CHAPTER 13. 10/26/45 TO 1/11/46 WEDDINGS, MEDAL, 3RD CHRISTMAS

26 October ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . Bill and I fought our way through the elements down to the mess. The storm is continuing here at full fury, maybe that is the reason for no mail. The cross channel boats are stopped now so that we didn’t get a Stars & Stripes, and I see where the Queen Mary is sheltering behind some island waiting for the weather to calm down so it can make port. . . . . .

. . . . . I took a copy of my Bronze Star Medal orders over to Tatar at the personnel office, I wanted to make sure it was entered in my personnel record and in my adjusted service rating card. There’s not much use having 5 extra points unless they are officially on the record. . . . . .

. . . . . It is official now that the mess will close with the evening meal Oct. 31st. I don’t know yet where we will eat then, but I imagine we will go back to the Junior Officers Club at 85 Audley Street. I hate to see the Grosvenor House mess close, it was a pleasant place to eat, and they put out good food too. But I’m glad to see any signs that things are folding up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I saw Larry yesterday and he said everything is all set for the wedding, they’re having it at the main altar of the church too, but Mary Jane still isn’t becoming Catholic. . .

27 October ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . We were supposed to have a “conference” at ten, but it was quite a bit later before Col. Reed was free. He spent about three hours telling us what he had seen on his trip to the U.S. That meeting broke up at 1:30, just when I was figuring I would have to slip out anyway. I hurried home and changed my clothes and had a glass of milk for lunch, and then went to meet Larry at his place, I got there right on time at two.

Al Loeb was there in a car with Mrs. Hawkins and Schlagenhoff. Larry soon came out and we went to the church. It is a beautiful church, seemed fairly new, and was a small size copy of the Canterbury Cathedral main altar inside. Schlagenhoff (Slugger) and I ushered, and all there was to the job was just ushering. I sat up in the front row during the ceremony. Larry’s knees were shaking so much at first that I thought he was going to collapse, but he didn’t. Mary Jane was dressed all in white and her gown had a long trail; with her golden blonde hair she made a very beautiful bride.

After the ceremony we all went to Mary Jane’s apartment for the reception. The apartment is a pretty big one, had two large living rooms. and it was jammed with people. They had a big wedding cake, and an ample supply of gin and V.O. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I left about 4:30 and walked on home; I cleaned up a little and then went on to the mess, where I met Jack Walters. We had supper then caught a taxi down to the Haymarket Theater near Picadilly Circus. We saw Oscar Wilde’s play “Lady Windemere’s Fan”. It was pretty good, and the scenery and costumes were really something, especially the negligee that Lady W. wore in the first scene!

After the show we went to the Senior Officers Club and had a drink. That place is closing Oct. 31st too. There was a dance at the S.O.C. and we watched for a while, I even had a dance. I came on home then and undressed, and started on this letter. . . . . . . .

. . . . . It was a pretty exciting day with the wedding and all. I think the kids have a ten day leave for a honeymoon, and when he gets back Larry will have to move out of town. He’ll probably be around England til next Feb. or March, and then they hope to go back home together. Gosh, I hope we can have our honeymoon soon.

During his talk this morning the Col. mentioned that he was waiting to see how Marty and my orders read, the ones putting us on duty with OOMM-Aberdeen, before starting any action to send us home on T.D. He has started action to get Fred made a courier, so he doesn’t have to wait too long for transportation home (that sounds like an almost human act!). The thing that bothers me about this T.D. business is that I’ll probably have to promise to stay in the army for a while if I get to go home. I’m about ready to do anything to get to see you sooner tho, and if Col. Harvey finds out anything about bringing families over here, well, things might turn out OK for us after all. It seems reasonable that they will let families come over here, by next spring, if not before; trouble is of expecting anything reasonable from the army. . . . . . . . . . . .

29 October ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
I’m real happy tonight with all the mail I got today. . . . . and your cable arrived too. I was glad you thought of cabling back, at least now I think that you are not too discouraged, and you’re damn right, we’ll find a way soon!! The Col. keeps mentioning my “trip home” so maybe I sold a bill of goods there after all. I’m glad you found some silver for Larry & Mary Jane. Guess I forgot to tell you that Larry gave me a nice set of silver cuff links for ushering for him. Now if only we could get a chance to go out formal, with your new dress, and I’ll have to buy a tux to go with my cuff links. . .

31 October ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . About ten I went out with Col. Reed, we went to the Ordnance Board. He introduced me to the secretary, a full colonel, and the president, an air vice marshall, and then left me there to attend the Board meeting. It was an interesting experience for me, they are all a bunch of high powered experts on various phases of ordnance, and advise the various development agencies. I’ve met most of the members individually at tests and cocktail parties, but this was the first time I attended one of their formal meetings. The Colonel usually attends them, and is a member, ex-officio, of the Board. . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . After we ate supper, Bill and I caught a bus and went to the Halloween party, and what a brawl that was! It was given by four of the secretaries at the Military Attaché office, and most of the officers and civilians were there, along with some outsiders. They have a house, and it was all decorated in approved Halloween style. There was plenty of food, but of course the big attraction, and focal point of the party, was the bar, with adequate supplies of Seagrams V.O. and bourbon. It wasn’t long before everyone was feeling good and happy, me included, and then everyone was sitting on the floor and singing, not good, but loud. Bill and I left about eleven thirty, and since busses had stopped running by then, we had a long walk to the nearest tube station, and went to Marble Arch, and so home. . . . . . . . . . . . .

2 November ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . Most of morning I read “The Biennial Report of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army (July 1, 1943 to June 30, 1945) to the Secretary of War”. . . . . It is beautifully done up, and from what I’ve read is an excellent summary of the war, tactically and otherwise. . . . . Along with the Smythe report on the Atomic Bomb, it is the most interesting reading I’ve done in a long time. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . I just had a talk with a Naval Bomb Disposal officer that I know; a colonel wants the primers taken out of souvenir cartridge cases, and the army doesn’t have any B.D. here now, so I’m getting the Navy B.D. to do the job. You sure catch some odd jobs to handle!

