Letter 4 from Basle and Strasbourg, 1946 February 26

Envelope addressed to: Mrs R.L. Davis 1619 Boston Muskogee, Oklahoma From: Sgt. Robert Davis, 18107121 G 235, Co. E, 3MGR APO 403 Pm. N.Y. Davis writes about the tour he chose. He mentions that all 13 options ended up in the mountains at some point, leading him to pick one that had only 4 (rather than 5) days spent in the mountains and that hit the larger German speaking regions in Switzerland (he mentions specifically Zurich, Bern, Lucerne and Basle). Davis describes the lengthy process of going through customs into Switzerland upon arriving in Basle, and the restrictions imposed on what materials he was permitted to bring into the country. Transcription: Sgt. Robert Davis 18107121 G237, Co E, 3MGR APO 403 % Pm. N.Y. U.S. ARMY POSTAL SERVICE MAR 4 1946 9 26-3 AIR Mrs. R. L. Davis 1619 Boston Muskogee, Oklahoma 26 FEB ’46 Strasbourg, France Dear Folks: I forgot to tell you that we had a “choice” of tours. In some respects it was not much of a choice, because all 13 possible tours wound up in the Mountains at some winter Sport resort. There was simply no escaping the Mts there, as if they were magnetic. The only possibility of deviation was that some tours had 5 days in the Mountains, and some had only 4. Naturally, with the decent intention of eliminating unnecessary days in the Mts., I chose the latter type. My intentions were to see some of the large German-speaking cities in Switzerland, Zurich, Bern, Lucerne, Basle. So I chose Tour No. 11, because it afforded 1 day in Zurich, and 2 days in Basle. We pulled into Basle from Muhlhaus France at about 9 a.m. In two long lines we moved slowly thru’ the Swiss customs. We had been previously oriented and warned, not to attempt to bring surplus P.X. items over (We were allowed to take one week’s ration of cigarettes, candy etc.) the border. Swiss customs is very thorough! But I think the spectacle of long lines of G.I.’s by the hundreds probably had long since dulled the thoroughness of even the Swiss customsmen. At any rate, they only asked me a couple of questions, ran their hands thru’ one pocket of my and waved me on. In Switzerland at last! We came into the R.R. station of Basle. Love, Bobhttps://openworks.wooster.edu/davisworldwarII/1068/thumbnail.jp