Excerpts from Letters to Mom in italics.
13 July 1965
Just to let you know the latest, I'm being transferred from Zweibruecken today for London, England, and further transfer to Taipei via the states. I should be home about the end of July. My paycheck is now on its way from London to Zweibruecken, so the chief here is having it forwarded home to Lebanon. Please, hold on to it for me and don't send it back to sunny Zwei. OK?
I'll be home about two weeks or fourteen days, so how about having a case or two in the frig or on standby. You might have to break me in easily on that American stuff. I ain't had no ugh American beer cross my lips in over three and one-half years, so you'll probably have to give me a German bier and then an American one til I get acclimated.
London ought to be fine. You can expect a post card or two from there. I'm really expecting to have a swinging time. I'll be there to get a physical, re-up for two years, to get my personnel records straight and have orders cut to Taipei. Well, that's about it. You don't need to send any more letters here, cause they'll only be forwarded to Taiwan. I'll give a ring when I land in the states. CR 3-1721 was the number when I left; If it's changed I'll have to ask information from the operator.
A U F W I E D E R S E H E N
AG2 Fehr traveled to London in civilian clothes, an unusual treat for an enlisted serviceman. He was informed that Navy personnel at the Naval Security Group in London also wore civies. Riding the military bus to the airport at Frankfurt, Fehr scanned the German landscape for the last time in a melancholy mood. He suppressed a tear and wondered if he would ever see his beloved Germany again, his second home. Would he ever return and maybe strike up a life with Gretchen. He knew it would not be, but he planned to write to her. While most departing GI's were ecstatic to go home, Fehr felt mostly a sadness that overpowered the sense of excitement of the looming visit to London and the long awaited family homecoming.