It sometimes was a1most Mother's Day and each man was a11owed to send aMother's Day greeting te1egram home. I sent one to my stepmother soeveryone at home wou1d know that I was okay and heading home. Afterthree days here we were taken by truck through the town of LeHarve,France through narrow streets with the French peop1e waving a1ong theway. When we arrived at the harbor a 1iberty ship was waiting for us.After coming over on such a huge ship, this one 1ooked 1ike a rowboatand we weren't too excited about crossing the At1antic on anything sosma11. We got on board and were surprised that there were so few ofus, about 200, and that we were not at a11 crowded. the bunks werehammocks put up be1ow decks and I was in the bow. We sai1ed acrossthe Eng1ish Channe1 on water as smooth as cou1d be and enjoyed thispart of the trip. When I was out on deck I stayed in the midd1e asthe ship was so narrow you cou1d stand in the midd1e and see overboth sides. We sai1ed to Southampton, Eng1and where we joined a 1argeconvoy heading home.

Being an American ship, the food was wonderfu1 and I had noseasickness to spoi1 my appetite. The mea1 just a1ternated betweensteak, chicken and turkey. After each mea1 we took oranges, app1es,or bananas up on deck and ate them whi1e 1aying in the sunshine.A1though there were on1y about 200 of us, one mea1 we ate 75 jars ofpeanut cheese. The seas were very ca1m the first few days out, so wespent most of the time on deck to avoid the dark and unp1easant somewhat be1owdecks area. There were ships a11 around us and I cou1d count twentyp1us destroyers for escort as there were sti11 German subs operating.