Calvados and Combat Boots

Jun 8, 2018, 4:45 PM

Near our camp during WW2 was a French family we (Spoon, Bali, Pollock and Rebel) had befriended. The husband had worked for the railroad before the war but had not yet been recalled. He picked up odd jobs and his wife did our laundry. From time to time our mess crew would give us some items to donate to the family for which they were most appreciative.

One day the husband invited the four of us to dinner at his home. Knowing food was a problem, we decided to eat sparingly and to take them some items from our mess crew. On the appointed evening, we left camp and walked the two miles to their home. We met his delightful wife and his two beautiful daughters, about 10 and 12 years of age. At first, the two daughters were very shy but after a few minutes it was like older brothers and younger sisters. Both girls were studying English in school so we helped them with their English plus teaching them a bit of our slang.

The dinner was some of the best food we had eaten in a long time but we declined extra servings so as not to deprive them of "leftovers". After the meal, we were sitting at the dining table enjoying conversation when the Father arose and excused himself. In a few minutes he returned with a magnum of what I thought was wine. He announced that this was a special occasion and he wanted to share a bottle of Calvados. The four of us knew nothing about Calvados, thinking it was some sort of special wine. When he began filling large glasses I felt sure it must be some low alcohol content beverage. My first "gulp" proved my assumption was completely wrong. That was a high potency alcoholic beverage and I knew there was no way old Joe21 could handle that huge glass of Calvados and make it back to camp.

Rather than confess to our host I could not drink that huge serving, I devised a way to sip a little and dispose of the rest. The logical place was to pour the extra in my combat boots. Those Army combat boots were noted for one thing, they were waterproof. The only way to get a liquid in was to pour it in at the top. I pretended to scratch my leg and would pour some Calvados in my right boot. But, I made a tactical error. My glass was completely empty while the others still had some in their glasses. The host insisted over my muted objections to refill my glass. There was little room left in my right boot for more Calvados so I developed an itch in my left leg. This time I closely watched the others so I would not be offered the third glass.

It was finally time to thank our hosts for a wonerful evening and we said our "goodbyes". When we were out of sight of our host's home I told my buddies I had to sit down and pour Calvados out of my boots. They were wondering how I had drunk two glasses to their one and was still sober. Then I told them of my little trick. After pouring the Calvados out of my boots, I wrung out my socks. It looked and felt like that entire magnum had gone into my boots.

We walked back to our camp with my feet still "sloshing" with every step I took Our only footwear was our combat boots and mine didn't dry out until about four or five days later. The Calvados aroma lasterd for a few more days. I made up my mind at that time that I would add Calvados to my list of things I would never knowingly partake of the rest of my life. The other item was SPAM. And for the last 73 years I have ingested neither one.

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Calvados and Combat Boots

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