. . . . . I got your swell letters of Oct. 24 & 25, they slipped in on the last mail delivery of the day, and I’m awful glad they did. I think tho that you have some poor G-2 (intelligence) on this business of coming over here, and it is probably my fault, ‘cause I haven’t explained it clearly, if at all. As far as I know the transportation coming this way is plenty easy, either by air or by boat, if you can get a passport, which is issued by the State Dept. The trouble is the State Dept. will not issue passports to wives of army personnel stationed over here. . . . . I’d like to know Charlie’s source of information about wives being allowed to come to England soon after the first of the year. . . . . Frankly I think he is stating a rumor as fact, so don’t pin your hopes on that. God knows I hope he is right!! . . . . . . . . . . . .

4 November ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
Hello sweetheart, happy anniversary! A little rapid mental calculation tells me that it is just 40 months now since we became man and wife, and I think it’s about time we started celebrating some of these anniversaries together again, don’t you!! Guess we aren’t as bad off as Marty and his wife tho, I was talking with him today, and he had just four days with his wife, and he has been over here 2 years. . . . . Guess we were lucky to have had as much time together as we did. I’m glad we were married when we were, tho, looking back on it, we were plenty foolish, or maybe foolhardy is a better word, ‘cause we certainly had no assurance that I could support you. We’ve still got a critical period to go through, but now we have some cash to back us up. . . . . . . .

. . . . . I said to Marty “Lets go out to Windsor”, and he said “OK”. . . . . We caught a taxi to Waterloo Station, it’s about an hour train ride, and we got there about 3:30. We walked to the castle and looked around; it is a very big place, and looks like a castle should. You couldn’t get inside tho, so there wasn’t too much to see. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5 November ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . I walked to the mess for breakfast, and it was a longer walk than usual, ‘cause today was the day that the mess moved from the Grosvenor House to 85 Audley, which is 4 or 5 blocks farther on. Had a good meal there, two fresh eggs, cereal, toast, coffee, & juice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bill, Marty, and I went down to the mess for lunch, had a beer at the bar, and then went upstairs to eat. They have it arranged so that you are served cafeteria style, like at the Grosvenor mess, but instead of one large dining room, they have the tables scattered through several small rooms. The house is a converted club, but not a very elaborate one, it is quite old, and not too big. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . In the middle of the afternoon Bill, Marty, and I walked over to take a look at the building we are supposed to move into sometime in the near future. .

. . . . . After supper I went back to the office to do some work in the photo lab. . . . . I also printed a picture for Brig. Lickman, one I’d taken of him quite a while ago, and he wanted some more copies. I’m going to Shoeburyness this Wednesday, and wanted to take them with me. . . . . .

. . . . . This is Guy Fawkes day here, and there were a lot of kids out on the streets, all costumed up, sort of like Halloween at home, and you can hear fireworks going off. . . . . . . . . . . .

6 November ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I spent the first part of the morning conferring with the Colonel. We finally got up a letter and sent it to General Barnes which we figure will get Jean Teas over here post haste (I hope). Nothing new on me going home tho. . . . . . . . (Jean didn’t come)

. . . . . After supper Bill and I caught a taxi down to St. James Theater to see “Wind of Heaven”. It was a good play, some fine acting, and best lighting effects I’ve seen in a play here. The author was a triple threat man, he also directed and played a leading role. . . . . . . . . .

7 November ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I redid the silver in a little tissue paper so it would look pretty. . . . . I walked over to Mary Jane’s apartment and gave her the present; she seemed to really appreciate it, it is the only silver of her pattern that she has here. Her mother gave her a lot for a wedding present, but that is all in the U.S. . . . They got back from their honeymoon a couple days ago, and Larry went right on to his new post out of town. . . . . . . .

9 November ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . About 4:30 we all left and went over to General Tindall’s office for the presentation of medals. There was a big crowd, the room was overflowing with people from the M.A. office and outsiders who had been invited in. There were quite a few medals presented; first they lined up Col. Reed, General Van Vorst, Col. Lee, Maj. Rutledge, and a couple others. Col. Reed got the Legion of Merit, and the rest got Bronze Stars. Col. Weedon read the citations, and General Tindall pinned the medals on. Then Bill, Marty, Fred, and I lined up; Col. Weedon read the citations again, and Gen. Tindall went down the line, he would pin the medal on and then step back and offer his hand and congratulations. It was done up pretty nice and made a good ceremony.

After our presentation the General pinned some ribbons on some of the secretaries, which they got for six months service overseas. There was a photographer, and tho he didn’t take a picture when the medal was pinned on me, we had a couple of group pictures of the Ordnance gang which were taken after the ceremony , so I should have them to send on to you after a while. (One group photograph is shown in 1. Prologue)

We got a very nice looking case that the medal came in, and there was a ribbon, and a small buttonhole ornament with a replica of the Bronze Star Medal ribbon. I’ll probably keep the ribbon, and send the medal on to you. The Bronze Star medal isn’t much, they have given out so darn many of them, but it is nice to have some recognition for all the work we did.

General Tindall had one of his cocktail parties after the medal presentations, had the usual surplus of bourbon and V.O. and a darned good ham. We stayed there til about seven, and then a bunch of us went over to the mess, Angus, Walters, Bill, Marty, and a major whose name I forget. We had supper of fried fish, and then went on to Angus’s apartment. He had some champagne that he opened on the occasion, and we made quick work of that. . . . . . . .

13 November ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I heard some interesting news today; the date on which they are planning to allow families to go to Germany and France is March 1, and I suppose that will hold for England too, tho that’s not certain. That date can be changed, especially since “Ike” isn’t supposed to be in charge here much longer, and the new theater commander may have different ideas on the subject, but that is the closest thing to an official statement of when it will be that I’ve heard. That news has not been published yet that I know of, probably due to the possibility of it being changed, but I got it from a reliable source, so I pass it on as a grade “A” rumor. . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . Things are still all indefinite about me coming home on T.D., or getting discharged, aren’t they! I wish I could find out definitely what the various prospects are, but don’t suppose I ever will in this man’s army. If I can get home on T.D. about February, and bring you back with me and then stay for six months to a year, would you like that plan, or would you rather I stick it out and wait for discharge? It would be a good chance for you to see England, and while living here is expensive as the devil, we should be able to live on a major’s salary without dipping into our savings any. One big difficulty of that idea is that we wouldn’t be able to start on our family til later. I think what I will do is jump at the first chance I get to see you, no matter what it is!! . . . .

