School days. School days.

GI's going back to school and in Zwickau, Germany of all places.  With the 385^th launching into an extensive I & E Program, under the direction of 1^st Lt. Gerald L. Heckart, assisted by Pfc. A. Fried.

The date was the 28^th of May, and the scene was a former German Engineering School on Lessingstrasse.  And the school bells that morning rang in the first in a series of 10 day semesters, offering courses in Welding, Machine Shop Work, Woodwork, Elementary Radio, Radio Code, Typing, Automotive Mechanics, Elementary Electricity, Printing, Linotype Operation, and Mechanical Drawing.  These courses were offered the first semester with a promise of expansion to other subjects in semesters to follow.

Before VE day, the plans were made which led directly to the opening of the school.  And long before the 28^th, the men of the Regiment were sounded out as to which courses or types of courses they would be most interested in.  Results showed a great interest in Radio, Electricity, and the Engineering subjects.

The opening of the school was but a part of the ambitious I & E program.  For it is a man sized job to keep 3000 men accurately informed of what goes on about them and in the world at large.  An orientation program was put into effect, with the various companies initiating set ups including maps. orientation rooms with books and pamphlets, orientation lectures and discussion groups.