My duty as an enlisted man (Corporal) was to be a clerk for an officer. The Headquarters were located in a big building in Frankfurt, Germany. Our barracks was located several blocks away in an ex-German army barracks, so every morning we would line up, the band played and off we went, marching to our offices. There must have been well over one hundred of us guys marching through the streets. On days when it was raining or snowing, trucks would haul us to our workplaces. We soldiers were in the back of the trucks and it was very dark there. I had several guys groping me in the darkness. I used to look forward to the ride in the back of those trucks. I was amazed at the number of gay guys in my outfit.

Guards stood on each side of the doorways at the entrance of our office building, as all of us guys pressed to get into the building and go to work. Since the guards were all cute as hell, some of us guys would press our arm or bodies into their baskets as we pressed to get into the building. They seemed to enjoy our feeling them up since I never did hear of anyone getting into trouble for doing a little feeling!

This was in the fall of l947 and I was 19 years old. The army was very relaxed about gay people. The army needed each of our bodies, so we were never troubled about being gay. I was surprised to find so many of the guys were gay. Most of us covered it up, but many were "Nellie". I remember two guys that were obvious: they were nice guys, but very effeminate. Nobody gave them a hard time; they were just considered two of the guys. If the army had started investigating all of the gay guys in Headquarters European Command and kicked them out of the army, there would have been nobody to run the headquarters!

After work we would hop on a streetcar to take us back to the barracks. When we arrived at the barracks we always found 10 to 20 ladies standing outside of the gates. When I asked why, I was told that they were "wash fraus". We did not have an army laundry, so the ladies would do our laundry for us. When I had dirty clothing to be washed, I would take them outside of the gate and give the dirty laundry to a lady. She would tell me when it would be ready. Then later when I returned to the barracks, my wash frau would hand my clean clothing back to me and I would pay her.

I met a cute soldier named Tommy, and we became friends. He invited me to spend a weekend with him. He was located in another city and I took a train there. He met me at the station and we walked to his billets. That is when I found out that Tommy was stationed with the C.I.C. and he took me to the C.I.C. hotel where he lived. The C.I.C. investigated any wrongdoings for the Army, so C.I.C. agents were everywhere. Tommy shared his room with another guy, but the guy was shacking up with some gal, so he was never there. Tommy and I would have a beer and just for the fun of it, we would kiss and make out as we watched the agents come and go around the C.I.C. Headquarters.