CHAPTER 10. 1/26/45 TO 4/25/45 SCOTLAND, HOSPITAL, & WALES

26 January ‘45 Friday My darling wife
. . . . . I ate and walked up to the office, getting there about 8:30. With Bill gone (for 2 weeks in France, up with the troops) I was the first one there by quite a few minutes. Guess I’ll have to give the Colonel a talking to, he’s been coming in late pretty regularly! And then again, maybe I’ll let him go for a while, after all he works late at night quite a bit. . .

. . . . . By the way, did I tell you that Maj. Keck made Lt. Col.? Steve went back to the States before Christmas, and apparently is staying there, at least he isn’t coming back this way. So the old gang is pretty well fixed up, they’ve worked for it tho, they’ve been with First Army since before D Day.

30 January ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
Hello sweetheart, here I am for our visit, and how I wish it could be in person instead of by letter! That two week hibernation suggestion of yours is a good idea, and not only for catching up on sleep, we have an awful lot of loving to catch up on!! Anyway, I am in bed, and it is almost eleven, only I’m not in my own bed, I’m in a hotel room in Cambridge, and a very nice room it is too. It is a big room with modern furniture, a very soft bed, dressing table with full length mirror, writing table, easy chair, big closet, private bath, windows looking in two directions, but no you. I’m staying at the University Arms Hotel, and it is the nicest hotel, except one, that I’ve been in in the United Kingdom. The one exception is the hotel I stayed in at Cheltenham when I was traveling with the generals about a year ago. . .

. . . . . I brought what little was left of my rye, and we had a nightcap and gab session in here. He is a few years older than me, a Georgia boy, name of Smith, and seems to be very nice. Before the war he was a coach at a college in Georgia.

31 January ‘45 Wednesday My dearest;
. . . . At nine I went downstairs with Smith for breakfast. We had a good meal, porridge (mush with glue like consistency), bacon (ham), sausage (50% soy bean), toast, coffee, and fried potatoes; typical English breakfast, I think. The coffee was almost drinkable, which is unusual for English coffee! After eating we checked out of the hotel, got in the jeep, and went to see a fellow at Cambridge University. We talked with him til noon and then he had to give a lecture, so we walked about til one.

Cambridge is almost entirely a college town as far as I could see. The University has some very nice grounds, lots of lawns, trees, gardens, and a small river running through the middle of the “campus”. We went through Kings College, Trinity College, and Clare College, among others that I don’t remember the names of; very interesting! There are a couple of girls colleges, but they don’t even give them degrees, since they can’t be members of the University. They get something similar tho, “title to the degree”, or some such. I much prefer our colleges!

We went back at one and met the Dr. and then went to lunch with him. After we ate we walked around some more, with the Dr. pointing out the spots of interest. He took us through Kings College chapel, which we had missed before; it was more like a cathedral than a chapel, and very beautiful. We sight saw til almost three, and after a few more minutes of business, piled into the jeep and started back to London. . .

. . . . . I went to the mess with Marty. As I was standing at the bar drinking my glass of lager, I heard my name mentioned behind me; I turned around and saw Floyd Clark, a fellow I went to High School with. Funny thing is I remembered his name too, which was quite an achievement for me. He is a navigator in the Air Corps now, a second looie. He’s ready to go home after six more missions, and he only got here in Sept. I don’t think I’d like to trade places with him, even so. . . . . The mess is really the place to meet people; any officer in England gets there some time during his stay. . .

2 February ‘45 Friday My dearest darling;
Hello sweet, here I am again, and I’m getting a much earlier start than I did last night, thank goodness. I like reading, but I shouldn’t try to read a book at one sitting as I did then. (I read “A Bell for Adano”), takes too much time off my visit with you! . . .

. . . . . A little after ten I went to the bank; I drew some cash, after checking that my pay had come in from the finance office. From the bank (by the way it is the Chase Manhattan Bank of the City of N.Y., Berkeley Square branch) I walked up to the finance office; there I got reimbursed for my hotel bill for my last trip and sent some money on its way to you, $200 to be exact. That makes up a little for not sending any last month. . . .

5 February ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . The change in the weather lately has been almost unbelievable, but nice. Only a little while ago it was sub zero, and now it is almost like spring. I sleep with one of my windows wide open and the comforter thrown off the bed, and tonight it was so warm in here I shut off the steam radiator. It probably isn’t so warm now as it seems, but the sudden change, after all that cold and snow, is welcome, and I hope it lasts. . .

. . . . . Just before lunch the Military Attaché, a one star general, walked in and wanted to look around our place. The Colonel was gone, so I showed him around. He certainly is a nice guy, and no dummy either. . .

. . . . . One of the things I did today was burn some classified papers that had accumulated, that is, the sgt. did it and I helped (supervised). . .

(Every piece of paper that came through our office was “classified”, from top secret on down to classified. We had to lock up our work baskets when the office wasn’t occupied, and all of the file cabinets were kept locked.)

11 February ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
I’ve got a few minutes before the train starts, so maybe I can get a start on this before my writing becomes entirely unreadable from the train’s jerking. Russ didn’t do so good by me this time, he was only able to get us third class sleeping, and they aren’t so good! . . . . . . I am in bed on the train, and tomorrow morning I should wake up in Glasgow.

I slept until about twelve thirty this morning and then laid in bed and read Ogden Nash. I sure like his stuff, seems like I can read it over and over and enjoy it just as much each time. A favorite of mine is “Coffee with the Meal”. which portrays the futile fight of a man to get “coffee with, coffee with, coffee with the meal” (he eventually gets it one hour later, in a demitasse!). That is typical of restaurants here, in old ones you can’t even have it at the table, after supper you go into the lounge for your coffee, in a demitasse!

I finally got up and made myself a cup of Nescafe and sat in front of the fire and drank that. I saw a book there that Henry was reading, “Barefoot Boy with Cheek”, by Max Shulman. It is a crazy thing, about a fellow who went to the hypothetical University of Minnesota, the author made up the name Minnesota from two Indian words he knew, the only two. I sat there and read through the book, about 3/4 of it anyway, it isn’t very long, but is really pretty good. I’ll have to show it to Bill (Durrenberger), he went to Minnesota. . .

. . . . . Gosh, darling, I wish I were making this trip to catch a boat for home, but no, I have to catch another train back to London, in a couple of days. . .

12 February ‘45 Monday Glasgow My darling wife;
Hello sweetheart, how about getting an early start on our visit tonight, do you think you can stand the shock, it is only eight, and I am already in bed! And it is a very comfortable bed too, and plenty of room for you, darling, how about crawling in with me?

