Art Kramer

ART KRAMER'S WWII STORIES

The Rain at Pontoise

It had been raining for a week and our airfield at Pontoise was drenched. The squadron streets were a morass of mud. When you walked your boots sank into the mud and there was a sucking sound as you lifted each foot to walk. We were mostly hunched in out tents with a small fire in the pot bellied stove to fight off the wet. We whiled away the boredom by reading, writing letters or playing poker. In the mess tent we all sat with cups of hot coffee and felt better as the cook's stoves gave off heat that drove off the dampness and the lights in the tent cut away the gray gloom of the world outside. The boredom was endless, Later as evening came on we all wandered over to the officers club where we spent a few more hours drinking and talking to relieve that ever present boredom.. Would this rain ever stop? As we walked back to our tents to turn in, the rain seemed to lessen and we could see breaks in the clouds overhead. Even a few stars appeared. The next morning we attacked Cologne.

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