CHAPTER 11. 4/28/45 TO 7/1/45 VE DAY, GERMANY, & PARIS

28 April ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
Now to spend an evening visiting with you, my favorite way of spending an evening! But this is far from my favorite way of visiting with you, which matter I’ve mentioned before, no doubt!! . . . . . . . . . . . . I walked up to the mess for breakfast, the sun was shining brightly then, but I took my raincoat along anyway, it is harder for this English weather to fool me after the long experience I’ve had with it! Besides, a cold wind was blowing, and the rain coat helped to break it, even tho I’ve taken the liner out.

I had a good breakfast and read my paper over my second cup of java, had to read all about the link up of U.S. & U.S.S.R. troops, even tho it’s been expected “momentarily” so long that most of the punch was taken out when it was finally announced, and tho I had heard it on the radio last night, or rather, Hank heard it and told me. Anyway it is good that it has finally happened. The end can’t be far off now, says this 5 star armchair general. It’ll have to be damn soon tho, if it is to be in April , as I predicted. . .

29 April ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . Russ (Goss) is leaving for Paris tomorrow, and Marks is going soon. . .

. . . . . I came home at six to play bridge. . . . . . It’s about 8:30 now, and so far I haven’t done too well; I’ve forgotten a lot, at least that is my excuse! Henry is a good player, and so is his brother Joe. Major Grant is somewhat of a beginner, but outside of being overly conservative, he isn’t such a bad player. Looks like Henry is making his four bid, made five. . . . . I’m dummy again, this time on a four spade deal, you know me, “might as well bid game” is my motto. I’m playing with Joe now and he just mentioned something under his breath about “little slam”, and he made it, I guess we missed the boat. . . . . . . . . . . . It is fun to play bridge again, but I’m sure rusty; you’ll have to be especially understanding about my playing til I get back in the groove, or have I ever been in one, outside of the rut I’ve been in the last 21 months, but that isn’t my bridge I’m talking about. . . . . . This last rubber seems to be really elastic ‘cause here it is 11:30 and we are both vulnerable, and still playing at it. . .

. . . . . Ah, now it is 12:15 and I’m in bed at last. We finally finished that rubber, and I was on the winning side. We were playing for three pence a hundred, and I actually came out ahead nine pence ($0.15) for the evening. . .

(Bridge was a favorite entertainment for Betty and me during our days at Cal. One reason was that it didn’t cost anything; we never played for money! In addition there were gym dances and sports events which were included with our student body cards, and long hand in hand walks, and only an occasional night at the movies.)

1 May ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . . There is a street light on up at the corner that practically blinded me when I walked by. It is as bright as the normal lighting back home, and looks all out of place after all the blackout. You see a lot of windows in residences lit up now too. . .

3 May ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . Burns Magruder called us all down to his office at 5:30, seems he had an announcement to make. He had brandy and champagne and poured everyone a drink, about 15 of us there, and announced that his wife had a baby boy May 1. Boy, was he proud! I had a sip of the drink, they call the mixture of the brandy and wine a “French 75”. It tasted pretty good! . . .

4 May ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
Happy anniversary darling! That makes 34 months now that you’ve been Mrs. Burke, still like the idea? I do!! Decidedly so. Fact is, I love you and want to be with you all the time so I can do my darndest to make you happy. The army doesn’t seem to like the idea of us being together at the present time, but the day will come, and I pray that it will be soon honey! . . .

. . . . . The “Ike” jacket is fairly new here, and I like them, they’re comfortable, and still look pretty good. They’re really wool field jackets, and are about the color of my G.I. pants, only a little darker, but not as dark as greens. . .

. . . . . I eat at the “Willow Run” mess most of the time, just occasionally go to the Junior Officers Club, or, as a guest to the Senior Officers Club. . . . . . That mess is one of the smartest things the army’s ever done, in my opinion. They can handle a lot of people there in a short time, and provide a good meal, with nice surroundings. That’s where I’m always running into people from home, ‘cause all the officers on leave come there to eat. . .

5 May ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . I thought I’d catch the 6:30 free show at the Scala, “The Roaring Twenties” was advertised, and while it is old, it would be a way to pass an evening. So I caught a bus and went to the theater; when I got there I found they were having a play instead so I stayed and saw “The Gay Pavilion”; it was a preview showing, and is due to open in London in about a week. It was a pretty good play, I didn’t care much for the story, but the acting was very good. . .

6 May ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I went on back by the mess and picked up Larry (Henry), and the two of us caught a bus to Kew Gardens. We went up on the top deck and got a seat near the front, so we had quite a view ride to the gardens. Most of the busses still have all the windows, except for a peep hole, covered with a cloth and paste to keep the glass from shattering if it is in the way of a bomb blast. So you usually can’t see much out of bus windows; they are gradually taking the stuff off now tho. . .