After I finished your letter on the train last night I turned over and tried to get some sleep, which is a nice trick if you can do it on a third class sleeper. I laid awake for quite a while, listening to the train wheels on the track saying Betty Burke, Betty Burke, Betty Burke. I thought too of train trips we took together, the one from Philly to Chicago, which wasn’t so good, and the one back to Philly which was so much better ‘cause we were together in a lower instead of apart in uppers! I like traveling with you, in fact, I like doing anything with you. Might be because I love you, could be! I finally got to sleep and slept fairly soundly.

I got up and dressed about a half hour before we got into the station about 7:30 this morning. We came right to the Central Hotel, which is a LMS railroad hotel in the Glasgow station. It was too early to take possession of our rooms, noon is the time for that, so we left our musette bags at the check room, after we shaved and washed up in the gentlemen’s cloak room.

. . . . . We took a streetcar out to the plant and had an interesting time looking at it. We had lunch there. About five we came back to the hotel and checked in and came up to our rooms; Maj. Sturr has the room next to mine.

We are going to take a run over to Edinburgh tomorrow, we saw all we wanted to here today, and our train reservations aren’t til tomorrow night, and it’s only a little over an hour’s train journey to Edinburgh from Glasgow, so why not!! . . .

13 February ‘45 Tuesday Edinburgh My darling wife;
I’m resting my feet now in the Edinburgh Red Cross Service Club. We have about a half hour before train time, so I can get a start on this letter. I’m tired, have been tramping all over this town, sightseeing and snapping pictures. . .

. . . . . We went out into the station and bought tickets to Edinburgh and return, and then caught the train, arriving about eleven. From then til four we’ve been walking, with time out for lunch. We went along Princes Street, and then up to Edinburgh Palace and looked all through it. We came back to Princes Street and had lunch at the first restaurant we saw, it wasn’t too bad a meal, and for only 2/6 ($0.50), I didn’t feel overstuffed when I left tho.

After lunch I did more walking, mostly up hill and into the wind! It has been a beautiful sunny day, but is cold and there is a good wind blowing. We wandered through part of the new city, and then up the hill to the observatory. (Do you still have that map of the city I sent on my last visit here?) Then we went to Holyrood Palace and toured it; that is where Queen Mary lived. There is a private stair from Queen Mary’s bedroom going down to Lord something or other’s bedroom, looks bad!

From Holyrood we walked up the Royal Mile toward Edinburgh Castle, only we turned off to the left before we got to the castle, and down below it. We came back on to Princes Street and to the Red Cross Club. We had a cup of hot coffee and some donuts, and then I came into the writing room and started this.

It is time to catch a train back to Glasgow, so I’ll leave you for now; I’ll be back later tonight. ‘Bye for now, my darling wife, I love you with all of me. I love you!! . . .

Later. The train is due to start in a couple of minutes, so if my writing soon takes a turn for the worse, you’ll know why. Here we go, with a jerk, and with a few Yanks too (pun). I caught a third class sleeper again tonight. It’s better than sitting up all night, but nothing like a first class sleeper. Maj. Sturr is up a couple of compartments, he got third class too. There is a British Army Captain, and a RAF Flight Lt. in the compartment with me so far. The fourth just came in, a Br. Navy Lt., so we have quite a mixture in here now. . .

. . . . . I’m pretty tired tonight after all my tramping around. Tired as I am, the thought of another night sleeping in here doesn’t appeal to me much. . . . Now I’ll stop struggling with this pen, trying to control it in spite of bumping and bouncing. The rails are clicking out “Betty Burke, Betty Burke” again tonight. It’s a pretty name, don’t you think, I do! I think you are pretty too! Goodnight my darling wife. I love you and want you every minute. I love you with all my heart, with all of me. I love you! All my love and kisses, Glenn

14 February ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . Bill was telling us some about his trip. He really was a fighting soldier this time, and was right up at the front a lot of the time; he even fired some artillery into a German held town. He was within mortar range of the jerries, which is a lot closer than I want to be. . .

16 February ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . About 12:30 I went to the luncheon with Bill, Fred, Marty, and Prof. Woodruff. It was a small affair; besides us five there were the Colonel, two civilians, another American Colonel and a General, and a British Major General, Vice Admiral, Air Commodore, and Air Vice Marshal. Us and the brass! The luncheon was held in a private room at the Senior Officers Club. We had a drink and hors d’oeuvres first, and then had a good steak dinner.

I sat next to the British Major General and had an interesting conversation with him; he was telling me all about his visits to Athens, Cairo, and various other places in the Med. area. Guess he had served quite a bit of time there before the war. I’d sure like to see that part of the world, with you, I’ve seen about all I care to by myself!! . . .

. . . . . I managed to get a little work done, including provisionally lining up a trip to Wales, it won’t be soon, but eventually. I’ve been wanting to get out there, mainly ‘cause it is about the only part of the United Kingdom I haven’t seen yet. Course I haven’t been to N. Ireland yet either, but I probably won’t get to go there unless I can do some fancy finagling. . .

. . . . . The show got out about 9:30 and I caught a tube to Leicester Square and walked home from there. All the shows were getting out at the same time and the sidewalks were jammed with people and overflowing into the streets. It was a dark night, but it is easier to get around now with the dim out; besides the extra street lighting there is occasionally some light from windows, mostly pubs, but some private residences too. Under the present regulations you don’t have to black out, but no objects inside can be distinguished from the outside. . .

17 February ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
I am only just going to start on this letter tonight ‘cause it is after 1:30 AM and I should get to sleep. I’ve been playing poker since about eight, and just now got home, but I didn’t want to go to bed before I had a short visit with you first. It was a pretty good poker game, I won almost four dollars. Now I suppose being lucky at cards, I shouldn’t be lucky at love, but I am, ‘cause you love me! . .

. . . . . Bill gave us a talk on his trip to the front. It was very interesting, although I had heard most of it from him before. . .

. . . . . In the middle of the afternoon Prof Woodruff gave us a talk on some of the stuff he’s seen on the continent. For a college professor, he is sure a poor speaker. His normal conversational voice is so timid and quiet that you have to try real hard to hear what he is saying, and he wasn’t much better when giving a talk. There is sure a contrast between him and Bill! Bill has a voice that really booms out, sounds like he is always commanding a battalion. . .

19 February ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
I’m sort of a cripple in my right arm tonight, as well as other places, so this may be a little more illegible than usual. It is all because of two sets of tennis that I played this afternoon, yes, tennis. . .

