Hi.my name is Mar I`m married 63 years to the same great guy with 3 children all married now. We were born in a small town in western Pennsyvania & thought of it as a pretty nice place & still do but wouldn`t want to go back there to live

My husband was drafted into the army for war world 2 he served in Europe & fought in the Battle of the Buldge. I went to work in a steel mill & My mother-in-law watched the kids for me He made it home safe But after he was back awhile he wanted to go back into the army.It took some convincing & I finally agreed. We were going to get a trip to Europe. Everything was going to be great. My sister envied me Her & I watched the rest of the family move to California just before the war broke out & now I was leaving. My husband rejoined the army & was sent to Europe as part of the Occupation Troop.

Little did I know what I was in for. I didn`t know there were 2 armies the US army the one movies & recuiting poster are made about & the G D army the one you live in It`s a whole other world. My school of hard knocks was continueing & I sure was getting educated I had read in the paper all about wives & kids sailing over seas & some were lucky enough to sail on the Queen Mary

I finnaly got our traveling order & instructions.We could send so much household goods. I sold all our household goods so I didn`t have to worry about that. What I din`t understand was,We were allowed 2 suitcase for each of us & hold baggage which had to be stenciled with our name & destination well I knew I couldn`t handle 3 kids & eight suitcases so I put everything in a steamer trunk (that`s the way I seen it done in movies & when you got on board things were waiting for you in your stateroom)Boy was I ever wrong

I only took a little suitcase with things that we might need on the train. We weren`t taken from the train to the ship instead we were taken to a staging area & then was told it would be a couple days before we were assigned a ship & where to pick up our suitcases.I had a dreadful time trying to explain that all our things were in the streamer trunk & needed to get into it to get some of our things. I was told to get a suitcase & I should take out enough to last for 8 or 9 days on the boat & we would get our things when we docked. After 2 days we were going to sail

We went by bus to the Pier. There were several large ships docked but none of those were ours. Farther down was a smaller one which was ours. It was a converted hospital ship that was used during the war. We didn`t have a stateroom like I pictured. All the women & girls were in one ward & the boys & sailors in another ward on a lower deck. We got under way. It was December cold & windy so we couldn`t spend much time on the deck it took us 13 days instead of the 9 day we were told it would take We docked in Bremhauven.

We then went by train to a small town where my husband met us with a jeep. We were happy to see him but we were so cold & tired that I don`t think we showed it. That ride in the jeep didn`t help matters. We got to our house it was fairy nice. The kids each had their own room. The beds were all made & it didn`t take them long to get to sleep.

The next morning I told my husband about the stupid thing I did about our luggage & He said he`d check to see where our luggage could be picked up That was something I would hear for the next 2 month.We had a change of clothes, when we were wearing one the other was being washed. This was turning into a nightmare.

I was taken to the commissary for our food there sure wasn`t much to choose from, frozen hamburg,steak once in awhile but you had to take more hamburger to get the steak sometimes potatoes,oatmeal & gallon cans of pineapple sliced,diced,crushed,juiced

We loved pineapples but it got to the point we couldn`t look at any pineapple of any kind. We lived in a small town close to the Russian section & my husband`s company had to patrol the area,he had to leave early in the morning & didn`t get home til late.There was nothing for the kids & me to do there were no schools set up yet the boys didn`t mind but my daughter did.she was doing good in school.

We had a house boy to take care of the fires & a maid,which I needed like I needed a hole in the head. She didn`t speak English & I couldn`t speak German She didn`t understand why we didn`t have any clothes. She`d say nix in America.

The boys shoes had wore out & they were wearing their dads combat boots to go out side. With sign language she showed me she could get shoes for cigarettes for the boys.She had a man come to the house & measured the boys feet & in a couple of days they had the best looking cowboy boots. I was told I wasn`t allowed to do that.I couldn`t see anything wrong in doing that I was trading shoes for cigarettes.Nobody had a better idea.

We finnaly had our luggage found & the maid seen that we did have plenty in America. I think our problem was we were just plain homesick & we didn`t want any more of this army we just wanted to go home,but we didn`t have a home to go to. So we just had to make the most of it.

They put a 12 ft high fence around our area it was to keep out looters. The hit song when we left home was "Don`t Fence Me In"by Bing Crosby. We all started to singing it.We play more different games of solitary.

Before long my husband`s outfit was moved to another area so it was pack up & move something we`d soon get used to doing. This place was a little better at lease it didn`t have a fence around it.

We didn`t stay there long it was pack up & move again but this time we stayed put until we went home. It was a larger city with more troops & dependents. The Kids got to go to school & I got to meet other G I wives. We all compare notes about our experences,some had it better & some worse.

GIs with dependents here had to spend 3yrs here. Some of them were soon ready to go home. How the rest of us envied them. We got to take bus tours & seen some of the bombed out areas. That`s when we realized how lucky we were to be Americans.

The rest of our stay was routine & learned that there was a right way a wrong way & the army way of doing things, the only way for my husband.& if it moved you saluted it & if it was still you painted it buff.For me I did things my way.I wasn`t in the army I was only dependent.

An Award me & other wives recieved from the army for the tour we put in as part of the occupation troops.Going home was a lot better we were on a larger ship & we had our own state room. We would be stationed at Ft Devens,Mass.

First it was a visit to my sister & My husband`s family.My husband had decided on a career in the army. He has 6yrs in with 14 to go. When we got to Ft Devens we had to live in a motel until quarters became available which isn`t easy with 3 kids & having to eat out. We finnaly got quarters.They were converted hospital barracks but we made do & got them fixed pretty nice. The kids got settled in school & I got a job in a factory where they made plastic clothes lines.

On the 4th of July we went to see the Statue of Liberty and went to the top of it what a sight. Being in the Army we did get to see a lot of places.Things were going along fine when the unexpected happened the Korean war broke out I never heard of the place. It was like being kicked in the gut. My husband fought in one war & I didn`t think he`d have to go again so soon.I was told that`s what I should expect when you marry a soldier,but I didn`t marry a soldier.The army came into my life & was messing it up.

So off to Korea he went. We had to get off the Post & finding a place to live here was like finding a needle in a hay stack. The army would pay to move us anywhere.So the kids & me headed for California.I hadn`t seen my folks since before the war,so I dropped them a card saying hold on to your chair me & the kids are on our way out there.