getting the low down on things.
7) Charlie Stone is in Paris at the moment – just went up three days ago to take his American Boards in Medicine there. He had already had his written and he had made arrangements with Middleton to take the orals from him in Paree. When he returns, which should be today or tomorrow, he will be the Chief of Medicine, since Col. Burlinghof is leaving.
8) Martha Gerbode, as you probably know, did not come over here – something happened as far as her orders were concerned and she was lucky in not getting the job.
Have been rather busy, keeping our census just over 300. Building situation is still an unhappy one.
Loads of love,
.