. . . . . Fred had gone to Special Services and drawn a couple of rackets and some tennis balls and had reserved a court for five PM, so we were all set for some tennis. I had gotten the bug earlier and had called S.S.; they said the stuff was available, and all you had to do was go over and collect it and sign for it! It was brand new equipment too, Spalding rackets. . . . . .We caught a tube to the Queens Club, which is a sports club in West London. They extend use of the facilities to service members, that’s me!

We changed in the club dressing room and went out to the courts. The courts were clay, and it’s the first time I’ve played on anything except concrete or asphalt. The clay seems to slow up the game a lot, the ball doesn’t bounce as much and it is hard to stop and start in a hurry. We started playing at five, and played til six; Fred beat me two sets in that time. I am in bad physical condition, those two sets wore me out, but I couldn’t expect anything else from the amount of exercise I haven’t been getting lately, which is a good reason for playing more tennis.

It was nice out today, so it wasn’t too cold playing. I read in the paper today where yesterday was the warmest Feb. day in 40 years. We’ve really had extremes of climate this winter; first it set cold records, and now a heat (?) wave.

We were the only ones playing at that time. We took a shower and dressed and went back to the tube station. When I got to the tube station I noticed that I didn’t have my watch on, so Fred waited while I went back to see if I’d left it in the dressing room. It wasn’t there, so I stopped in the bar and asked the attendant to check in the morning with the dressing room attendant, he’d already left. Two men in the bar invited me to have a drink, so I let them twist my arm, it was good scotch too. I went on back to the station and checked in my bag, and found the watch in my field jacket pocket; my face is a little red over that one! . . .

20 February ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
Oh my poor achin’ back, I’m feeling now my tennis sets of last night, at least I hope I’m feeling, and not just beginning to feel them. I ache in every muscle of my body, apparently I do have a few. I feel a lot better after soaking in a tub with the water as hot as I could take it. . .

. . . . . Guess I’ll put my weary bones to rest now. I’m mentally weary too, it has been such an eternally long time since we kissed last, 19 months tomorrow, the calendar says, but my heart says it is more like 19 years. . .

21 to 25 February ‘45 Wed. to Sun. My darling wife;
It is Thurs. night now, and I am on a train again, so bear with me and I’ll try to make this as legible as I can under the circumstances. I didn’t write last night ‘cause I had a stomach ache, and haven’t had a chance to write today til now. I am on my way to Manchester, and Bury, nearby there for a couple of days. I’m riding in a first class coach which is brim full, with three people sitting opposite me, and one at either side. . .

. . . . . The Colonel came in during the middle of yeaterday afternoon and said he’d made arrangements for Marty and me to go to the Military Attaché’s buffet supper party that night; Bill had already been invited. So about 5:45 I went home and cleaned up some, and then went to the Senior Officers Club where the party was being given. Bill, Marty, and I acted as doormen, greeting the British guests at the door and escorting them upstairs to a private dining room. All the time I was doing that my stomach was feeling funnier and funnier, so when everyone had come and the three of us went upstairs, I left just before they started eating and walked home. There I had a cup of bouillon, and went right to bed and to sleep. I slept from eight, when I got to bed, til 5:30 this morning, when I awakened, set my alarm, and went back to sleep again. I hear that I missed a good party; they stayed there after eating til eleven, drinking the general’s good liquor. With my stomach acting up tho, its a good thing I didn’t do any drinking. That probably would have fixed me up.

I didn’t get any mail from you yesterday, darn it, and today too, double darn! There should be plenty waiting for me when I get back from Bury Saturday night or Sunday!

Later -- much, much later, in fact it is Sunday now, and a long, long time since I’ve had a visit with you. I’m in the hospital in London now, with jaundice (I’ve been told). Don’t worry tho ‘cause I’ll be OK soon, and I don’t feel too bad now, but then you probably know a lot more about jaundice than I do! Anyway the docs predict two or three weeks in the hospital for me, and at the present time I’m looking forward to the rest. Probably by the time a week or so of it has gone by, I will have been plenty fed up. So darling, please don’t worry, or get upset, ‘cause I’m OK and getting excellent care.

Now I have a lot of catching up to do with my writing, so I’d better have at it. Guess the best thing to do is make this one letter, OK? So this becomes my letter of Feb. 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25. I shouldn’t cut you short with one letter for 5, but there isn’t much to say about the last five days, so forgive me this time. I’ve covered Wednesday pretty thoroughly, so on to:

Thursday, Feb. 22. I awoke with the alarm at the normal time. I wasn’t feeling too well, so I decided to say in bed. But then I got to thinking of all the stuff I had planned for the day, so about 8:30 I dragged myself out and dressed and went to the office. I had a can of fruit juice for breakfast. I went to the dispensary early, but they didn’t see anything wrong with me, and told me to come back later if I wasn’t feeling good, and they would put me “sick in quarters”. I was feeling better tho, and went about my work as planned. I was busy at the office all morning, and also went to the bank, and home to pack some things in my musette bag for my trip.

About noon I went off with a visiting Colonel and Maj. Mackay to visit a British plant. My Colonel particularly wanted me to take them there ‘cause he was gone, and I was the only other one who knew the people. So that was one reason why I “had” to go to work. We had a very nice lunch there, and spent the afternoon looking around and talking. I had to catch a 5:30 train, so we left in time to get me to the station. . .

I got a seat and soon we were off. I started this letter on the train, after writing a note to the folks. It was a long trip, about five hours, and I had to cross Manchester when I got there and catch a train on to Bury. My train got in right on time tho, and I climbed aboard a “Services only” bus that took me between the stations, and I had to wait a half hour for the train to Bury. I finally got there about 11:30 and found my hotel OK, with the aid of a Canadian officer. Maj. Sturr was there already, he had taken an earlier train. I had some tea and cake and then went to bed.

I was feeling fine at the start of the trip, but didn’t feel too well when I got there. Guess it was a mistake to go on the trip, but it had been all arranged before I started feeling bad, and I hated to cancel it. So I went to bed and to sleep, missing you as always my darling, but too tired to write. That brings me to:

Friday, Feb. 23. I was awakened at eight, and it was cold in there; I hated to get up, but did. I went down to the dining room for breakfast; Al Sturr was there. I ate my porridge, but my stomach objected when I looked at the fresh egg they put in front of me. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but I guess my stomach was in the mood to object to anything that had been put in front of it then. So I decided to go back to bed for the day; Al went on with the visit.

I crawled into bed and slept most of the day; I had tea in the morning and tea and fish at night. Al looked in at noon and in the evening too. Then he brought a doc from the British camp in to see me. He said I’d be OK “on the morrow”, and also seemed to think I’d been on a binge the night before.

