It sometimes was almost Mother's Day and each man was allowed to send aMother's Day greeting telegram home. I sent one to my stepmother soeveryone at home would 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 people waving along theway. When we arrived at the harbor a liberty ship was waiting for us.After coming over on such a huge ship, this one looked like a rowboatand we weren't too excited about crossing the Atlantic on anything sosmall. We got on board and were surprised that there were so few ofus, about 200, and that we were not at all crowded. the bunks werehammocks put up below decks and I was in the bow. We sailed acrossthe English Channel on water as smooth as could be and enjoyed thispart of the trip. When I was out on deck I stayed in the middle asthe ship was so narrow you could stand in the middle and see overboth sides. We sailed to Southampton, England where we joined a largeconvoy heading home.

Being an American ship, the food was wonderful and I had noseasickness to spoil my appetite. The meal just alternated betweensteak, chicken and turkey. After each meal we took oranges, apples,or bananas up on deck and ate them while laying in the sunshine.Although there were only about 200 of us, one meal we ate 75 jars ofpeanut butter. The seas were very calm the first few days out, so wespent most of the time on deck to avoid the dark and unpleasant somewhat belowdecks area. There were ships all around us and I could count twentyplus destroyers for escort as there were still German subs operating.