Zeddie P. Barron Letters to Wife, August 1944

Containers:

07.0077 - Box 1, Folder 014

Scope and content:

This folder contains more personal communication from Barron while he works with his supply outfit in France. He describes his daily life, the environment and destruction he sees around him, and his interactions with French civilians. Barron encounters a liberated Polish person who tells him stories of life under the Germans, but he does not go into specifics in his letter. He also encounters a group of cigarette-smoking French children whom he believes to be ages two to three who had attached themselves to the soldiers. He encounters more German soldiers, including a small group which he oversaw to help with supplies, and remarks that they seem to be happy to be in American hands. They sing drinking and marching songs as they walk to and from their work. He recommends that his wife read Ernie Pyle in order to receive the best impression of what life as a G.I. is like. As he moves through France, he describes people lining the roads to wave as the American vehicles and soldiers pass. He grows depressed again about the war, believing that even though it is about to end, the United States will still have to "do it all over again" and that he is wasting his time and losing part of his life to a cause that he does not identify with. He says that he feels this way after seeing the greed of the French locals whom he encounters. He says that his only positive encounter comes from August 26th, when he has dinner with a French farming family below the poverty threshold.

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