Dear Mom, Dad, Betty, and the rest of the family....

....Sorry for the lack of letters. We've been moving around a lot and we're in the middle of a siege. I can't say exactly where, but we're in Belgium.
I'm still alive and well, so Mom, stop worrying.
I have enjoyed the letters I have receiver from you and the scarf from Betty is warming my neck at this very moment.
Since I'm not allowed to tell you where I am, I'll tell you a funny story that happened yesterday.
The Germans sent some of their officers over here with a letter for General McAuliffe demanding out surrender.
The General just said, "Aw, nuts!" and left to write up his reply.
He was having trouble with the wording so one of the boys suggested sending "nuts" to the Germans. So that's what the General did. In big letters he wrote, "NUTS!" on a piece of paper and called me over. He told me to take Ernie, the medic who speaks German, and go deliver the message to the Germans.
When I handed the reply to the German, he read it and then looked up, puzzled. He didn't understand our slang!
He asked, "What does that mean? Is this affirmative or negative?"
"Definitely not affirmative." I replied.
Ernie explained it's general meaning and we left. Boy those Germans sure were angry!
I hope you are all well. Expect more letters as soon as the action dies down.
Have a Merry Christmas! Eat a piece of pie for me.
Your son and brother,
Bud Harper.

That is a paper a had to write for my World War 2 class this week. The assignment was "to write a letter home as if you were in The Battle of the Bulge."
The Battle of the Bulge was Hitler's last offensive during World War 2. His plans were reckless and his senior officers tried to talk him out of it but since he was Hitler, he didn't listen and they didn't dare disobey The Fuhrer.
The things in my letter really happened at a place called Bastogne. The Germans sent a letter to the commanding officer of the American troops demanding surrender. General Anthony McAuliffe said "nuts!" when he read the letter. A nearby soldier suggested sending his initial remark to the Germans as an answer, and the General did.
He called over Joseph "Bud" Harper and told him to take Ernie Premitz and "NUTS!" to the Germans.
When the Germans didn't understand, the two men swore and the Germans understood.
"Nuts" has become one of the most famous sayings from The Battle of the Bulge, and even World War 2.
I tried to do my letter as roughly as possible... That is my first and unedited draft. I will be handing it in to class tomorrow. It's most definitely NOT my best work but I always have trouble with writing letters "home" as if I just fought in some battle.
I would love feedback, but as this is unedited (which is how it's meant to be), and I'm sick, and I scratched my other letter to write this one this morning, don't be too harsh on me please. =)