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November 26 

Dear Emma and Children, 
Today is a very wet day, we are very near the frontier of Luxembourg. It has been raining for some days so the roads are in a terrible conditions both for the soldiers who must walk and the horses who have already suffered much in this war. We arrived in this little village yesterday noon after a walk of 22 kilometers in the mud. This morning we were all made very happy by an order which arrived commanding us to stay here for two days. We are very glad, not only tired but out feet are quite sore after such long walks. We have walked now about 160 miles. No letter or paper arrived until last night for over a week we have been entirely lost for that time. The Director General of our Sector does not know where I am so I cannot expect any letters from you at all for some days. All my letters have been sent without stamps because there has been no stamps to buy. The Germans have been very careful to destroy of disorganize everything in their retreat. At a village called Berterix, and also Bastoin where the Bosch had just left the village a few days before but they had taken great pains to steal many things and leave the houses and streets in a most filthy condition. I dined with our Lieu Colonel with a leading family in Bostain. They lived in a very fine house, but it made no difference to the Bosch. The family was driven out and the house was used by the German officer and they proved that they were as filthy as the commonest German soldier. The Bosch never asked permission to enter a house, although an army takes possession anyway. The French ask and present their claims in a polite manner. The soldiers (French) are warned not to take anything or destroy and if our stay is for more than a day the soldiers must start to clean the village we are in, there is a great (?) in every village we enter, the Belgium of every the common people as well as the rich thank the Americans through me for the food sent to them by the Americans in spite of the Fritz taking the best. Many of these people would have starved to death. The news is coming through not that the Germans are suffering very much now and this winter they will have nothing. hope there will be some way of reaching the officers and high *command* authorities that have been robbing this already devastated country and make them suffer. The outrageous actions of these men cannot be described.