European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse Williams helps his wife with her choir As sit Down to a Boardinghouse Fitl i Jtj i 1 til f fowl my i in front of the boarding House in which they share an upstairs Bill Williams says goodbye to his wife before going to Ness Williams observed when he first got youre a hero while the uniform is still says former William another Dis charged Richmond but As soon As its youre a broke Down Hoelzel was wounded on Guadalcanal with the americal i we called it the Miracle he a Miracle if we Ever got whatever the manners of other Williams has no kick about his because she at least still has the same High standards of Eti Quette she had before the she expects Bill to open the door for her when they go out in a to help her with her wrap and chair when they go to a to remove his hat when there inside anywhere and to give his seat to ladies on streetcars instead of taking the to attitude of some Italy to Ray latal is Back in his old czech polish neighbourhood on Chicago West about a year ago he was wounded by shrapnel in half a dozen places in both legs and in the left shoulder during the crossing of the rapid River in he Drew a add after seven months in the As the lanky Veteran is known in his is Okay now to All but he has a Silver plug in the shoulder to keep the mar Row in one of the shattered Bones from drying his legs tire if he stands too Long Al though he is Only he can predict changes in the weather from the aches in his they Tell me i talk a lot in my legs and i still get excited when i hear an air Williams married soon after he came his the former Anne Elizabeth was Only 15 when he but she kept her Promise to write him every night and to wait for although she is 19 she didst change at he says she just grew up a Little that the Williamss have no intention of leaving though Bill now sees flaws in Virginias capital City that he had never noticed be for the factories seem to be blanketing the town in Dingy Sof Coal he com he cant help making comparisons be tween Richmond and places he saw on his Mili tary for he spent a seven Day furlough for Pretti Ness and he he must hand it to Bournemouth Over but he no longer jumps up As he did at when a plane comes in for a land ing on the nearby Chicago municipal after 28 months of mostly As a Rifleman in the 36th legs received his discharge late in he did not go Back to his old Job of running a Drill press in the Small machine shop of the Wittek manufacturing though the people there offered it to he went in Stead to the huge Dodge War Plant in South Chi where wages Are twice As at Dodge As they Call the Mil Square latal makes a week minus in he oper ates a Turret cutting sleeves for the Oil sys tem of b29 engine propeller he lives at Home with his parents and his sister Violet in a fou room basement apartment in a two Story redbrick House on Kedzie to those who have not been yank the army weekly 1945 the neighbourhood seems the same As Kaplan dry goods store has the familiar sales and romans theater still proclaims on its marquee that ladies get dishes plus two big Fea Tures on wednesdays and but for legs it has been almost a matter of adjusting to a strange take the West end bowl ing legs still bowls As he did before he went into the and he is pleased to discover that possibly the marksmanship has boosted his score from 165 to but the Bowling Alley seems much less fun to him now than it theres a different class of people up latal what we used to Call Little there grown up and the alleys swarm with legs and he has to shake his head sometimes when he hears the girl bowlers scream for a and scream again for a the an Al sports team of local Young sters with whom legs used to bowl at West end and play baseball in the Are scattered now to the four Corners of the once in a legs gets together with other stray titans who have also come such As Wil Liam who was discharged from the marines for heart and Ted whose feet froze on they were the rest of the Bunch Are and some will not be Ray second baseman for the was killed near he was a Buck George beaner Tytan has a Cluster for his purple after being wounded in Italy and in he is still Andrew sausage Tytan is in new but is All right according to the latest word received at jims Candy the traditional Tytan meeting recalling that Sosko was also known As Points out that nobody Rolls Dice any Bill is learning to service Here he practices on an adding machine having to find out what happens after you i v yank visits two 4 of Fife in their v Mem i England to by Barrett Mcgurn yank staff writer Williams was in the army four two months and 17 he knows the exact number of ill never forget i know goo looking and just Williams gets his share of embarrassing stares on streetcars and busses from people who wonder Why hoist in he was picked out with a Case of arrested tuberculosis during a routine physical checkup in England and after a years observation got a medical discharge last he spent a year in England As a chauffeur ing the staff at division five air raids were All the action he life Back in Richmond has Given him a few one was the wage scale in the War it was much lower than hed expected after All the talk about War work in order to get started in a line hed like after the Bill passed up defense work and took a Job that pays Only a the former two Striper went to work for the Underwood Elliott Fisher company As an apprentice in the firms store on main a few blocks from the state a beginner usually gets Only a As one of several benefits to the company counted Bills army service As experience in the mechanical and that was Guod for the extra his Job is sort of White Collar Selling and servicing adding and accounting machines and office the company is teaching Bill on its time and probably will give him a six week Post graduate course at its Plant in both Williams and the company Are pleased with the the like Many other is eager to hire veterans because the Man Power regulations in Labo Short areas like Rich mond permit business houses to hire veterans Over and above their employee that probably explains Why five other gis work with Williams in the Small for his Bill likes the work because he has always had a mechanical the first time i took a carbine i put it together again Blind he there is always something new to learn in this he one Type of adding for has the Only Job Bill held before the War was driving an Oyster truck for Richmond restaurants to and from the Chesapeake Bay he quit South Richmonds Bainbridge Junior High school to take the truck driving but he didst like Bill finds it takes almost every cent of his pay to make ends a room and two meals a Day for him and his wife in a boarding House Cost a month in wartime Williams is keeping her Job As a Telephone operator at the medical College of it pays a month plus that leaves one meal a Day for clothing and dental expenses to come out of the left from their joint salaries after the Boardinghouse Bill is As for dental Williams needs fillings right and Bill has to get replacements for the eight Teeth the army took Bills i overcoat helped some in meeting clothing for Youngs cleaners on Church Hill dyed it Navy changed the but tons and removed the it is quite a stylish garment and you recognize it As government the Exco poral had nothing left from his pie service which he donated to Russia War Relief at it was just As for he had gone in the army a 135 Pounder and came out weighing so All he had to Start on was the overcoat and some i socks and of he found wartime clothing prices sky it took his first two discharge checks of each to get him enough clothing so he have to use army he bought three an other eight three eight two sweaters and a co Siple of pairs of shopping was not entirely a pleasant sex some particularly were hard to get in just the styles he theres a War sales people would snap when he de scribed just what he was looking in Williams thinks Richmond ites Impo Lite As compared with the Way they were be fore the clerks seem indifferent or Streetcar conductors he finds that Young women have been affected by this apparent decline in Southern be on the girls expected More in Man ners from the he they were More or less Homey More Bill attributes this change in the girls to the fact that Richmond is so close to Many army and Navy Pat Rick Henry and Perry for sea forts Eustis and Langley Field and the Newport news Navy the girls have been he there a Little he a Little they More or less act like there Down to they More or less act a Little up in the there a Little More Carefree in their actions and they smoke a lot More than they used there Are so Many men around Here if Rorn the Camps they can get their Choice of the Bette looking men with the most Money and the better the fact that he was no longer in uniform might have had something to do with the Frosti m legs starts out has War Plant in the morning he his Mother Are standing atthe Entrance to their apartment f Page Ray latal sits on the Couch Between his Mother and his sister As a hangover from his Days in the army is wearing i socks and a Woolen cd shirt legs working at his Turret lathe in the Dodge Plant his machine sleeves for the Oil system of b29 engine propeller shafts
