San Francisco, California

The Haight neighborhood

November 21st, 1947

"Georgie…wake up Liebste!" I gasped out loud and shot up from my bed, almost reaching out in front of me and see the darkness around me, feeling body reposed next to my own and hands on my arms, holding both closely and yet in a gentle manner. My breathing was beyond heavy and almost making me want to pass out, but I was once again wallowing in the images of my head that were making me gasp out both in pain and in sadness.

"That's it, you're okay now. You're back here with me," It was Joe who was next to me and was rubbing my arms over and over with his lanky and soothing fingers and his voice that reminded me of warmth in the morning. I blinked several times to see that we were back at our apartment in San Francisco, the small apartment that we both could afford with our jobs.

"You had me scared for a moment there, LIebste," Joe soothed me as he kissed my hair, I eyes closing one again in sadness and feel him run his fingers in my hair that he cut for me the day before in our kitchen.

"I wasn't too loud this time, was I?" I asked him sheepishly, looking over my shoulder at him and seeing him still be quiet but shake his head. He hated seeing me in pain, it was not his kind f style at all as I groaned and hid my face in my hands now in defeat. This was not what I wanted for the both of us, not at all since we came back from the war and got married 6 months after we made it home. I moved with him to his own hometown, though he was willing to come to Washington D.C. and live out there with me and find work there as a cab driver. But I wanted to be in a new place, still missing home from time to time and my family there, yet it was soothing to be away from most of my family, so they wouldn't see my self-destruction.

"What in the hell is wrong with me?" I asked within my hands, almost sounding like I was mumbling.

"You're still tryin' to heal, Georgie," He reminded me softly as he pressed his forehead to my shoddier and stayed close to me, breathing in and out against my skin now as I shaking my head.

"It'll take me forever to heal from what happened to me," I explained as I pressed my cheek into his hair, "And I thought I was doing better."

"You are doin' better, remember what your doc said when you saw him two weeks ago?" Joe asked me as we were both looking at each other now and sitting up in our beds together, "He said that….wait a minute," I could see he was trying to remember and it made me smile on how hard Joe was trying to make me feel better, "He said that there will be good days and bad days, all you have to do is remember where you are, right?"

I nodded in agreement and he grinned at me, the same grin I first saw so many years ago in England that made me fall in love with him. He then reached up and touched the end of my short hair, having me feel so still there as he spoke up again.

"What was the dream this time?" He asked, almost not sure to ask me then and I took in as hot breath.

"Me seeing the Australian and American soldier being shot in front of me, back in February," I explained, the two of the men already kneeling in the snow and being shot from behind like it was a formal kind of affair. Their blood was splattering in the snow, the bodies hitting the ground like they were loaves of bread falling from the grasps of passerby's, and their breaths leaving them for the last time and it was all so frightening for me to go through again.

"HIs name was Trevor, the American," I went on some more now, already seeing his face in my mind and how the blood was coming out of his mouth and it made me almost hyperventilate again, "He was so kind to me, he was from D Company and from Washington.."

"Easy, easy sweetheart," Joe was seeing that I was going to have one more episode of flashbacks and feeling sick. Joe framed my face within his hands now as he was once again trying to make me focus on him and nothing else but his eyes and his voice, "Remember that you have to say?"

"I'm Georgiana Liebgott, I live in San Francisco, and I'm 28 years old," I said it over and over in my head, trying to get those memories away from me and out of my frame of mind to come back to reality. After seeing a doctor about my own times of being a nurse and dealing with the fact that I had to come back to the normal life in America, it was another thing for me to still deal with my PTSD that was coming through from being a Prisoner of War, and not being able to say a word about it.

After I said it for a moment or two, I was back to normal once again, sighing in relief now as I could hear a car go by in our open window of our apartment. I could breathe in the ocean air that was coming through to our side of the city and it made me soothed down again. This was home, I was home again and I was beyond safe.

"You alright now?" He asked me, having me open my eyes again and smile at Joe again. After all these years, the times of me either screaming into the night or just waking up like I couldn't breathe, Joe was still next to me and not running to the hills. He was staying with me from the moment we met in Aldbourne, keeping the faith in me when I was gone in the camp and away from him, and even after we reunited. I felt as though he was going to give up on me sometime soon, from all he bagged that was thrown on me and how delicate I was getting, but it was not part of him.