14 November ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . As far as what I do here goes, maybe I can give you some idea. I thought I had told you before, but it probably wasn’t clear (as if this will be!). Our main job is following British developments in the field of ordnance, and reporting on interesting items to the States. The field of ordnance is pretty large for just 5 fellows to cover, Bill concentrates on tanks, Marty on rockets, Fred on small arms, the Col. on bombs and overall. My field is artillery, fire control, ballistics, fuses, and (it seems to me) any other odd thing that comes up.

Along with the job we arrange visits for various specialists from the States who come over on specific jobs, and there seems to always be 4 or 5 of them around all the time. . . . . . So there is a job here as long as the British are doing development work and the U.S. is interested in exchanging information. How many men are required? Apparently the Col. doesn’t want it reduced any! . . .

16 November ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . After supper I walked up to Oxford St. and caught a bus down to Haymarket St. near Picadilly Circus. I went to see “Road to Utopia”; there was a queue waiting to get in, and I joined it, but got in right away by means of being a “single”. It was the usual good and funny Hope, Crosby, Lamour “Road” picture, and I got some good laughs out of it. . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . I had a look at some of those magical orders that direct you to go home and be separated from the service, but my name wasn’t on them, damn it!! They were Fred’s, and he should get away about the first of December. What a difference a few points can make, he has 86. . . . . . I wish they’d hurry up and lower the point score for officers, ‘cause it appears now that once you have the critical score they can’t hold you for more than two months if you don’t want to stay longer. . . . . . . I’m glad to see Fred get home, but I can’t help being a little jealous ‘cause he’s only been overseas a year and a half. He gets all his points from being in the service since before Pearl Harbor. . . . . . . . . . . . .

19 November ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
I’m getting a late start on this letter ‘cause now it is Tuesday morning and I’m at the office. I’m afraid I wasn’t in any condition to do any writing last night, a result of trying to do a little drinking with the Navy. . . . . .

. . . . . At ten Lt. Smith of the Navy called, and I went downstairs to meet him. I took along some cartridge cases that a friend of the Col. wanted deactivated, the primers in them had to be fired, and we were taking them along so the British bomb disposal men could do it for us. Smitty had his jeep and there were two British officers and another Navy officer along too, so we had a jeep full. We drove down to Tunbridge Wells, about 30 miles south east of London, where we went to the HQ of a bomb disposal outfit. We talked with them for a while, and then went to the local pub to “drink our lunch”; I must have had five beers before we ate. We had a good meal too, tho by that time probably anything would have tasted good. After lunch we went back to the HQ, and then on to their mess with one of the British officers. There we had several gin drinks, then Smitty and the other Navy officer and I headed back to London. We got to the mess about six; I stayed there just a few minutes, ’cause by that time I had gotten good and sick. I walked on home, via the office where I found your letter waiting for me. I got home about seven and went to bed and to sleep. So it wasn’t a very satisfactory day, too darned much to drink! . . . . . . . . . .

20 November ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I read my Stars and Stripes and was disappointed when I read the story about the new point scores to come into effect Dec. 1, ‘cause it didn’t help me out one bit. I thought when they dropped the score for officers it would surely drop to 70, dropping it to 73 doesn’t help at all. I hope since they dropped it such a small amount that it means there will be another drop soon; surely the next one will include me! . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . I got copies of the orders transferring me to Ordnance Overseas Maintenance & Modification detachment at Aberdeen, on detached service at Office of the Military Attaché, London. It doesn’t change things any for me. . . . . . . .

. . . . . A cable was sent to Washington requesting an air priority for Marty to go to the States on T.D. for 30 days. Marty has well over the critical score, and he is using that advantage to bargain with the Colonel, so he’ll probably get home almost right away. The reason he wants to stay in the army at all is that some preliminary arrangements have been made for him to go to Cal Tech next fall and study for his Ph.D., on army pay. So he isn’t too anxious to get out now. Boy, if I only had a position like his!! I think I’d just take the discharge tho, to heck with fooling around with the army!. . .

. . . . . Fred is due to leave tomorrow to catch the Queen Mary home. . . . .

21 November ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . The Colonel came in and said it was time to get going. I went downstairs and soon the rest of the party arrived. We had two cars full, a Brigadier General, two Colonels, two Majors, and one half-Colonel. I navigated the General’s car, and the Colonel went in the other one, ‘cause we were the only two who knew the way and it was too foggy to have one car follow the other. It was so foggy by then that it was almost impossible to find the way, but we got to the plant in SE London about 2:30. We spent about a half hour looking at some equipment. The firm does some experimental work for the army, but their chief business now is making cigarette packaging machinery. As a sidelight we saw one of those machines, and boy what a Rube Goldberg affair that is, does practically everything except part your hair.

When we came out of the shop it was pitch black out; I thought we had been inside longer, but my watch said a little after three, and I swear it was dark as midnight out. We started back to Grosvenor Square, and it was pretty slow going ‘cause visibility was practically zero. We made it OK, and didn’t once get off the correct route. Saw a pretty good smash up on the way; as we passed it looked like two streetcar trains had accordioned a car between them. . .

22 November ‘45 Thursday Thanksgiving My darling wife;
Happy Thanksgiving darling! I trust that you are well stuffed with turkey, cranberries, and all the rest by this time. I am, or rather, I was earlier today, but that was long ago so I am almost hungry again now. Sure wish I could have been with you today, and every other day too, but these holidays are somehow a little worse.

Remember our first Thanksgiving together? We hadn’t known each other very long then, and as I remember it, I was kinda scared of going up to Sacramento to visit at your house, but I’m glad that I went! When was the Ball, the night before, or Thanksgiving night? Anyway it was a darned nice visit, and the only Thanksgiving we’ve been together. Anyway we can be about as sure of being together next year as you can be sure of anything! . . .

. . . . . I awoke with the alarm about nine, and it was so dark out that I thought the clock must be wrong, but it wasn’t, it was just the fog that was still around darkening the day. It didn’t last much longer tho, it changed to rain about ten, and was a lot brighter, tho slightly damper. . .

. . . . . Bill and Jim went to the services at the Catholic Church, and it started at ten, so they had to get ready earlier. I finally got cleaned up and dressed, and then caught a bus down to Westminster Abbey. I got there a little late, before the services started, but “ticket holders are requested to be seated by 10:45”, so being late I didn’t get a very good seat, but I did get in OK. It was a good service, (Ambassador) Winant read the Presidential Thanksgiving proclamation and the Archbishop of Canterbury delivered the sermon. They had some good choir singing and organ music. . .

