You and Bob deserve the praise you are receiving from descendants who have an organized source of information on their forebearers participation in the Great Crusade (a term used by Eisenhower having nothing to do with our present conflict with the radical elements of the Islamic faith) We cannot thank you enough.

You mentioned the early days of trucking out for the Bulge. Here are a few things I recall. As we have mentioned, there was a rather disorganized ride in the 40 and 8's from the Riviera to Soissons. Col Graves had preceded us to get the lay of the land before his troops arrived. The 18^th Airborne Corps was a little more formal than had been our existence under General Frederick down south. I think most of its troops had been out of combat much longer than we. We were to spend the "holidays" training and preparing for the "winter offensive". All the officers were supposed to dress for dinner after the day’s training. I think we did this one night. Then wham! The Bulge hit. I believe this was the fastest I ever saw the Army move. It was usually hurry and wait. This time it was just hurry. There was some confusion, but not much. All our possessions had to be thrown into duffle bags so they could be marked and stored. Soon we were on those air conditioned trucks pictured in Mail Call 601. Combat is frequently called heated. For the next two months we would have welcomed anything heated, even K rations. Machine gunners protected their weapons with their blankets while their feet became frost bitten. Many stayed in the lines with frozen feet rather turning themselves in for sick call. The valor and self sacrifice of all members of the Combat Team during this period could not be overstated. Howard Hensleigh

Subject:   bubblewrap -- a great stress reliever!
This is silly and fun