"Yes I am now,"

"Come on this way, squirt!" I looked up from my spot at the picnic blanket there along the rolling hills of Alamo Square, the sun hanging high in the sky and the smooth wind was coming through as I was watching Joe kneeling on one knee and his hands stretched out to our first born, our son, who was walking over to him with his toddler legs and a big grin on his face. I smiled widely from seeing our son walking along the grass with his bare feet and the play clothes he was in.

John Liebgott.

He came to us some time after we were married, right after we settled in our apartment and we were still trying to get our own lives together. He was a spitting image of his father, but with his eyes they were more golden and curious like me own eye. His hair was wavy and brown, a typical toddler building with his father's lanky fingers and my own cheeks. I was scared when I found out I was pregnant, beyond scared that I was not going to be a good enough mother to my own child or the others we would want to have since I knew Joe would want so many more than that. But with me? I was still weaving my way through my own scattered brain, with my good days and my bad days, and he wants children with me? But he did, and after some consideration from him and reassurance that I was going to be good enough, we had our son.

"Come on buddy, right over here!" Joe urged our son to walk over to him and he chuckled as John almost tripped there and I wanted to get up and get him. But Joe beat me to it, swooping up our child within his long arms and John giggled as Joe was peppering him with kisses. Joe was the perfect father in my eyes, helping me in the long nights of tears ad cries from him to the diaper changes and the many hours to occupy him when I would have a shift at work. We both were a tag team together, having me hear the gurgles below me within my own arms and I looked, cocking another grin and seeing the small infant within my arms looking at me.

Our daughter, Jane Liebgott.

She looked more like me with her bright eyes and a light shade of brown that was mixed with blond and almost red there too, chubby cheeks and big eyes that would have me entranced. I loved them both with all my heart, nothing in this world would take me away from my son and daughter, and I knew Joe felt the same as their father. We were making it work with the children, teaching them German and English, knowing that when they were older we would take them to mass and almost let them know they have Jewish ancestors and should be proud. I was hesitant to think that in the future I would have to tell them what happened to me, and it was still eating away at me that I was not allowed to speak about it to anyone or even write it down. But this was enough, my children and m husband as he walked back over with John in his arms.

"I think we got ourselves a runner here," Joe said in a grin as he plopped John down on the blanket and John gurgled, crawling over to a couple of wooden toys we brought for him to play with. Joe sat down next to me, close enough to look down at his daughter and then stroke the stop of her head as she was about to fall asleep again with her blanket and my arms.

"I got a letter from Doc today," I said to him almost hesitantly, seeing him pause in his upstroke of his finger on Jane's skin, her eyes dozing off to sleep and his eyes looking a bit distant now, "He wants to come out and visit, meet Jane and give John his birthday gift."

"Yeah, Grant's girlfriend wrote to me the other day to see if we wanted to go and visit him," Joe said as well as he then looked over at me, having me see the discomfort there on his face. He told me about Grant being shot in the head from a drunken soldier, but how he survived and was now living in the same city as us with a girlfriend. It was a slow recovery, very slow, but a recovery none the less. When Easy Company was mentioned, I could see how Joe was trying to push the thought of going to reunions and get-together away in arm's length. He was not willing to hold not what happened in the war, but it was his own choice. I was trying to get through it myself now, but Joe was more bitter about it.

"You should go see him, I think he would like it since you two were close," I tried to reason with him as I saw Joe look over at our son and ruffle his hair.

"I'm not ready to that yet," He replied almost shortly now, having me know that the conversation was over and done with. This was something I was not going to push with him, not one bit since he would never push me and my own recovery. I at least wanted him to talk to one person from Easy, it would be better than no one at all. Surprisingly, he chose Webster, whom was on the other side of the country in New York and getting a job writing and being a journalist.

"It's still fresh, you know?" He asked me, having me nod in agreement.

"I know it is, but I don't want you to lose all that you had there," I reasoned with him, reaching over with my spare hand and our fingers were together again like the countless times before with our walks in the long night or being close enough to grasp one another to bring one back from another episode or nightmare. It was our safety that we would do for one another, our own kind of peace and reassurance that was the world was still turning and it was still alive. That we were still alive.