. . . . . I walked up to the mess, it had stopped raining by then and was comparatively clear. I got to the mess about 12:30, met Bill, Marty, and Blakeney there. I had a couple glasses of sherry with them, and we finally went upstairs to eat. Had turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and so forth, all the trimmings! And I really stuffed myself. . .

. . . . . After dinner Bill and I walked down to the Leicester Sq. area to see a movie; we saw “Love Letters”. It was a darned good show, some good acting, I thought. I like most of the movies I see tho, guess I’m just not very critical of them. It was a very long show too; they had just the one feature, but they had a newsreel, a propaganda short, two cartoons, and a long English “short” picture. That last is worth a comment, I’ve never seen anything so boring and dragged out before, and I hope never again. It was called “It’s Time for Tea”, and started out giving data on how the “tea” habit developed in England, and then went on to show how tea is grown and prepared. When that had gone on for twenty minutes (seemed longer) and you thought the damned thing must end soon, they did a quick switch with a cube of sugar and started to show how the sugar was grown and prepared. We were just about getting set for a discourse on dairy farming, but they didn’t bring that up, must have been an oversight! . .

. . . . . Darling I sure wish I could go crawl in beside you and cuddle with you and catch up on some loving, then I would be really thankful! I miss you so very much darling, with all my heart. I want you and only you, and want you so much that it hurts. Goodnight my darling wife, I love you. I adore you. I love you!! All my love and kisses, Glenn

23 November ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . The nurse took one look at my immunization register, and a wild gleam came into her eyes as she said “Oh, you need this, and this, and this, and an influenza shot too”!! I held out for just one shot at a time tho, and so we settled on typhoid. And now I wish I’d tried one of the others! I’ll get around to taking the others later. . .

24 November ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . About ten, when Marty was out of the office, the Embassy signals office called for him and said the cable he had been waiting for had come in, which was the one authorizing his T.D. in the States. It seemed like an ideal spot for a practical joke, so I went over to the signals office and picked up the cable, and had the gal there type me up another one saying that the T.D. was disapproved. I took the fake cable back and had one of the secretaries deliver it to Marty. His jaw fell about two inches when he read it, and then I gave him the real one. With the cable he was able to get orders cut, and an air priority, so he’ll probably be on his way home within a couple of days for 30 days T.D. and 20 days leave. . .


. . . . . Bill and I are sort of jealous to see him go first, ‘cause we’ve both been over here longer, but then Bill is R.A., and I don’t have enough points, so neither of us is in Marty’s bargaining position. . .

29 November ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . Bill stopped at a British post office and got some air mail stamps; I’ve heard of people using that & they say it is fast, 4 or 5 days, so I’ll experiment, starting with this letter. It is expensive, 1/3 ($0.25), but worth it if it breaks the APO blockade. . .

4 December ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
Happy anniversary darling; lets see if I can figure out which one it is, and that is getting to be higher mathematics now, must be 41. Only trouble with that is the proportion of time spent with you to the time spent away from you is getting worse all the time, and I want to be back with you so we can celebrate some of these days together, and build up a little on the credit side of the ledger!

. . . . . At lunch I sat with a couple of officers who almost made me sick with their English accents and eating with fork in the left hand; I expected to see handkerchiefs tucked up their left coat sleeves, but didn’t. I suppose we can’t help but pick up some British words and habits, but these guys who go all out for copying the English sound so damned affected, and I don’t like it . . .

. . . . . I got a car to take me down to the station hospital. I got my typhus shot, and found out I don’t need a tetanus shot, so the only thing left to bring me up to date is the influenza shot. I’ll get around to taking that one of these days. My arm is a little sore now, but not too bad, guess I’ll live
.
. . . . . After supper we came on home, here I took off my coat and blouse and sat down to read the newspapers and listen to the radio. We had today’s Stars & Stripes, which came this evening, an European edition of the Herald Tribune, and a British newspaper. Then I read a couple of Runyan short stories. . .

6 December ‘45 Thursday My darling;
. . . . . About eight I put my blouse back on and donned my overcoat and walked over to the Hawkins apartment. Bobbie was there, and her younger sister, and a gal friend. I gave Bobbie the wedding present, and then had a drink with them, and talked for a while. Bobbie’s parents came in before I left. Bobbie’s dad got back from the U.S. last weekend; They were afraid he wasn’t going to get back in time for the wedding. . .

. . . . . It is kind of exciting to be in on so many weddings (all of 2) lately. I’m afraid that all that happened at our wedding passed me by ‘cause I was so excited and scared. That seems like a long time ago now. This life over here seems like another life, separate from our time together, and confidentially I don’t like it one bit!! . . .

8 December ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . I dressed in my best bib and tucker, or rather, blouse and pinks, complete with ribbons, and buttons shined (a little). . . . . . At ten I walked to Al’s apartment, he lives at the Park West which is across the street from my apartment. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, except the flowers hadn’t arrived at the bride’s place yet, so Al was tearing his hair about that. About 10:30 Slugger, Al, and I left his apartment; had a big seven passenger Embassy car with driver. We went to the florist first, and they assured us that the flowers had been delivered by then, so we went on to the church.

It was a clear day with just a little haze, but bitterly cold. It was below freezing last night, and it wasn’t much above that at eleven in the morning. There wasn’t anywhere near as large a crowd as I had expected, but Slugger and I got them “ushed”, and then after the bride and her dad went down the aisle, we took a seat up in the front row. It was a nuptial mass, and was a very elaborate and impressive ceremony. It was the first time I’ve been to a mass, and I didn’t know what was going on half the time. The marriage ceremony took place first, then they went off into another room where a civil ceremony was performed, then came back and the mass continued. It took an hour before the service was over, and I sat there shivering the whole time.

Bobbie, like most women on their wedding day, looked very nice, she had a long white dress with white veil. The bridegroom wore O.D.! Larry was best man, and Bobbie’s younger sister Kay was maid of honor. It was a very nice wedding. After the picture snapping on the church steps we went to the Hawkins apartment for the reception. There was a big crowd at the reception; we ate and drank a very innocuous tasting punch, but it must have been loaded with dynamite, ‘cause it sure hit me. The ambassador was there, and I talked with him a while. He was telling that he had missed out on that fun ‘cause his daughter had eloped, and then informed him by telegram of the marriage.

