“We were released March 31, 1945, by a Russian tank column of nine tanks which was led by a woman Major. The first thing we did was raid for food. We found potatoes and Red Cross packages. After that, the Russians offered us a choice — we could fight with them or we could try and make it to our own lines. We decided to take our chances on our own. There were three of us who walked our way through Poland to Warsaw. In Warsaw, there wasn't a roof left on a building.”

“Nobody had anything. We came across a family that shared bread with us. Later, we stumbled on a Russian convoy where we drank vodka and ate warm sausage with the troops. In Warsaw, we hooked up with a former American from Chicago who had married a Polish girl. We stayed with him for about two weeks. He helped us out by writing on a piece of paper where we were going. We didn't speak the language, so he did this so we could show this paper and people would point in the right direction.”

“From Warsaw, we made our way to Odessa, Russia, which is located on the Black Sea. There we hooked up with an English freighter that transported us to Port Said in Egypt. The English treated us good. I had my first hot shower since September. My clothes were so dirty, they stood up on their own in the corner.”

“From Egypt, they sailed to Naples, Italy. We were finally under U.S. control. We turned ourselves into the military police. They could tell we were in bad shape. We were there about a month. I never hooked up with the 101st again. We were sent home, arriving April 14. 1945. We were coming around the Statue of Liberty when we heard the news that President Roosevelt had died. It put a damper on our homecoming.”

Rosa and Speed Homan,
newleyweds

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