"I'll see Grant in a week," I grinned from hearing that from Joe, seeing him look back over at John who was about to wander off the blanket before Joe reached over and grabbed him within arms reach. He placed John in his lap, John giggled and looking up at his father before I saw Joe look over at the Victorian houses along the side the park.

"What to ya think of those houses?" He asked me out of the blue, having me look over at the gray houses. Since the war broke out, they were painted gray, but these days some of them were getting a new color on and they were looking more splendid.

"They're nice," I replied back to him as I started to sway Jane within my arms, seeing him chuckle at me now as he looked from John to me.

"You wanna live in one of them?" he asked me, having em roll my eyes at him.

"As if we can afford it," I joked with him now.

"But what if we can?" I looked from Jane over to Joe, seeing him still holding John close now, but his eyes were no one, showing the seriousness there in his eyes and how his face looked. To him, this was no joke, but I was in a bit of s shock there from what he was saying. I hoped that he was really pulling my leg at this point and not just trying to get a rise out of me.

"Joe, you know we can't." I reasoned with him trying to be light about it.

"Well, I looked at our money and I think that we can," He answered.

"Really now?" I challenged.

"Your nursing money, along with my cab money and the money I make on the side from the haircuts in the barber shop on the weekends, we can pull it off living there." He explained, having me see that he was really thinking about it and going over it over and over again

"And not have an inch of furniture to have in there?" I asked him back now in an amused manner since this was still way beyond impossible for me to think about us being in one of those houses. Our apartment was good enough for me, yet it was cramped enough for two young adults, one toddler, and one infant. But it was still nice, something that I cherished.

"Not to mention the money we saved from the army, plus the money we made from selling some of that jewelry from Zell am See, so we can afford some place like one of those houses….like that one down there on the corner. You see it?" I looked to see where he was looking, pointing with his lanky finger. There on the corner, the last Victorian House that looked just like the others, but unlike the others there, there was no sign of anyone living in it. It didn't take bad really, a fixer-upper in some parts of it, but it was fine none the less.

"What are you saying?" I asked him, looking away from the house and back at Joe who was still grinning at me and John was grabbing at his shirt to get his attention.

"I'm sayin', we should live there. As I recall, you wanted a big family, right?" Joe asked me as he played with John a bit and John was trying to get to him with his toddler feet. Jane gurgled in my arms as I shifted a bit with the thought of us living there, having more children between the two of us and it made me smile slightly from the thought. He was still looking for our future, even in times when I was not seeing in there in front of me myself and too dwelled on the past.

"How big of a family are you talking?" I asked him now with my coy manner, seeing his sly grin as he scooted a bit closer, our son in his lap, as he was about to kiss me but stopped inches away from my lips.

"Plenty to keep us on our toes, my dear wife."

May 17th, 1950

"You better smile for the picture or I'll get a rise out of ya!" I was grinning from the antics that George Luz was trying to do with Joe, on his 35th birthday and we were having a party out at Alamo Square. It was the perfect day for his party and we finally got some of the guys to come out and see him, less than I wanted but some still.

Joe was posing for a picture with Chuck Grant, finally getting his recovery fully done, George Luz and his wife Delvina, David Webster, Babe and his wife Doris and Winters with his own wife. I was sitting with some of the other friends and family that came out, Joe's mother and sisters and a bunch of children running around together along the grass. I could spot John playing with some of his friends and neighbors, playing a tagging game and Jane trying to keep up with him.

"Look at those handsome men over there," Joe's mother said to me as we were sitting together. I had to grin as the picture was taken, the group laughing with each other and the boys congratulating Joe on his birthday. Joe's mother, Anna, was holding my youngest son, Jonathan, as he was sleeping in her arms and I was resting on the blanket and eating some of the cake he took out there for the party.

"Your son is the most handsome, if I do day so myself," I commented back to her, hearing her snicker a bit as she looked down at her grandson in her arms.

"I don't know, your children are going to pass him up," She replied, having me smile and love how she would joke about Joe constantly. She was a good mother to Joe and a great grandmother to her grandchildren, both my own children and the others from Joe's siblings. When I met her after I moved out to San Francisco in late 1945, she was welcoming and kind to me when I smiled at her.