It was a very good party, and it wasn’t long before the punch took effect. I walked home about three and got a little on the sick side, and after I threw up some of the liquor, and got the room to stand still, i went to bed and to sleep. My alarm went off at five, and Bill came in about the same time, so with their combined efforts I got up. I still wasn’t feeling so good, but after drinking some tomato juice I felt better.

I dressed, and then about six Bill and I left for the play; we had tickets for “The First Gentleman” at the Savoy Theater. It was about the prince regent before Queen Victoria’s time in the 1820’s, and had some darned good acting. Reading Strachey’s “Queen Victoria” recently, I knew more about the story too.

We caught a bus back to the apartment. I was feeling almost whole by then, but hungry. We had a lamb roast, and we cooked that, and had baked potatoes, soup, and applesauce, prepared from the dehydrated stuff you sent. It was very good too, and went well with the lamb. . .

10 December ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . The Colonel cut loose with some Christmas rations of liquor today, we each got three bottles. I got one wine, one rye, and one bourbon. So that should set us up pretty good for holiday “spirits”. . .

. . . . . We were talking about overseas bars today, and I asked the Colonel why he didn’t put his on. He said, yes he could wear 4 chevrons and 4 bars now, and I countered with “don’t forget you have to knock a couple of those off for time spent in the States”, which is true, he has spent about a year of the last four at home! Maybe not that much, but seven months that I know of. About the same time Bill and I hit him up about a trip back home, but without much result, he said something to the effect that after Marty got back then one of us could go.

That isn’t too much help. Seems like something is bound to happen so that we will be together about March, but it is this damned indefiniteness that is so hard to take. If only we could get a definite date, I think it would be a lot easier. We have felt for so long that something would soon happen, and nothing has, and we are still planning on “three months more”, which if you remember is what I thought was possible on VE Day! It all adds up to a severe distrust of rumors and indefinite promises, so even if I feel that March is about the date, I’d like someone with authority to tell me “March 15 you’ll leave for home”, or something definite like that. Then I could start marking the days off, and feel that something is being accomplished, instead of just approaching another date when it will be “three months more”.

I’m not too discouraged now, ‘cause I honestly believe the time is approaching when we will be together again. . . .

. . . . . I was sure glad to get your letters, and as you said, if a letter can do so much, think of what a real visit would do for us. . .

12 December ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I decided to go see a show, but Bill didn’t want to, so I left him at the mess. I walked down to Picadilly St. and caught a bus on to Leicester Square, got there a little before seven. There was a long “queue” for “Wonder Man”, but I got in it and waited. Wherever you get a line of people in that area you find a lot of street entertainers or beggars plying their trade. First there was a couple with a player piano on a wheelbarrow like contraption who played a while and then passed the hat along the queue. While they were still “working”, another small group formed up in the background, and when the duo carted their piano off to another spot, they took over. And so it goes. . .

13 December ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . Bill and I got to the mess about 8:45, a little early for us, but we ran into the Colonel coming out as we went in. He greeted us with a cheery “good afternoon”; we pretty much feel that if he doesn’t like it he can send us home! . . .

. . . . . On the way home we stopped by the Odeon Theater at Marble Arch; they are having the “Royal World’s Premier” of Caesar & Cleopatra there tonight. It is a British movie with Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains and has set a record over here for time and money spent making it. There was a big crowd out front watching the celebrities arrive, and traffic was all snarled up around that corner. We couldn’t see anything tho, so we came on home. . .

. . . . . I wish I could get some news on when I’ll get home. I miss you so very much darling, it has been such a long time, and I’m sick of this life over here, have been for a long time. It would probably be great to be here if I weren’t married to you, but as it is all I want is to be with you, and nothing is any fun when I’m alone. But don’t for a second get the impression I’m sorry we are married, nothing could be farther from the truth. That year with you gave me a glimpse of what heaven life can be, and I’m sure it can be even better in the future. We were always under such a strain when we were together ‘cause we never knew what the army was going to do with us next. It’ll probably be somewhat the same when I’m out of the army, with job and family and all to worry about, but at least then we can be free from the feeling that tomorrow may bring orders separating us. We’re going to have so much fun together sweetheart, and we can’t ever let anything spoil it! . . .

15 December ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
I’m sitting here this afternoon dressed like a full fledged civilian, and it feels good too. I got out my blue suit and put it on, and it fits pretty good yet. About all that is needed is to move the buttons of the coat about an inch so I can button it, guess I must have put on some weight lately, even tho the scales say not, or maybe some of my weight has shifted to my stomach. . .

. . . . . After Bill called I got dressed, in uniform again, and went down to the International Sports Club to meet him. We went to watch the Colonel play squash. He is darn good at the game, but his opponent, who was formerly British and U.S. women’s squash champion, ran him ragged and beat him with ease. . .

19 December ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . Bill has had a couple of letters from George Drury. He is on terminal leave now and is married. He said that Saint was married too, and that Steve Rousch is out of the army. Guess all those battle stars those boys picked up with First Army really paid off. . .

22 December ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
It is Sunday PM, so I’m getting a late start on our visit again. Let’s get on with “my day” for yesterday, and it was one of the best days I’ve had in years!! I haven’t felt so good in a long time, and the reason was all a little article in the Stars & Stripes, Friday’s, saying that officers with 70 points are eligible for discharge Jan. 1!!!! That’s the second best Christmas present that I could possibly have, and I suppose that you have heard about it too, so this should be a happy Christmas for us. It hardly seems possible, even tho we have been waiting so long, and have been expecting it any month; anyway, my morale went up several hundred percent. So now our target date is March, and we can hope that the Colonel will release me sooner, so far he has been very non committal on that.

Gosh, I’m happy darling! I’m sure these next two months will go fast, and it will be no time at all before we’re together again, and it will be Mr. Burke. Of course it is still just a newspaper story, but I don’t see how we can miss, and I’m feeling so good I wont even consider anything going wrong, it just can’t!! I’m even being optimistic and hoping that since he’ll have to let me go March 1, that the Colonel will release me sooner; I don’t think that I’ll bank too much on that tho!! Don’t mind me if I rave on and on about this subject, it’s just that it is all that I can think of. . .

