European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 9, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Yank the army weekly 1945 seas Are he they but while Mcdonald didst think it was hard to he did feel that he want the same Guy who had left the his aunt said he had just grown but he said he would have grown up even without a the change in he involved something More than age and having been away so he  quite put his Finger on the and he want bothered by but he was sure he was he was about one i could see after my first he that in not As Sharp As i used to he attributed this rust iness partly to Long abstinence and partly to the influence of foreign it didst make much difference what you said to they didst know what you were talking but Here you still got to watch your just like old so Mcdonald watched his step and took it not trying to Jam everything into each available minute but doing what he wanted when he wanted to do he stayed out late and slept late he spent a lot of time just lying in listening to the peace and he knew that when the 30 Days were up he would just be getting accustomed to being but that didst worry him too after 30 Days is 30 most men dont get Home even for that by Ralph Boyce yank staff correspondent judging by the Maga Zines and newspapers Ive been people in the states these Days Are being bombarded with advice on How to treat the re turning they Are being told that he will come Home changed and that they will have to help him adjust himself to a new As an illustration of How not to treat the re turned one Magazine printed a yarn about a Marine sergeant who went into a soda Fountain his first Day Back to Gorge himself on ice the girl behind the counter was re ported to have cracked that he must be Happy to be Back where he could do something maybe things like that Are happening in the but they didst happen to during a 30day stateside furlough after three years in the Pacific i have encountered nothing but the Best of treatment from civilians and from gis stationed on this overseas veterans and servicemen in general get preference almost everywhere in the roundtrip furlough tickets on trains Cost a ser Viceman less than a one Way ticket costs some cities have established reduced rates for servicemen on streetcars streetcars Are in Case anybody in Australia has forgotten and in Chicago All transportation for service personnel is in other Motorman sometimes place their hand Over the fare Box when a Serviceman comes the cigarette its a real shortage civilians smoking Little known brands like rameses and often they cant get even but after turning Down clerks sometimes manage to find a stray pack for a Guy in once in a while this  attitude can be at bos ions North where a Large crowd was sweating out i saw a dozen Middle aged women take Over a Lone i and shove him into the first taxi to turn the aggressively sym pathetic ladies intimidated other civilians with cries of this soldiers got to get Back to Camp and the army and Navy first it was All Well but the i looked for the most a Soldier Back from overseas int treated in the unnerving conquer ing hero he just gets treated Many civilians Are still unfamiliar with Campaign but nearly everybody seems to be catching on taxi Barbers and bar tenders All know what overseas bars Many times the ribbons and bars serve As a conversational the conversation usually starts with something like see youve been Over quite a bet youve seen your share of and it almost always ends up with got a boy out there been in it a Long sure like to see him get Home for a after a time you come to the conclusion that nearly everybody must have a brother of a son or a husband and those sons and husbands form one of the biggest topics of conversation in the one evening in a cocktail lounge in i listened in on five different every one of them was about somebody out finally i asked if anybody Ever talked of anything very was the mail Call on the Home front seems almost As important As in any outfit in millions of Homes the postman ring is just about the big Gest moment of the when the mailman leaves the expressions on faces and the things that Are said seem very familiar pretty Busy these i and mail is probably slowed ill bet therell be a letter when a letter does it gets read by the the other people at the office or the the neighbors Down the got a letter today is the signal for Friendly enthusiasm and Many does it say or hint where he is where was it postmarked is he feeling All right is there heavy fighting in his area the questions go on and and everybody has a try at Reading Between the somehow it makes the returnee wish hed written a Little More fre reports of the Chicken returning gis have to take at the hands of the Uso commandos Back Here turned my be a bit one thing to Case those reports have had you is that the number of men now in the states who Haven seen foreign service is at the Debarka Tion Point where we two out of every three permanent party men were wearing Campaign they knew what the score everybody in my furlough group remarked on the efficient Way the place instead of herding us about like a Bunch of they took us for exactly what we tired Guys who Only wanted to Clear this last Barrier and get the hell there Are still some five letter men left of i ran into one when i reached the reception station where i was to get my furlough i opened the wrong door into this mans office and sent a blast of wind across his a pimply faced he was in charge of the first part of the after growling at me about the he announced that it was too late in the Day for him to bother with my papers and that i could Damn Well stay in Camp i could have blown my top at the but i didst and i didst leave the place with a bad taste in my As soon As the kid want another clerk picked up the papers and started them on their Way with a Wink and a Grin at the delay made me the last Man to go through the processing and most of the clerks had put away their Stamps and papers for the without a complaint they dragged them out again and went to want to borrow any Money one i told him i  bother about that because i didst want to hold him up any that what were Here he and a wac stenographer took off her coat and sat Down at her desk again to make out my one unpleasant incident Sticks in my but it had a Happy my wife and i were visit ing a neighbors and toward 11 some body turn on the its almost time for the the hostess i hate to listen to the War its so nothing More was said at the but later several members of the party told me How embarrassed they despite the eagerness of friends and family to hear All about what the Serviceman has done the aggressively sympathetic ladies intimidated other the army and Navy first that what were Here he and a wac stenographer sat Down again to make out the they Seldom pump him for they take the attitude if the Man who has come Home has seen theres a lot he May prefer not to talk about and that if he does want to hell Start when he gets Damn Good and overseas i got a confused picture of the food situation Back sometimes id think that the Home front must be sometimes i got the impression there was a lot of bitching about Noth ing at actually there Are shortages of darn near everything at but with rationing and Price controls virtually no necessities Are unavailable or out of reach of like the fuel shortage this Are met As they in this fourth year of War people have settled Down to accept inconveniences and minor discomforts As part of their daily and its a rare Home Frontier who can do much griping in the face of those Long casualty lists now appearing in the which by now have struck at least fairly close to every like gis folks Back Home have found new values in the War and a new appreciation of the Little things they used to take for Home life has taken on a deeper one because my kid brother my wife and i went to a High school basketball game with him in the scene could have been duplicated in any High school gym in the the kids cheered and laughed and stamped their the cheer leaders jumped up and Down and on the floor below the Fellows Shook hands before they started in and then played As though the whole world de Pended on the through the noise my wife shouted in my ear is it Worth it is it Worth what i is it Worth fighting for i had never thought of it quite that Page 19