"You know, Georgiana, you have made him beyond happy," She explained softly to me now as I looked from her over to Joe, whom was talking to Webster and they were smiling at each other again. He did look genuinely happy, beyond happy there with his friends there and John was running around him, almost wanting his attention. Joe scooped him up and held him on his hip, Webster telling Hohn something and having me see John giggle in return.

"He's made me happy too," I replied back to Anna as she nodded in agreement, "I don't think I would have gone through what I went through in the war without him." Anna was quiet for a moment as I was looking back at the group, Jane being chased playfully by Luz and Winters was talking to Joe kindly with Joh still in tow.

"Joe told me what happened to you," I looked back at Anne with a bit of shock there on my face. I never explained to my in-laws and relatives on Joe's side of the family what happened to me in the camp, and Joe knew that I was going to try to get over it myself. I never wanted that kind of life to be branded on me for the rest of my life and with my new family. But to hear how Anna said it, softly and not in a bitter manner.

"For someone to go through such a time that could have killed you, and see you survive and still be the beautiful woman that I see now, I'm quite proud to call you my daughter-in-law," She explained to me as she shuffled a bit in her spot there, "I never told you this, nor do I talk about it with my own children and your husband included, but my husband and I fled Austria right after we married in fear of being in danger because of our place as Jews,"

"Joe mentioned being from Austria," I commented back to her softly.

"We never wanted to place our family in danger, in fear that we would be placed in one of those camps like you were. America was the best thing for us, tough, but best for the family," Anna said it with such recognition that it made it seem like it was set in stone now as I heard Jane giggling with Luz tickling her on the ground and seeing her locks of hair flying in the wind.

"You are well loved with our family, and you have more support than you can ever imagine, you know that, Süsse?" (Sweet one) She asked me now, having me nod at her and know that I have more support than I could ever bargain for. I had to smile at her and show her that I did appreciate her as my mother-in-law, hearing someone walking over to me and having me look up. Joe was there, holding John within his arms and John trying to grab me.

"Momma!" He said over and over in a rant.

"You wanna come talk to the guys, plus this one wants his mother more than me," Joe admitted to me, having me look at Anna once more and see her wave me off.

"Go on, I can take care of the little one for right now, go and enjoy," She reassured me, having em finally get up and see John try and reach over to me. I scooped him within my arms and seeing him wrap his arms around my neck and stay close to me and giggle.

"Come here my love, are you giving your father grief?" I asked John now as I snuck in a kiss on his cheek.

"Daddy was playing with me, but he got tired," John admitted to me and I had to laugh at his honesty.

"Well your daddy is old, that's why," I replied, seeing Joe give me a look now as I playfully gave Joe a smirk back,

"Hey, be nice for once!" Joe reported back to me.

"Oh since when am I never nice to you?" I asked him, seeing Joe roll his eyes and sneak in a kiss on my lips, a soft and sweet kiss that reminded me of the first few kisses that we had when we first were together 7 years ago.

"Eeewww, no kissing momma and daddy!" John said in a mocked disgusting tone, having me look over at him now in my arms with a raised eyebrow.

"Should I kiss you then?" I asked, seeing him try and scrum away as I planted a wet kiss on his cheek.

"No momma, no!" He pleaded as Joe giggled and the three of us were walking together across the grass to the rest of the group. Joe has his hand on my lower back and almost guiding me in a way now as I was holding our son.

"There she is, we were wondering where you were," Luz said in a grin as Jane was pulling on his sleeve to play with him. I smiled at him as Delvina came over to me and we hugged side to side.

"How are you, Delvina, keeping up with you husband no doubt?" I asked her now as she giggled and Luz gave a hesitant look.

"What makes you think she can't keep up with me?" Luz asked me in an almost hurt tone though I knew he was playing around.

"Have you looked in the mirror, Luz?" Joe asked him now in a playful way and Delvina shook her head.

"I think he's the one who's trying to keep up with me," She replied back to me, hearing the group around us snicker as Luz kissed her on the head from hearing that with a cheesy grin on his face. They were both cute and compatible together, along with the other men and their wives that they either left behind in the war or found after when we came home.

