Christmas was a very sad day for everyone.

On 26 December all of the command, less Headquarters, which stayed in Luxembourg and the 603rd, which was bogged down in Doncourt, arrived in Verdun. They took over a very dirty and windy French military caserne. People with plum pudding and yuletide goodies soon found them eaten by rats. The 603rd joined the rest of the unit here. The men busied themselves with the interminable training schedule and guard duty for the 12th Army Group Main. Verdun is a depressing city filled with a million ghosts of other unhappy soldiers. That makes it much too crowded.