I spent my day gazing at those four walls and sleeping. The hotel was of the “pub” type, kind of old, and no heat in the rooms, but the people there were very nice to me. There was one Irish girl that brought me my tea; she had an accent so thick you could cut it, and seemed to expect me to understand her ‘cause my name is Burke. It sounded good, but the best I could do was make out every other phrase. Anyway, I didn’t write because I didn’t feel so sharp; so on to:

Saturday, Feb. 24. I was awakened at 7:15 and got up and shaved and dressed and got my stuff in my musette bag, and then went down to breakfast. I was feeling a lot better and ate some porridge and toast. We paid our hotel bill and left for the station. We caught a train that took us all the way from Bury to London without any change. I slept part of the way coming back, but it was a nice day and I did some landscape gazing too.

There were two women in our compartment, and from their conversation I think they were publicans, owners or managers of pubs. One gal talked at a machine gun rate the whole time, she was talking when we entered and still at it when we left. She had views on everything and anything, and related gossip for years back. Her favorite subject seemed to be her experiences, in detail, during the buzz bomb blitz. I didn’t listen to her much, luckily she had a rapt audience in the other woman, but I couldn’t help hearing part of it; Lord protect me from such a woman!

The train finally got in and we took a cab to the office. There I was very glad to find your letters of Jan. 17, Feb. 1, and another valentine waiting for me. I went right from there with Al to the Nurses Club, where I had a waffle and some hot chocolate. I was tired so I went on home and took a hot bath. The chocolate apparently didn’t agree with me ‘cause it made a return trip. I went to bed and to sleep for a while; I awoke a little later and read for a while and fixed myself a cup of bouillon, and then went back to sleep. Guess I just didn’t have the energy to write.

Now to: Sunday, Feb. 25 - that’s today. I awoke early this morning, probably because of getting so much sleep last night. Henry was getting ready to go to work and I talked with him some; he got back from Paris Friday night; he said Tom was doing OK, and was getting fat.

I got up about ten and got my laundry ready, and after washing and dressing, went across the street to the Reindeer for my breakfast. I ate and then got a blouse I had left at the cleaners for pressing, and went up to the lounge and read the morning paper and listened to the eleven o’clock newscast.

I took the blouse home and then went on to the office. I was feeling pretty good then but still had a slight stomach ache, that almost disappeared when I found your swell letters of Jan. 31, Feb. 2, 3, and 12 waiting for me. I also got a letter from Mother M. (Betty’s mother), and a very nice letter from (my older sister) Dorothy.

It has gotten to be very late, and my roommate here is trying to go to sleep, so I’d better sign off for now and get some sleep. I miss you my darling, more than I can say. Please come to me in my dreams. I love you. Goodnight my darling wife, I love you with all of me. I love you!!

Later - Monday morning. I’ve just had an excellent breakfast and looked over the newspapers, so I think I’ll get along with this letter. I’d gotten myself to the office yesterday. After reading your letters I went up to the mess with Bill, Russ, and Marty. We had some very good turkey, only I didn’t have much of an appetite. The mess looked like a college (coed) dining room, they’ve apparently opened the mess to all the U.S. civilians working here, and all the gals from the embassy, OWI, etc. can eat there now, which is a break for them ‘cause up to now they’ve had to find their own food, in British restaurants and on British civilian rations. I think it’s a good idea, I know I’d want it that way if you were one of them.

Around lunch time the boys started to tell me that I was turning yellow, and Marty was sure that I had jaundice ‘cause he had been through it and recognized the symptoms. I had planned to visit the dispensary, so I went there after lunch. The doc took one look at me and started writing out a hospital admission ticket. I was brought down here and after endless forms were filled out, finally wound up in bed. I am in a room at present, there is one other bed, occupied by a civilian, a Consul, who came in right after I did. This is a swell hospital, apparently one of the most modern English ones which has been taken over by the U.S. Army. I have a very comfortable bed with innerspring mattress and the head cranks up, etc. The bathrooms are all tile, and there are even showers! (I had one this morning). I was examined by four doctors, including the one at the dispensary, and they all seemed to think I had yellow jaundice. . .

I called Henry when i got here, and late in the evening he brought me my shaving stuff and writing paper and a new Readers Digest. He stayed and talked for an hour; I got more of the low down on his trip to Paris. There is a possibility that he will be transferred to Paris before too long. He brought me back a bottle of perfume which I think maybe I’ll send to (my youngest sister) Alice instead of to you. OK? You should be fairly well supplied, and I think she’d appreciate getting some with a Paris label, don’t you?

After Henry left I started on this letter and wrote until about eleven, and then went to sleep. Now I might as well get this started on its way to you. I’m sorry to have held up your letters for so long darling, but I think you’ll understand. Please don’t worry about me, I’m getting excellent care, and will enjoy the rest, for a while at least. I’m feeling pretty fair now too. ‘Bye for now darling, I’ll be more regular with my letters from now on, if I can find something to write about; I’ve got quite a few of your letters here to answer anyway. I’ll be back later today my darling. I love you and miss you every minute. I love you. I love you! I adore you. All my love and kisses, Glenn

26 February ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
I was telling you about the nice modern hospital I was in too soon, ‘cause in the middle of the afternoon I was transferred to another hospital, this one like the one at Aberdeen, only in a Nissen hut type of building, with round roof. I’ll get back to that later tho, guess I’d better tell you I’m in the hospital with a case of yellow jaundice, in case you haven’t gotten my last letter. I feel fine, but I don’t think you’d want to see me tonight, I have a lovely yellow complexion including, or should I say especially, my eye balls.

I’m having a little competition with my writing since I’m trying to listen to Command Performance on the radio, and there is a six hand game of gin rummy going on in the ward.

I went to sleep right after I finished writing last night, slept good, only awakening once during the night. I awoke about seven, took a shower and cleaned up some. I had to wait for my breakfast til they came around and bled me, just small samples tho, not a “cure”. After that my breakfast came, and what a breakfast, half grapefruit, soft boiled egg, toast and coffee! I really enjoyed it.

After eating I wrote some more on your last night’s letter, and finished a letter I had started to Fred Hansen; Dorothy had written that he was in a hospital over here with trench foot. I think you met him and Viv (high school friends). I ate lunch and then shaved and dressed.

They moved us out here in an ambulance, we’re out in the country so you shouldn’t have to worry about V-bombs for a while anyway. I gave up my clothes for pajamas and robe again. I’m in a big ward with about thirty other officers. I have the only bed that tips up, so I feel privileged, and comfortable. There is a fellow next to me who also has jaundice, so he’s been telling me all that's in store for me. He has returned to almost normal color, so that looks hopeful; I’d hate to go through life being mistaken for a Jap or Chinese. I’ve been confined to bed, but can go to the bathroom and eat my meals at a table. I’m on a fat-free diet, and I have a bunch of hard candy that I’m supposed to keep eating, that’s hard medicine to take!