"Come on, I wanna take a picture of the Liegbott family here," Luz said as he grabbed his camera that was around his neck from its straps and Joe leaned down to grab Jane within his own embrace. The four of us were standing together, Joe and I shoulder to shoulder and our children between the both of us as Luz was getting ready to take and I couldn't help but look at the others who were there with their own families.

They were all getting normal lives, along with happy ones that were filled with regular jobs, children they loved, and a future to look forward to.

Luz took the picture, and it would forever be one of the best pictures I would forever keep and look at for the rest of my life.

Los Angeles

January 31st, 1999

There was a knock at my door, having me look over from my chair that I was sitting in at my hotel room. That day I was doing an interview with Tom Hanks, a young actor who was wanting to retell Easy Company's time in the war and since I was affiliated with the men then, I was asked to come in a do interview with them along with some of the other men who were still alive. My eldest child, John, his wife named Betty and his two children, Joseph and Emma, were living out here in Los Angeles and were going to take me out to lunch later that day after my first interview with the producers of the show. It was still hurting for me to do something like this without Joe, with his passing 7 months ago I was still trying to find more strength to go on with my life up to that point without him.

I got up and walked over to the hotel door, walking a bit slower those days and seeing myself in the mirror as I was walking by. My age, wrinkles that showed my years of coming and going with worry and pain, were there but lightly so into my skin without any real signs of me stressing too much. I was growing out my hair, some of it were mid back now and half up half down in a styled manner. I didn't think I would make it this far along my years of life, not after what I went through. But with 8 children and 9 grandchildren, it seemed a bit in my favor after all.

I opened the door, seeing none other than Dick Winters there, standing at my doorway and looking as healthy as ever for his age. I grinned at him from ear to ear now as he smiled right back at me.

"Hello, Georgiana," He said to me, the youthful smile was still on his face and I leaned over to hug him.

"Good to see you, Dick," I said to him kindly, pulling away as he looked at me up and down.

"You still look youthful, you need to tell me your secret to that," Dick explained to me as I waved him off from his flattery.

"Plenty of walks, and running after my grandchildren when I have the chance," I explained, "Are the rest of the boys here?"

"I saw Babe and Bill downstairs and they're at the bar," Dick explained, having me roll my eyes.

"Of course," I commented.

"I think Bull and Johnny are going to be coming in tonight and we're going to go out for some dinner if you want to join," Dick suggested.

"I would love that, I've missed having the accompany of you boys," I replied, then seeing him look a bit sad about something he was thinking.

"How are you holding up? I know theses past months were a bit rough for you," Dick said to me in a kind tone. Since Joe's death, I've had plenty of phone calls and letters from the other Easy men that were still alive, which was so much more support than I bargain for.

"I've had my good days and bad days, but I think I'll be alright with 8 adult children checking in on me,"I reassured him and I saw him nod in agreement, "I'm still a bit saddened about Doc since he just passed away a month ago."

"It was a hard blow or all of us, Babe called me and let me know since Eugene's wife called him," Dick explained as I then saw him hesitate for a moment. I knew he had something on his mind, it was certain on how he had it written on his face and how he was standing there,

"These producers, the ones that are interviewing us, you think they're gonna ask about you and the camp?" He asked me now, almost tentatively. I had to think about it, since the last time I ever thought about, or even talked about the camp, was years ago when I was talking to Babe on the phone and catching up with him. The more recent years with me being occupied with my children and the other hobbies that I would do since my retirement has made me somehow forget about my time in the war, well, some of it.

The journal that I had in the camp, it was the same journal Joe gave me for Christmas when we first kissed in 1943, that very journal was still in my possession and I brought it with me to this interview in Los Angeles. Those memories, the times I wish I told somebody about it, came and went like the summer breeze and the ocean air. I no longer see it as a burden, what happened to me, but like an old scar that I would happen to recognize and remember from time to time. It was a pivotal time in my life, there in the camp, but it was something I hoped would be voiced for the future either way.

"If they ask, I'll be willing to share," I replied to him in a soft manner, "It's been 50 years now, I wouldn't take any of it back for one second."

Thanks for reading my story! I hoped you all liked it!