A Foxhole Closer to Home

Belgium 1945 - "The green of the fields and woods contrasted to the fact that all the orchards were in bloom presented us with scenes of pastoral beauty, unsurpassed in my experience. Too, with the exceptions of the towns on the banks of the Rhine, the war had swept by too swiftly to admit of much description, so it is not hard to come to believe there was no war. We read of chaotic conditions prevalent in all European Countries, seething unrest, political disappointments and all the rest of it, which maybe true, and is no doubt true in the large cities, but while riding through the rural districts (of which 95% is) the picture is widely at variance. All these people ask and require for their share, is to be left to do as all the generations that have gone before have done, just work their small farms. This is not to deny that there have been hardships and shortages, after what they have been through it could not be different, but the fact remains they are, for the most part, too damn happy just to be alive to care too greatly that they are next door to utter starvation. They too well remember the many times they have been in a like situation -- this is probably the birthplace of that old saying, “This too, will pass”. Less the foregoing has given you a slightly idyllic picture of conditions here let me point out that there are spots not quite so beautiful. You have read, and probably halfway disbelieved, of German Concentrations Camps. The division we had just left had overrun one. As is usual, the Germans had evacuated it. As is also the rule, there were many there too weak, from ill usage of malnutrition to permit of their traveling, so they had to be disposed of. We saw the results, and one day you too will see them. We took a number of snapshots. But you will see can never be described. The bodies themselves are not too horrifying, simply because they very little resemble human beings, or, for that matter, any animal at all."