. . . . . At the PX I also bought the S&S and that story caught my eye right away, and I began to glow and got a big grin on my face. I went back to the office, Bill was there, the Frankfurt plane had been weathered out. Then I told the Colonel about the story, all he said tho was “have you applied for discharge yet?”. . .

. . . . . I went to see the doc and he looked at my throat and said it was all OK, so I guess the sulfa worked after all. . .

23 December ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
Hello sweetheart, how’s about sitting on my lap, and let’s have our visit!! That may be a little hard to do tonight, but at least we know now that it won’t be too much longer before we can have our visits in person again! My excitement over that hasn’t worn off even a little bit, I’m still walking on air!! Now I’m anxious to see if I can’t leave a lot before the sixty days that they can hold me, I hope so! Maybe we can do our skiing in Calif. in February instead of in Switzerland. But all I’m really counting on now is being home in March, and nothing had better go wrong with that!! . . .

. . . . . Bill and Col. Langdon awoke me with their noise when they left at some ungodly hour this morning to catch the boat-train to Frankfurt, but I didn’t stay awake long. . . . . . . . . . . . . . About 4:30 I decided it would be a good idea to go out and get some fresh air, so I went for a walk. I had to take a little water mixed with my fresh air, but it wasn’t raining very hard, and I felt a lot better by time I got back. I had worked up an appetite too, so I cooked some supper. The maid had gotten us a very nice beef roast Saturday, and I had to cook it anyway, or it would spoil, but it was more of a size for six instead of one! I peeled some potatoes and carrots and roasted them along with the meat. Had coffee and fruit cake to round out the meal. . . . . .
. . . . . We’ll have to start making some plans, now that we have some idea when I’ll be home, gosh I feel good about that. It has been so awful long since I’ve been with you, do you think we can find someone who can introduce us, someone to say “Glenn, I’d like you to meet your wife”!! I love you so very much darling, and want to be with you every minute. Goodnight my darling adorable wife, I love you!! All my love and kisses, Glenn

24 December 45 ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . On the way back from the mess I ran into Nick Harvey and talked with him for a few minutes. He just got back from the States yesterday, and from what I gathered from him, nothing is definite about bringing wives over here, he seemed disgusted about the way they are running things in Washington. . .

. . . . . I keep remembering now our Christmas eve together, the only one so far. It was a lot of fun, like everything I do with you. I can’t remember now who that fellow was who came over, all I remember about him is that he was in my class at Aberdeen and was a “high ranking” 1st Lt. He left early tho, and then we went to the midnight service at the church across the street. That was a “white Christmas” too, wasn’t it? We had a lot of fun in Havre de Grace, even tho there wasn’t much to do except play gin rummy. I love you so much darling, all I ask is to be with you, and it looks at last like it won’t be long before we are back together again. I can hardly believe it! It’ll seem a lot more real to me too when I have the orders in hand, guess til then I’ll be a little pessimistic, but only from three years experience with the army. . .

. . . . . Hello again darling, it’s 3 AM now and I should be in bed, but I thought I’d add a line or two to this. After I signed off above I cleaned up some and fixed myself a couple of cheese sandwiches, and then dressed and went over to Larry and Mary Jane’s apartment. Al & Bobbie were there, and Slugger, and Mr. & Mrs. Hawkins, and Bobbie’s sister, and Mary Jane’s roommate, and two medical corps officers. Larry quick like fed me about three fingers of straight bourbon, and before I had finished that Al put a cup of Tom & Jerry in my other hand, and I had finished those before I noticed that hardly anyone else was drinking, except Slugger. Most of them were going to take communion at the service tonight, and that was the reason for the abstinence. Mr. & Mrs. Hawkins and the two medical officers left soon after I got there. We sat and sang carols and played records until about eleven and then left for the church.

It was only a short walk so I wondered about leaving so early for a midnight service, but when we got to the church I saw the reason; there was a long line, and it got much longer while we were waiting. As it was we got good seats, and if we had been much later we wouldn’t have gotten seats at all. It was a beautiful night out, clear skies, and a moon just coming up, and not very cold at all.

We started moving in about 11:40 and we got seats where we could see what was going on. The church was St. James, where both Larry and Al were married. The mass was all a mystery to me, but they had a very good choir, and most of the service was sung. It was a long service, started at twelve and lasted til almost 1:30. It was a very pretty and impressive service, and that church is really nice looking inside. It looks like it was built of marble, and not old at all, compared with some of the others around here anyway. It looks clean and bright, while Westminster Abbey and St. Pauls are dull and gray.

After the service we walked up to Al & Bobbie’s apartment; there we had more Tom & Jerries, and then had pancakes, bacon, and coffee. Now I’m going to go put the body to bed, I hope I dream of you, I miss you and want you so very much darling. Soon we’ll be together again tho, and can make up for some of this time we’ve been apart! . . .

25 December ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
Merry Christmas darling. My day started out right this morning ‘cause when I got up and went to pick up the paper I found instead your telegram and your Dec. 18 commercial air mail letter! They were a pleasant surprise, and that letter is about a week later than any other that I’ve had. Looks like you got the news about the point lowering a lot sooner than I did, since you knew about it on Wednesday, and I didn’t find out til Saturday. I’m still walking on air, and probably will be for quite a while. . .

. . . . . About 1:30 I walked down to the mess, I met Slugger there and we ate, had a good turkey dinner with all the trimmings. After we ate we had a couple of drinks at the bar, it was open all afternoon. Then a little before four I caught a bus down to the hospital and paid Angus a visit. He still has about ten days in the hospital, but they are moving him tomorrow to a hospital way out of town ‘cause that one is closing. . .

29 December ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . I got to the party about eight and had a very interesting time there. The Red Cross gal is an American citizen, but has been in Europe most of her life, and I guess her accent is Polish. Her mother is Polish and her father is U.S. , but taught at a university in Poland. Her mother and father were there, and most of the guests were Polish exiles. I had quite a long talk with a former Polish consulate general, and he was very emphatic in his opinion that soon England and the U.S. would have to fight Russia. They would hear nothing that was good about Russia. It was interesting to get their point of view, even tho I just can’t believe what he was preaching was true. . .

30 December ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
I’m a little late, ‘cause it is now Monday, but I ought to be up to date pretty soon. . .