I spent most of the afternoon reading and listening to the radio and talking to the fellows here. They seem to be a good bunch, happy and crazy, and not too sick, in fact most of them seem to be out at the club or movie or playing gin rummy. Maybe I can work up some bridge games.

The news sure sounds good now, I hope this is the drive that finally finishes the war. The neutral countries are sure buying their tickets to the S.F. peace conference. Suppose that if I come out and declare war on Germany and Japan that I could go? Might be worth trying! I called Bill today and told him where I was going to be, so my mail should follow me in a day or so.

The competition in here is too terrific, so I think I’ll close for this time. I miss you darling, more than I can say. All I want is to be with you once more, and I want that like I’ve never wanted anything else before! Goodnight my darling wife, I love you with all my body, heart, and soul. I love you. I love you. I love you! All my love and kisses, Glenn

27 February ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife
. . . . . The fellow next to me who has yellow jaundice too has taken quite an interest in me and has told me what’s coming, and we’ve compared symptoms like a couple of old women discussing their operations! He is a young fellow from N.J. and has seen a lot of action since D-Day; he is a fighter pilot with the 9th A.F. He’s in his third week of the yellow complexion. . .

. . . . . The doc gave me a good going over this morning. I’m still supposed to stay in bed, and will get some pills periodically. The hospital dietitian also stopped to see me; I get a quart of skim milk a day, and when I heard that I thought I’d get some real milk, but it is skim powdered milk, and that’s not very tasty, but with a little vanilla it’s not too bad. . .

We have a couple of good piano players in here and they give out occasionally. One is a Negro Lt. who used to play with Duke Ellington, I think. He’s badly out of practice and was playing from a wheel chair, but was still plenty good. The other is also a professional entertainer and has a style all his own and is very good. . .

28 February ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
Guess I’d better get a start on this before lights go out. Oh Oh, the Jack Benny show is just coming on, that’ll give me some competition. I didn’t do much today, just stayed in bed and read and slept most of the time. I was awakened again at 6:30 when the lights came on, but I turned over and went back to sleep until breakfast at 7:30. Had a pretty good breakfast, including a hard boiled egg; not that I particularly go for hard boiled eggs for breakfast, but at least it wasn’t powdered!

I censored some mail this morning, they buck that job off on the officer patients. I finished up the Readers Digest and read some mystery stories, short ones. This afternoon I took a long nap, at least a couple of hours.

The Benny program is over now, it was very good, and the first time I’ve heard him for a long time. Our “radio” here is a loudspeaker system, they broadcast some programs from the Forces Network of the BBC; we don’t get the American Forces Network here. They also play records over it part of the time. (Short break for chocolate and bread and jam, only I can’t have choc so I had bread and jam, without butter) Our two piano players got together this evening and played some duets, it was very good. . .

We got in another yellow faced jaundice patient, so now there are three of us. My complexion is about the same, but I’m getting a better appetite. I think most of my loss of appetite is from eating this hard candy all the time, and then I’m always drinking huge cups of milk, fruit juice, and tomato juice. I get vitamin pills at regular intervals, and with a controlled diet the rest seems to be up to time and nature. . .

I had an interesting conversation with the Air Corps boy to my left tonight; he has done a lot of the “tank busting” you’ve read about, and has some interesting tales to tell. . .

2 March ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I called Bill and he said he’d sent some more mail to me. The other bunch hasn’t arrived as yet, but knowing the APO, I don’t expect it for a while. The Col. is off on another visit to the continent, so Bill is pretty busy. I also talked to Henry for a while. Some of them may come out to see me, but I discouraged them ‘cause even tho it is only a short trip it takes quite a while by public transport, and there’s about a mile walk involved at this end.

After lunch I’ve been lazying here in bed til I started this. My appetite has come back with a vengeance today, maybe from those vitamin pills I get, six a day. The nurse came while we were eating and wanted to know if there was anything we wanted, so we told her, and kidded her, about the food coming in cold. She’s a cheery sort, rather stout, and with heart to size. Anyway she brought me a couple of oranges and ordered some more hard candy for me. . .

. . . . . Apparently part of the diet for jaundice is steak, I’ve had it three days in a row now, and I can’t say that I’m complaining! Only I wish they’d cook it rare. After supper I read til nine, taking time out when the nurse gave my back an alcohol rub, felt good. . .

3 March ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
I got 6 letters from you today! So at least I ought to have something to write about tonight. . . . . . I was sure happy to get them, they’re the first I’ve had since last Sunday . . .

My coloring is becoming almost normal now, just the slightest trace of yellow. I get bled again in the morning so they can determine how much bile remains in my blood stream. I feel fine, no stomach trouble at all, and nothing sore, but I don’t have too much energy, and tire easily. I’m still supposed to stay in bed, but expect to be allowed to roam about the ward soon. . .


4 March ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . Henry came in, and we visited for a half hour - he just left. He is going back to Paris on temporary duty again. . . . . . . I thought it was darn nice of him to come all the way out here to see me, he’s that kind of fellow tho, and I’ll hate to see him go if he does go to Paris. . .

6 March ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . The nurse in charge of this ward is a very interesting person. She has every one of us feeling as if he were the “star boarder”. I haven’t been able to figure out how she does it, but she does. She is very nice looking, 33, but looks younger. Anyway, she has these officers tamed. . .

. . . . . I’ll bet there is a lot of work piling up for me at the office, I’m pretty sure there’s no one there doing it for me. That doesn’t seem to bother me at the time tho, I’m enjoying my rest too much. I feel fairly weak and tired, so maybe that’s why I don’t mind staying in bed most of the time. Anyway, it is nice just laying here; I spent an awful lot of the time thinking of you and day dreaming of when we’ll be together again and remembering the times we had together, very pleasant material for contemplation! Sure hope my dreams come true soon, darling, then I will have you beside me and your head on my shoulder when I whisper -- Goodnight my darling wife, I love you, love you with all my heart and soul and body, with all that is me and mine. I love you!! I love you. All my love and kisses, Glenn

7 March ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . The Col. has been planning a cocktail party for a month or so and it is this Friday. Each of the fellows in the office submitted a list of about 20 of their British contacts to be invited, I did too. So I had a talk with the doc this morning to see if I couldn’t get away to it just for the evening. The answer was no! He was very nice about it, but said he couldn’t take the chance of a relapse. I didn’t want to go if there was any danger, so that was that. I couldn’t have had anything to drink anyway, but I just wanted to go for the good it would have done me on my job. The doc made it plain that I could not do any drinking at all for six months after I get out of the hospital. . .

