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Our Stay in Vise, Belgium
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| We arrived in Visé, Belgium the 28th September 1944. |
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| In Vise, we had about 10 men who saw to the operation. There we had a supply depot for gasoline. We brought the gasoline in tank cars and transferred it to 5 gallons jerry cans which we stored for the different groups to come and pick up ob to deliver where it needed to go. |
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| Needless to say our biggest threat was Bed Check Charlie coming by nightly dropping flares over a year loaded with gasoline we had a yardmaster who directed traffic in and out of Vise. |
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| The three of us; Bill Heffner, Raymond Lathrum and Marvin Walton were in charge of keeping communications open. We had a motor car that we used to follow the tracks and check for broken lines which had much damage from V Bombs which at that time was giving Liege a hard time. |
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| At the time we were in Vise, 740th Headquarters was in Liege (740th Railway Operating Battalion was in Railroad Station at Ans, Close from Liege, from October to December 44 and the Headquarters was located Boulevard Frere Orban, 33 in Liege in October 44). |
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| In addition to maintaining telephone and signals we found time to meet the natives. We met a family, Madam Godard and a son and daughter, Gerard and Gabby. We stayed with them a lot and shared our food with them and they shared what they had with us. We made friends with Babby's boy friend and his sister. They were a wonderful group. |
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| From Vise we moved to Aachen, Germany. The 740th Headquarters moved from Liege to Aachen. That was about the middle of January 1945. After moving into Germany I went back to Paris on vacation and went by Vise to see Madam Godard. They were great people. Of course we found the café's to visit and sing and drink beer. |
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| Being among the first Americans there we were greeted with open arms everywhere we went. If I were to pick a favorite spot in Europe, Vise would be near the top of my list. My favorite people in Europe were the Belgians and Holland people. I don't think the French appreciated us coming over there. |
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| Yours in faith, hoping for peace in the world, Charles W Heffner |
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