. . . . . Nick Harvey had asked me to drive down to Salisbury with him, and I had said “yes, if it is a nice day”. Well, about 9:30 my phone rang, awakening me, and it was Nick. The sun was shining bright, so we decided to go on. He hadn’t had breakfast yet, so I invited him to come up and have breakfast with me. I got up and turned on the stove and started fixing coffee and pancakes. Nick came pretty soon, and I fried up some bacon and pancakes and had toast and coffee to go with them. Nick went to get the car and I shaved and dressed.

We left about eleven, it was a little foggy and hazy in London, but the sun was shining and as soon as we got out into the country it was bright and the skies were blue, it was pretty cold tho. . . . . . When we were gong through Andover Nick decided to stop and see some friends; they had a very nice home, and we were invited in. The fellow is an Air Vice Marshall, and his wife and their daughter were there. We had a very nice visit with them, they brought out some sherry, and when we would finish a glass they would say “now how about the other half”. I had three “halves” that way.

We left there and went on to Stonehenge, got out and looked at the rocks, and then went on to Salisbury, saw the Cathedral first. It is a very beautiful place, large, and well kept up. It was started in 1220, so is ancient too. It was beautifully designed, with simple lines for a Cathedral. We got there as a service was ending and heard the choir singing, and when the service was over we had a look around. One of the men took great pleasure in escorting us and pointing out all the points of interest. I learned such facts as: there is a window for each day of the year, a column for each hour of the year, and an entrance for each moon of the year. I didn’t bring up the question of what they did on leap years!

From the Cathedral we went on to deliver the packages that General Peabody had sent over with Nick. He used to be Military Attaché here up til about a year ago, and now is chief of M.A.s in Washington. The family we went to see was a British Major General, his wife, her sister, his daughter, and three pekes. They had a big old home, part of it as old as the Cathedral, I was told. We had “tea” with them and another nice visit.

We left about 6:30 to come back to London; it was dark by then and soon we started running into fog. It was in patches tho, or we never would have gotten back to London. We would sail along nicely for a while, and then we would suddenly hit a wall of fog, and have to inch along til we got through it. And the closer we got to London, the more often we’d hit fog, and the denser it would be. Anyway, we got back about ten and went to my apartment and had a drink and thawed out in front of the fire for a while. Then we took the car to the garage and walked on to the Nurses Club for a snack. Then I walked home; the fog had really settled down in earnest, and even with street lighting you couldn’t see but about five feet in front of you. It was a real London fog, a pea souper!. . .

New Year’s Eve ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
Just a few more hours to go and this year will be over, and ‘46 will be with us, a new year and a better year, ‘cause we will be together through most of it. So lets drink a toast now to ‘45, it could have been, but it wasn’t! It was a year lost to me, one meaningless ‘cause we weren’t together. The only value that I can see in it is that it brought us closer together, while keeping us apart. A lot happened in ‘45, the end of two wars, that led us to where we are now, only two months apart. But there were 365 wasted days and nights, and those are hard to forget and ignore. However, I’m sure that all this time apart will fade into nothing when we are together again. And we can take up where we left off so long ago, wiser, but just as much in love. Darling I’ve missed you so much, and all this time the only thing that has mattered to me is that we are man and wife, and that some day we will be together again.

Well, now that day is rapidly approaching, after all, what is two months, when you compare it with thirty, or thirty one, as it will be by then, thirty one, plus, months and days and nights that are gone and will never return, but will leave us wiser in the knowledge of how much our love and being together means to us. What did Omar Kyhan say, “The moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on. And all your piety nor wit can lure it back to cancel half a line, nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.” But what is left unsaid is that the moving finger leaves a blazing message that is indelible in our hearts and will serve as a reminder later that life together is heaven, and apart it is hell!! Well, two months more of hell, and we will be together again, and that promise of things to come, and a definite date will carry us on wings that will make the time fly. .

. . . . . This afternoon I had a message from Larry; I called him at Al Loeb’s and then went to see him. We had a couple of drinks with Al & Bobbie, and then came to my apt. and had another one. Larry is leaving tomorrow to catch a boat for stateside! So the next time I see him will be at home, and maybe you’ll be along with me when we call on him and Mary Jane. She’s going back about the middle of Feb.

After Larry left I took a bath and then sat down to start this letter. About all I’ve left out of “my day” is my talk with Col. Reed. I got a chance to talk with him today, and I’ll be here til March 1, as I suspected. He wants me to stay in the army for a while, gave me quite a talk on it. So I said let’s wait and see. He is going to write, or cable, for me to return to the U.S. about March 1 on a duty status instead of for discharge, and then when I get there I can see what they have to offer. It wouldn’t be a bad deal to stay in the army in the States for a while, at a major’s pay. So I think I’ll string along and see what happens. I’ll get home just as soon as I would anyway, and then when I get there I’d probably get 30 days TD at home for “rest and recuperation”, which wouldn’t count against my accumulated leave, and then if they can offer me some interesting job, I might take that. I haven’t been too hot about staying in the army, and I still am not, but this deal sounds like it might have some possibilities. For one thing, this major’s pay isn’t hay, and we can be socking it away while we look around. Most important, of course, I will be with you. . . .

If I get some interesting job with research and development I’ll get a chance to make contacts with the heads of various EE firms who are doing work for the Ord. Dept., firms like RCA, GE, and Western Electric, all top firms in the EE game. But most important, I’ll be in the drivers seat all the way, and I won’t sign anything that would keep me from being Mr. Burke if things go wrong anywhere. I don’t think that I’ve been sold a bill of goods anywhere. . . . . . So tell me what you think about it. . .

. . . . . Good morning darling, happy New Year! I’ve just been rereading what I wrote last night, and it makes me think that those drinks Al was serving up must have been pretty potent. He put in a jigger of sweet vermouth, a jigger of sherry, and one of rye. But I guess what I wrote was still sensible. Don’t get the impression that I’d like to go into the regular army, that wouldn’t be such a bad deal if I could get a captaincy out of it, but according to the latest dope, the best I could get is 1st Lt. But staying on temporarily as a major is another matter. . .

. . . . . Larry wanted me to come over to his place last night, but I had already told Gasink that I’d go with him to the dance at the English Speaking Union, so I couldn’t back out at that late date. After I signed off above I got dressed, and about seven Gasink came by here. We had a drink and then walked down to the mess and ate. About 8:30 we went to the E.S.U.; it was a very nice dance, with everyone not in uniform wearing evening dress. There was a big crowd, about 500, and there wasn’t near enough room for all of them.