8 March ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . After supper I had a pretty good nap; awoke just in time to hear the eight o’clock news. What a morale builder that was, the 1st Army with a bridgehead across the Rhine, and German reports that the Russians had started their drive to Berlin! This could easily turn the trick if all goes well. .

. . . . . I’ve been listening to the records and now it is 9:40 and the last records are playing, “The Blue Danube”, beautiful as ever, tho I prefer “Tales of Vienna Woods”. They should close next with “Goodnight Sweetheart”, as they usually do. They are, and I sure wish I could be saying that now to you, in person! . . .

10 March ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
I just got through reading four swell letters from you, they were yours of Feb. 8, 9, 21, & 22. They came just before supper and I’ve been reading them while I ate, and afterwards. I’m a bed patient again tonight, and am feeling pretty good now, but haven’t felt so good most all day long.

Here’s how it came about. About three this morning I got up to go to the latrine, toilet to you. While I was in there I got dizzy and fainted and fell, and must have hit my head a pretty good whack on the way down ‘cause I have a beautiful “shiner” on my right eye, and have a cut from my right eyebrow down towards my ear, not a very long cut, but that’s the general location. So I look like I’ve been through a bar room brawl but it’ll all go away before long. With fainting and hitting my head, I passed out pretty good ‘cause next thing I knew I was in bed and the nurse was working over me. She patched my eye and pretty soon I went to sleep again.

Walt told me this AM about part I missed, the doc came in and tried to bring me to, and asked me several questions, which apparently I answered, but not truthfully. I don’t even remember him being in here. Anyway I slept til about eight and was then awakened to eat breakfast. I ate it here in bed. I’ve again been forbidden to get up at all, and just now is the first time I’ve had my bed propped up so I’m sitting up except for meals.

After breakfast our regular ward doc came in and had a look at me, and then the doc who had been here last night, and finally a surgical doc came in and had a look. Pretty soon I was on a wheeled stretcher, and was taken down to the surgical doc’s operating room where he put a couple of stitches in the cut and told me it wasn’t going to leave much of a scar, if any. He had to shave away half my eyebrow to clean up the cut. Then I was wheeled back to the ward.

Most of the day I slept here in bed ‘cause there wasn’t much else to do since I was supposed to lay flat. The ward doc wanted to make certain I was OK, so he sent me in a wheelchair down to x-ray and had pictures taken of my head. They sure don’t take any chances around here. I had lunch in bed again this noon. This afternoon was spent mostly sleeping, also had a couple big cups of fruit juice. The Red Cross gal came around again this afternoon and gave us a donut, cigs, and a bar of candy. I took the donut this time ‘cause I’m off the special diet. I had a pretty good headache this morning, but there is just a slight trace left now.

Your letters came in just before supper time so I started reading them before supper, and continued while I ate. I started this soon after supper, and that about brings “my day” up to date. I was telling the fellow two beds to my right about your trip to S.F. through Marin County, he comes from there. He said to tell you there is one fellow here who would have liked to have made that trip with you, and I told him that then there were two fellows here who would have liked to have been with you, and I am definitely one of them!

The nurse just gave me hell for sitting up, but she agreed I couldn’t write flat on my back, so I’m still here. Guess I should lay myself down again soon tho. . .

12 March ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . They played some new records, new for here anyway, Rum & Coca Cola, Don’t Fence Me In, Accentuate the Positive, etc - all songs I’ve heard about, but haven’t heard before. Then there was a good Command Performance with Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, Cary Grant, etc. It was very good, up to the point where Bing sang “One Alone”! (“One Alone”, from the Desert Song, was “our song” to Betty and me and it had been sung at our wedding)

About 7:30 Marty and Marks came in to see me. We talked for quite a while, I heard more about the party last Friday night; Marty was walking down the steps at the Senior Officers Club with a British Naval Commander who is a friend of mine, and the Commander fell down the steps - must have been good liquor! . . .

14 March ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I read a Life, I think it was about Jan 29, that had a feature story of a wounded man on his way from France to the U.S. It was particularly interesting ‘cause the hospital he was in when he was in England is the one I’m in now, the 7th General Hospital. . .

. . . . . There haven’t been any poker games to watch the last two days. One of the big winners left, and I guess he took all the ready cash with him. . .

15 March ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . I had a call from the office this morning, had a few words with Bill. Today is Bill’s, the Colonel’s, and John’s (the Col.’s secretary) birthday, so I suppose they’ll be celebrating tonight. The Col. gave Bill a bottle of Seagrams V.O. rye for his birthday. . . . . From what Bill said this morning, the Col. must have gone as a passenger on a bombing raid lately. That guy can get himself into more activity, he can have that tho, as far as I’m concerned!. . .

19 March ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . then the doc came on his “rounds”. I had a talk with him afterwards, to see if I couldn’t find out how much longer I was to be in the hospital. He put it so that it was more or less up to me, depending on how urgently I needed to get back to work, but he said he thought it would be best if I spent a week at the rest home first before I went back to duty. Well, the war has been getting along without me for about three weeks, and I suppose it’ll go on the same way for another week, so I decided to go to the rest home. There’s no use taking any chances going back to work too soon. So I go back to the hospital tomorrow when my pass is up, and then Wednesday morning I’ll go on to the rest home, which is Preston Hall. I don’t know where it is, but the doc said there I could just take it easy and go for walks, play tennis, golf, etc. Sounds like a nice place! . .

21 March ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
Hello sweetheart, here I am again, at the rest home, or convalescent home, as the sign said as we came in. It seems to be a very nice place, an old English country estate that the Red Cross has taken over and is running for the army. I haven’t looked around much, but there appear to be some very pretty gardens, lawns, trees, and rolling hills. Anyway, it looks like a good week ahead for me.

. . . . . From the hospital I got a ride in an ambulance to the train station and caught a train to London. I had two hours between trains, so I took a tube to the office and was very glad to find two letters from you waiting for me, they will definitely be the last ones I get til I get back to the office a week from now. I went to the mess for an early lunch and then caught a tube to the station, arriving there about five minutes before train time. I got my musette bag from the check room and just barely got on the train as it started to move. Of course it was good and full by that time so I had to stand most of the way. It was a beautiful day out, clear and bright, and fairly warm. I had to change trains twice, and when I finally got here about three it was on a one car train, and I was one of two passengers who got off at the station, which was at the end of the line. I called from the station and soon a G.I. truck came and brought me here. .

