From Joe’s original notes, courtesy of Karen Farrell
I was sitting in my foxhole on guard at the front line in France. A fellow G.I. crawled up next to me and told me my name was picked from a hat for a 3-day pass in Paris, France! First time I ever won anything. They took a few of us back to a rear assembly area, let us take a shower, gave us the clothes you see in this picture and drove us to Paris.
I’m drinking beer in a small café near the Trocadero area around the Eiffel Tower near the Champs Elysees, the broad street that runs through the Arch de Triumph. I enjoyed the pass, but the trip back was very depressing. My foxhole was still waiting, and it was raining. We went forward the next day. I was nineteen years of age.