It made me feel practically ancient to see some of those kids about 17 looking so young and rosy cheeked. I can remember that I didn’t think I was so young at that age tho. I danced every dance, except when I was queuing up at the bar for Manhattans. There was a big surplus of girls, and what's more they weren’t backwards at all about cutting in. I had a lot of fun, tho I got pretty tired toward the end, I must be getting old.

Gasink and I left about 1:30, the dance was going on til 2:30. We walked home, he dropped off at his hotel on the way, and I went right to bed. And that was “my day”, sure wish that I could have spent it with you, but those days will come soon!! I’ll sign off now and get this mailed. ‘Bye now my dearest darling wife. I love you and miss you so very much. I adore you. I love you!!! All my love and kisses, Glenn

5 January ‘46 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . Bill and I had an early supper, and then caught a taxi down to the theater. We had tickets to see “Follow the Girls”. I don’t think I’ve laughed more at any musical comedy over here than at that one, it was really good. The best thing about it was Arthur Askey, I about split my sides at his type of humor. The musical is one that ran in the U.S. for a long time, rewritten a little to suit English audiences. . .

8 January ‘46 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . A little before six I went over to meet Pierre Guelff, the navy Lt. from my home town. I took Bill and Gasink along to eat with us. We picked up Pierre and caught a bus down to Picadilly Circus and walked on to the Shanghai Restaurant; we had a good meal there. After we ate we caught a taxi to the Cumberland Hotel at Marble Arch, where Pierre lives, and went up to his room for a drink. We talked there til about nine, then Bill and I came on home. Pierre is going to marry an English girl next summer, one he met in Paris, where he was stationed up til about a month ago. Funny part about it is that I know the girl, she used to work in the office below mine; she worked for Ordnance in Paris too. Pierre was born in Paris, and came to the U.S. when he was about 2. He speaks French, and has relatives in Paris, so he had some interesting tales to tell about his stay there. . .

10 January ‘46 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . Now let’s get on with “my day”, most of which I spent arguing with the Colonel, and at this point I’m about ready to give up and apply for discharge at the earliest possible moment, and forget about staying in the army in the States for a while. . . . . . . A new questionnaire has come out now whereby we have to indicate our preference for one of five categories as to length of time we want to stay on active duty . They are: l, stay in for indefinite period; ll, stay in til June ‘47; lll, stay in til Dec. ‘46; lV, stay in til some date more than 60 days later, date to be arranged between officer and his C.O.; and V, relief from active duty as soon as possible. We’re supposed to choose one of those categories right away!

It would be easy enough, except for this pending deal of a job in the States, and that complicates matters. If I sign on for any length of time past March 1, I waive any right to discharge because of points til the end of the period for which I’ve signed up, and that doesn’t appeal to me at all. So I sure wish I had your answer on how you feel about this business.

I’d also like to have some good assurance that I’d be sent home as planned on March 1. And that’s what I was talking with the Col. about. He swears up and down that he’ll get me off then. He said that all he had to do was tell Col. Harvey to write the orders, and I could go. That sounded a little screwy to me, but I didn’t know for sure, so I let it go for then. . .

About twelve I went down to the mess with Bill and Gasink, we had a beer at the bar. While we were there Harvey came in and I had another beer with him and talked with him for a while. He wasn’t sure about the answer to my question, but said he’d look up my status, so I said I’d be over to see him later. . . . I went to the M.A. office to see Harvey; he said he couldn’t issue orders on me without some authorization from the States, which was as I suspected.

From Harvey’s office I went back to see Col. Reed, and told him what I found out. He said to wait til closer to March 1 and he’d cable about it, but I wanted him to start right away. He objected to that ‘cause he thought they’d want to bring me home right away, which would be plenty OK with me, but he wants me to stay til March 1. Some people came in to see him about then, so it’s still stalemated as far as I’m concerned. So you see why I’m feeling like just checking category V and getting out as soon as I can.

I really think that he is doing what he thinks is best in urging me to stay in the army for a while longer, and also trying to sell Regular Army (tho his example is by no means a sales talk to me!). But he seems to think that I’m good material, and also being in the army the next year or so would be a good idea. I agree with him somewhat on the latter point; as far as I can see from this great distance, things seem to be pretty much in a turmoil at home as far as labor is concerned, and it wouldn’t be bad to have a chance to look for a job, while being secure with a major’s pay. Anyway I still feel left up in the air. It would help a lot if I knew your attitude on this business, but then you should only be getting my letters on it by now. . .

. . . . . I’ve been debating with myself whether or not to call you, but I guess I’ll let it go for tonight, and see what develops tomorrow, if anything. Oh me, what a problem, but it’ll work out OK, I’m sure of it! . . . . . . . . (A transatlantic phone call was not lightly undertaken in those days by my depression raised generation. Betty & I did not have any while I was in London)

. . . . . Hope I didn’t confuse or alarm you about this business of today. Things are still under control, and I intend to see that they stay that way! . . .

11 January ‘46 Friday My darling wife;
Hello sweetheart, here I am again for our visit, and I’m in a lot better mood tonight, tho I haven’t settled anything yet. Guess I was a little overexcited yesterday, anyway I think I’ll let things ride for a while and see what happens. That’ll give me time to hear from you; meanwhile I’ll hang onto that paper, and not sign anything til I get more definite information. . .

. . . . . I walked down to the mess, only in the rain it was closer to swimming than walking. I was soaked by time I got there, wherever my raincoat didn’t protect me anyway. . . . . . . (Umbrellas must have been too unmilitary, since no one used them)

. . . . . I tried to get a car to take me to the Ordnance Board meeting, but none was available, so I went outside and hailed a taxi. The meeting was fairly interesting this morning, more so than usual; it got out about 11:30. The car I had ordered came on time and took me back. . .

. . . . . My car came about two and I left the office again for Cheshunt, that’s a suburb about 10 or 15 miles NE of here. I stayed about an hour and a half talking to a Group Captain there. That’s a small arms place, so I was doing some of Fred’s work, which was dumped on me when he left. Wonder who will do it, and the rest of my work, when I leave? . . .

. . . . . Jan. is almost half over, and it won’t be long before we are having these visits in person, and I’m sure glad, only I’d like to have a personal visit tonight!! . . . . . . . . . .