January and February passed rather routinely. I was no longer with my 9TAC buddies. However, now I had a “home” in Verviers like I had in Salisbury. Now it was time to move into Germany. Just as we were about to move out I got an opportunity to take a leave to Scotland. This would be the first pass of more than three years that I would receive since I joined the army in June of ’42. I said my “goodbyes” to my Belgium friends and took a ride on the back of an army truck with about ten GI’s to Le Harve. From there I rode overnight aboard a small ship across the English Channel to Southampton, England. From there I caught a crowded English train to London. Then from London I took the Flying Scot, standing up all night on the train ride to Edinburgh where I found accommodations at a large hotel on Princess Street run by the Red Cross
After sleeping most of the day, I decided to take a walk down Princess Street. It was a beautiful moonlight evening, seemingly remote from anything resembling war. Two young Scottish lassies were walking in my direction and sort of talking and giggling. I asked them if it was always so pleasant here in Edinburgh. They said they lived here and would show me around town. The following days were filled with all kinds of excursions. One day we took the ferry across the Firth of Forth to what seemed like a small island, I believe it was called Dundee. The one girl, Helen McKenzie invited me over to her house to meet her mother. Her father was a captain in the merchant marines so he was always traveling
As the days of my leave passed I became quite infatuated with Helen. In fact the relationship blossomed into a real romance. As my leave was ending I gave her my graduation ring and we started thinking about a more permanent relationship. Although we had no intimate, sexual encounters, we felt very drawn toward each other. In fact on the bus one time I put my arm around her and she said it wasn’t proper at this point to do this in public. I respected her feelings regarding this expression of affection in public. However, in private it was different matter, we were openly expressive towards one another
Of course my leave ended sooner than I wanted it to end. I some how found my way back to the continent. My outfit, the 926 Signal Battalion had moved out of Verviers. I caught a ride through devastated Achen to Bruhl. After a short time we moved on to Marburg. I continued to write to Helen and she wrote back beautiful letters. I even prepared my parents for the possibility of bringing home a Scottish wife.