There are only a few fellows here, 20 or 30 , I guess, and some of them I knew ‘cause they had been in my ward at the hospital. Everyone wears civilian clothes, I haven’t drawn mine yet, old slacks and baggy sweaters. We had “tea”, an elderly English gal presided. There are two Red Cross gals and a nurse who run the place. . .

After tea I went upstairs and took a nap to rest up from my trip, and then came back downstairs to start this letter. It is about 6:30 now, and supper isn’t til 7:30. The sun is still up, I am sitting in a den writing at a desk, and outside the window in front of me is a large lawn running down the hill into a valley and there are several large trees. This really looks like a goldbricker’s paradise, maybe I should have insisted on two weeks here!. . .

I didn’t get back to my writing last night, so now it is Thurs., morning. After I closed last night I fooled around for a while, and then it was time for supper at 7:30. It was a good meal, served on clean white tablecloths with candles to give light. They seem to try and make this place as least like the army as possible. After supper we sat around the living room and listened to the radio and I played a game of ping pong. It is a large living room with a big fireplace.

About 9:30 we piled into a truck and were taken to a dance at a little town near here. It reminded me a lot of the High School dances we used to have at home, most everyone was of that age anyway. I danced a few dances, when they weren’t playing polkas and others of that type. It was some fun, but I wished I had stayed home and written and gotten to bed early. We left about 12:30 and rode home and I went right to bed and to sleep. . .

3 March ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I don’t know why they call this a rest home, there’s always so much going on and to do that there is never any time for resting. I suppose I could take some time out and rest some, but I’m having too good a time. And I am darling, I’m enjoying myself like I haven’t for a long time. Guess I’ve been working so much I forgot how good it is to really relax. . .

. . . . . three of us went out bike riding. The country around here is all rolling, all up and down, and thus not too good for biking, but it is beautiful country, and it was such a nice day, that I didn’t mind pushing the bike up an occasional hill, or three, and then of course I didn’t mind riding down the hills. We rode to a village about two miles from here, I’m told, tho it seemed much farther. We stopped there at a pub and I had mineral waters (soda) while the other two fellows had beer, I’m still on the wagon! We rode beyond the village and then circled around and came back another way; we got back about noon. . .

. . . . . About 2:15 we left to go to the ball game, a softball game between here and an enlisted men’s rest home. We all piled into the back of the truck and headed for the ball field. Luckily they had plenty of players, so I got off on the way at the tennis court with three others, and spent the afternoon playing tennis, which is a much more agreeable game than baseball, in my opinion. Four of us played, three officers and one of the Red Cross girls. I played three sets, two of them doubles, needless to say they weren’t too active, for one thing it was too hot. Yes, in England, it was too hot! The sun was really beaming down and we weren’t dressed in shorts like we should have been.

The old boy who owns the estate where we play came out and talked some, and supplied us with cold beer and water. He is a nice old duff, and invited a couple of the boys to exercise his horses tomorrow; no running, mind you, they’ve been hunting all year and are about ready to be put out to pasture now. I would have liked to have gone, but the doc said no riding for a while. The truck came for us after the baseball game, naturally we lost, and we got back about five. Walt had come in the afternoon, and we gabbed for a while.

. . . . . After supper we had a movie in the living room; it was “The Animal Kingdom”, and good entertainment. They had lots of short subjects with it so it ran on and on, lasted about three hours. I didn’t mind tho, ‘cause I left the table early and snagged a nice soft easy chair. After the show I had a cup of cocoa and a sandwich, and then collected my writing equipment and sought this quiet place to write. It isn’t too quiet now ‘cause there is a poker game starting up in the next room, and they are busily looking for suckers, pardon me, I mean players. I don’t think I’ll join tho, not that I’d mind playing, but the games are usually much too rough for me, and besides it is late, and I have a date with you in a dream, I hope.

I do have a date with you in a dream, darling. It is a dream that has been my support for the last twenty months, the dream that will come true, of when we are together again. I only hope and pray that dream will come true soon, darling, ‘cause I miss you so very much, til it hurts, here. Goodnight my darling wife, I love you with all my heart and body and soul, with all of me and mine. I love you! All my love and kisses, Glenn

25 March ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I left there (archery) about three and joined Walt, a Red Cross girl, and another fellow for some tennis. The owner of the court was there, as well as his wife, and two friends he had invited over. I played one set of doubles and then sat out one set. Then we had tea in the house. It was a riot to listen to the two old boys talk, English accent so thick you could cut it. One looked just like George Arliss. They were country gentlemen from way back, must spend their time doing nothing but hunting, shooting, tennis, golf, etc. They were having a conversation about some rash farmer who wanted to join their “shoot”, they finally decided that since he was farming some 3520 acres, that he “must be a decent sort”. Both were in their seventies, but you wouldn’t know it to look at them, or to watch them play tennis. They were good, and got around the court fully as easily as we did. . .

28 March ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . Around nine I came on home and unpacked my bag and then shaved and took a bath. I had gotten into bed and was about half way through reading your letters when Henry staggered in, and I do mean staggered, he was stinking drunk! I’ve never seen him like that before, he’s usually so sober and quiet. He practically wept on my shoulder welcoming me back, and insisted I get up and go along with him. He was feeling very sad, I gathered he had a fight with his gal, and wanted to rejoin the party and make up. So I got up and made him a cup of coffee and then dressed and went along with him. He sobered up some with the coffee and the walk in the fresh air; he had been drinking since about 6:30 with no food. We found his party at an English Officers Club, they were mostly kids from his office that I know and Mary Jane and her roommate and another American girl. I think Henry has fallen pretty hard for Mary Jane, but apparently she isn’t sold. We stayed there a few minutes and then went on to one of the fellow’s apartment where we had a cup of coffee and then started to take the girls home. Henry was navigating pretty well by that time, so I left them and walked on home. . .

7 April ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . Gosh darling, I’m so lonely for you, and miss you so very very much. All I can think of is that we will be together again sometime, and so I’m impatient even with the rapid advances that are being made now, ‘cause I want so for the war to hurry and end, and then maybe we’ll get some indication of how soon we’ll be together again. . .

. . . . . I keep forgetting to tell you about the entertainment allowance that I get now. I can spend up to $75 per month for dinners, drinks, shows, etc. as long as one guest is British. I haven’t mentioned it ‘cause I haven’t used it yet, since I’ve been out of circulation for so long, but I’m having a couple of my British contacts up for lunch next week. . .

11 April ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I was out all day again today with my visiting firemen, that makes three days in a row I’ve wasted (as far as getting office work done) going around with them. It is the last such day tho, since they are leaving in the AM. This morning we visited a plant in the London suburbs and then came back to the mess for lunch. Had just time to eat and go back to the office, where I didn’t find any mail, when the second car arrived at one; to take us on our PM trip. This one was longer, a couple of hours or so from town.

