Oral History Interview with Alvin Leos, October 27, 2010 Page: 27

                                
Mr. Leos:
No, not any.
Mr. Misenhimer:
Did you have any experience with the Red Cross?
Mr. Leos:
Well, yes, one time. When I was going through Germany in 1949. You know you got to wait til
get paid, you know. When I got to Germany, I landed in Erlnngen when I got there and I was at
Nuremburg and Wurzburg. But any way I had to borrow some money from Red Cross. They
helped me out. I had my family with me and I hadn't been paid yet. Wasn't very long, the Red
Cross came to the barracks looking for me. I thought I had committed a crime or something.
They wanted to know when I was going to pay back the money I'd borrowed. Made me mad,
you know. I hadn't got paid yet and when I got paid I'd pay them back. I didn't borrow much or
nothing. Maybe they did a good job, I don't know, but for me I felt like they didn't do nothing
for me. Another thing I'm going to say when I got off the boat in San Pedro, California, landed
in California, San Pedro, got off the ship, got on the train to go to a separation center, the Red
Cross came on the train and guess what they gave me. Six chocolate bars and a little old
newspaper. That's all they did. I said thanks a lot. That's what they did.
Mr. Misenhimer:

Now when you were in the Philippines, did you get your mail with any regularity?
Mr. Leos:
Yeah, once in a while we'd get mail, not very often. The only time we got mail was when we
were in a rest area, had mail call. Might get a letter or something you know. I didn't get much
mail. Once in a while I'd get a letter. The one that I really worried about was my mother. My

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