Southern France
31 July 45

Dear Miss Thompson,

Once again, thanks for the Servicemens News. I was rather anxious to know what had happened to a lot of the boys with whom I entered the service. I was rather shocked when I read of Dr. Frenchs death. Please convey my sympathies to Mrs. French.

As you can see from my address I am not in the Infantry any more. Due to a slight misfortune I was given a status of limited assignment and transferred to the Ordnance. At present our company is processing unit vehicles for redeployment to the Pacific Theatre of War. Our own unit status is rather unstable and we expect to be processing our own vehicles.

You are, no doubt, wondering about the pictures. You will remember that I saw quite a bit of the devastation of the Low Countries. These pictures are pictures of Germany as she is today. It is vivid testimony as to the force and power of the U.S. Army, mainly the 9th Army. It will be a long time before Germany will be rebuilt. She doesnt have the manpower because her soldiers are, for the most part, prisoners. She doesnt have the materials because they have been expended in her war effort. Fact, but not least, it will be sometime before the peoples of Germany will recover from the shock of war to gain enough ambition to do the work. Elementary reconstruction, such as cleaning up the debris of war from the streets has been started but that is done more or less as a mans habit of personal cleanliness. I will have to ask you to return the pictures as they are only prints I have and the negatives were lost. You may display them to give your fellow faculty members and the students an idea of what has happened there. When you do return them I wish that you would send them to my home as my stay here is indefinites.

Since my returning from the hospital, I have been doing mason work between military and civilian officials both hete in France and in Germany. That is one of my sources of a great deal of so-called inside information on the status of the nation. This job of being an interpreter has some drawbacks but it is altogether an interesting occupation.

Give my regards to the members of the faculty and students. My Dads address is

Mr. D.J. Ferraro
10 Hagert St.
Nutley, N.J.

Sincerely,

Gerry