It was a beautiful day for riding, leaves are coming out on all trees now and cherry blossoms are in bloom everywhere, and it was a nice warm day. I don’t trust English weather tho, and took along my raincoat, just in case. I did take the liner out of it tho. . .

We visited a British place where the Brigadier in charge met us and showed us around, he is a damn nice guy too, and loves to “ride” the Americans. He says he has broken us of some of our bad habits, for example, writing thank you notes after each visit. We had tea with him and then headed back to town about five. (Brigadier Lickman at Shoeburyness, again) . . .

13 April ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
And a lucky Friday 13th to you darling. I can’t seem to concentrate on work, so I thought I’d start on this letter to you. . . . . . . . . I’m glad you liked your Easter flowers so well, they seem to give pretty good service there, but you have to order a couple months ahead of time before they will guarantee delivery on time, so yesterday I ordered some for an occasion that comes up in July, I can’t remember just what it is (much!).

. . . . . I just saw the newspaper, and with the 9th Army reported 15 miles from Berlin it looked awful good! . . . . . . . . .Of course the paper was full of the president’s death; that’s too darn bad, I think he would have been plenty useful for the U.S. at the peace conference. . .

. . . . . Answers and comments; your bridge hands not withstanding, I love you! That must have been about the same night I was playing, and had some very good hands too. We should have been together that night, and between us we would have had really good hands. We should be together, period. I’m glad Bill (one of my college roommates, Bill Look) and Mary are getting along so well, and it will probably be good for him to get into the navy, that seems to be the only way of keeping the army from drafting you these days. Sure, I remember the Easter in Philly, and it was fun, as anything with you is! Weren’t we together one Easter in school too? Seems to me I had to stay up and work on lab notebooks one Easter vacation, didn’t I come up and visit you then? If I didn’t, I was crazy, or maybe just broke! . . .

16 April ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . After 5:30 Bill and I left the office; we walked down to the RAC (Royal Automotive Club) on Pall Mall and went for a swim in the pool there. I’ve had an honorary membership there practically ever since I came over, but never have used it, except once I went in with Tom for a beer. At that time, which was over a year ago, I think the swimming pool was under repair from bomb damage. It is a nice pool set in very fancy surroundings in the basement. It is strictly men-only swimming, I hope; if not I want to go there when it is coed swimming if the women’s suits are as abbreviated as the ones they gave us, it was just a very loose fitting gabardine G-string. The charge for suit and towel was reasonable, just one shilling ($0.20). We didn’t swim very long, which is probably a good thing, but took it easy. It sure felt good, must be the first time I’ve been swimming since I was last in Hermosa. . .

21 April ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
There is something vaguely familiar about that date up there, and I don’t like it! As a day, the 21st is OK, but there has been too damn many of them roll by since I last kissed you, 21 months ago now! . . .

. . . . . . After supper we went to see the show at the Windmill Theater. That is the theater that the scene in “Tonight & Every Night” is laid in, only like most Hollywood productions, they used a little poetic license in their scenery, and in the quality of entertainment! It wasn’t so good, confidentially, sort of a refined burlesque show, with the main attraction being scantily clad dancers. No strip teasers or fan dancers tho. . .

22 April ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I got dressed, in wool shirt and G.I. pants and G.I. shoes and “Ike” blouse, a real field soldier’s get-up. . . . . . . . . . . . . We finally got on the road about one. It was a very nice drive, England in the springtime is hard to beat for scenery, lots of green everywhere. We stopped in Cheltenham for “tea”, and then drove on, getting here (a British camp in Wales) about 7:30. We were shown to our rooms, and batmen were sent in to take care of our stuff, and then we washed and went up to the mess.

After a short session at the bar, which didn’t hold any interest for me, we had supper. After supper we sat in the lounge and read newspapers and listened to the news at nine, sure sounds good! I left the other two fellows at the bar and came back to my room to start this. The batmen had really fixed us up during our absence, shoes shined, bed made, toilet articles all laid out, etc. That’s something we don’t have in our army. . .

23 April ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
Hello sweetheart, here I am again. I’m at the mess yet tonight, in the lounge, and have just listened to the news, sounds good too! The radio is still on, and loud, so I’m having a little trouble trying to concentrate. I’m tired tonight, and my face feels pretty raw from all the sun and wind it’s had today, so I’d like to go to bed early and snuggle up to you! I’d like to do that any night tho!!. . .

. . . . . We went to the mess for breakfast at eight; had an excellent breakfast of real fresh egg and ham. After we ate we got in cars and went out to the range; that is, we went part way in cars, the rest of the way was in Bren carriers, which are tracked vehicles, and were necessary for those roads. It sure is rough country here, moors and bogs, which were just words to me before, and now have a meaning. . . . . . . . a cold wind was blowing, and countered any warmth from the bright sun, and the two together raised hell with my face . . .

Around noon the wind went down and it became nice and warm, We ate out there, sandwiches. About three we finished up the shooting and headed back for camp. Our car had thrown a piston this morning after it left us, so we came back in one of the other cars. Our driver had called the motor pool, and this evening a tow truck arrived along with another car for us, pretty good service I would say! . . .

(This trip was to observe tests of artillery firing shells with proximity fuses at targets simulating infantry in slit trench defenses. If I remember correctly, the air bursts were slightly more effective, but the main conclusion was that the slit trench was a good defense.)

24 April ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I’m in Malvern tonight, in a hotel, that is, it was a hotel before the war, but is now a RAF officers mess, which means that most comforts such as rugs and soft beds have been removed and replaced with army stuff. . .

. . . . . We were out on the range til about two today, but fortunately were in a more protected spot, so it wasn’t very cold and we didn’t get much wind. We got back to the mess at two.

After lunch we went to the billet and got our stuff together and into the car, and headed for Malvern. It was another nice day for riding and we went through some very pretty country. I’ve always heard about Wales being such a mountainous country, but that must be some other section ‘cause tho it was hilly, there wasn’t a sign of a mountain. . .

25 April ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . the batman, or in this case, the batwoman came in and took my shoes away, and later returned them all nicely shined. It is no longer a mystery to me why all British officers always have their shoes at a mirror brightness. . . . . . . . . We left (Malvern) about two and headed for London. . . . . We had a very nice drive, it was sunny again and very pretty through the Severn Valley, all the way, in fact. We stopped in Evesham and looked at the old church there and went a little out of our way to drive through Oxford, but didn’t stop.

We did stop for tea near Oxford, our British driver feels insulted if she doesn’t have her tea, and Mitch is always ready to eat. We got back to London about seven. . .