Germany
March 25, 1945
Letters from Theodore Katz
An uncaptioned sketch by Ted, perhaps playing piano
March 25th
Somewhere in Germany
Dearest Helen –
I’ve had a chance to try my skill with the piano tonight. It seems that there are some British troops a short distance away and at these “quarters” reposes a piano that must have been last tuned when Bismark passed through. Anyway, I was able to blame the piano for the mistakes made by my no-longer nimble fingers. Well, the strangest part of the whole procedure was the preference of songs by these Tommies – hill-billy and cowboy songs – and to hear “Home on the Range” sung with a pure cockney accent is enough to make one’s ears bend right over. In fact, I hate the tune in any dialect – even cowboy. But when I pleaded ignorance of this type of music (an out and out lie – but how else could I stop it) – one yanked out a guitar – and away they went with much yipping and yodeling. In due time I said “cheerio” in my worst Oxford accent and as my ears slowly unbend, I write still another letter to tell you that it’s now one day nearer to the time when I shall see you again –
All my love,
Ted