[center][img]https://img0.etsystatic.com/163/0/7670732/il_570xN.1149823084_id8k.jpg[/img][/center][hr]
St-Mere-Eglise, France
2100 hrs
July 16th, 1944
Overcast
66° F

     The 37th finally shipped five or so days back. We're in France now, liberating it from the Nazis. When we drove ashore at Utah Beach, I was astonished at the fact that the battle looked like it happened just yesterday, sans any corpses. Shell craters, shattered stakes, torn barbed wire, and dented hedgehogs were the most of what we saw until we rolled inland. We passed a lot of villages and towns, some of them almost completely destroyed. It's unthinkable how much damage those flyboys did. All's fair, I guess.

     Every night we made camp, and even while we made the drive to the front, French citizens frequently walked up to thank us or offer cigarettes and alcohol. Some stayed back and just flashed "V"s with their pointer and middle fingers at us while speaking from afar. Sometimes kids walk up and we hand give them our fudge disks, gum, and sometimes some sugar cubes. We never get to know them much aside from that night.

     We're in St-Mere-Eglise tonight, just a few miles from the front. We're due to relieve the 4th Infantry Division starting tomorrow, and are apart of some op starting in a week. I think the Lieutenant called it Operation Cobra. Either way, I'll be taking the M2 on our third halftrack and have been instructed to only dismount when the halftrack is damaged. [i]A further sentence is heavily scribbled out by graphite marks.[/i]

     The Lieutenant just gave us the lights out order, according to the Sergeant. Here's to an early morning and a well-fought victory.

						[center]PFC Earl F. Ball
						Co. A, 37th Tank Btn., 4th Armored Div.[/center]