We spent a couple hours walking around the gardens; it was funny weather, alternated showers and sunshine every five minutes, or so. The flowers were pretty, quite a few were out. It was warm, even when raining, and it didn’t rain hard. Only thing wrong was that you should have been with me instead of Larry. That “thing” is wrong with anything I do tho, I get to thinking how nice it would be if only you were with me, and then it’s not as much fun. . .

. . . . . I played 3 rubbers of bridge, and was on the winning side two of them, came out 300 points ahead for the evening. The first hand I was dealt was a honey, five honors,but my partner didn’t have much, and we bid and made five.

7 May ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
Here I am again sweetheart, at home and in bed, and it is almost ten now. I’m very happy tonight, ‘cause I got your swell letters of April 24 & 26 today. It has been quite a day, with the German broadcast that the war is over and all. I was out riding all day, and haven’t heard any newscasts, so I don’t know just what does give. I’m pretty certain that Churchill hasn’t yet made his broadcast that is supposed to make it official, but apparently it is certain that this is the end, from all the flags the conservative British are displaying if nothing else! So much the better, it has been a long wait for VE day, and I pray that the wait for the day we will be together again won’t be long! . . .

. . . . . My car came at ten, and I started on my way. I had planned to go by the convalescent home where I stayed and barge in on them for lunch, but we didn’t get there til 1:30, and lunch is at one, so I didn’t even stop. We stopped in Oakham at a hotel and had a good lunch of fried fish. We went on to Melton Mowbray, which was my destination, and picked up some stuff there. We left about four, and headed back for London. I stopped at the convalescent home on the way back to say “hello”, but no one I knew was in. . .

. . . . . It is a little noisy out now, some people are celebrating anyway. I’m tired tonight, and don’t feel much like celebrating; instead I say “thank God that’s over”, and hope the Japanese follow suit soon. There’ll be plenty to celebrate when I see you again! I hope they give us some idea how soon that will be; I still don’t have the slightest idea, except that I have a suspicion that I’ll be hanging around here for some time yet. Guess all we can do is keep our fingers crossed and wait!

I think it’s a good idea for you to quit work, you’ve been working darn hard, and a rest will do you good. I’ll bet Mom would like to have you down there for a real visit, and you could get a good tan at the beach. Now I’ll see if I can’t get a little shut eye, I hope I meet you in my dreams tonight, darling. I’m so lonely for you, and want your kisses and your loving, and want your head on my shoulder when I go to sleep. I want you (period). Goodnight, my darling wife, I love you with all my heart and body and soul. I love you. I adore you. I miss you. I love you!! All my love and kisses, Glenn

8 May ‘45 Tuesday VE Day My darling wife;
Happy VE Day sweetheart, now the $32 question is answered, I hope we soon have the answer to the $64 one. I’m at the office, and it’s almost five now. Today and tomorrow are holidays here, but we still have to keep a skeleton force on hand, and right now I am the skeleton. I wandered about earlier this afternoon, watching the festivities, but I couldn’t get into the correct mood it seems, now if you had been with me, it would have been different. Anyway it was a sight to see London let down its hair, and it did, as well as it knows how to, I guess.

I forgot to tell you in yesterday’s letter about my drive back from Melton Mowbray. Just before we left for London the first unofficial news about the surrender came over the radio, and as we passed through the little towns we could see everyone putting up flags and bunting, and crowds were everywhere in the streets. After seeing that all the way home, I was surprised to find that an official announcement hadn’t been made yet; it isn’t too like the British to start celebrating on the basis of an unofficial announcement, or anything less than a statement from Churchill. Henry came in after I had gone to bed and told me that it had been announced that today was to be VE Day officially. He had been down on Picadilly and said it was like New Years Eve in Times Square there. . .

About 2:30 I took a walk, went down by Buckingham Palace. There was a big crowd in front there, and at three Churchill’s speech was broadcast over loudspeakers, and the the king and queen came out on their balcony, at which the crowd started cheering. It was quite a sight! I walked on down towards Whitehall, but the crowds coming out from there were so big that I cut up to Trafalgar Square and then to Picadilly Circus and back here.

Trafalgar and Picadilly were jammed with people, in fact all the streets around there were, the rest of London must be deserted today. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, singing and making noise. They’ve been buzzing this town all afternoon with four engine bombers coming over at roof top level, slightly distracting! I’ll go out with Bill tonight and celebrate, what a time to be on “No Drinks” orders! I’ll be back later sweetheart, I love you!!

Wed. afternoon . The town really went wild last night, and after being the chief target for bombing the last 5 years or so, I don’t blame them. Picadilly Street was overflowing with people, every once in a while you’d see a car or a truck loaded with people, but most of the traffic was pedestrian. Picadilly Circus was packed with people, occasionally a firecracker would go off. In spite of the number of drunks around I didn’t once see a fight. Lots of people had paper party hats on and had noisemakers, not much confetti around tho.

Pretty soon Bill and I walked back to the office and dropped off our cameras, and washed up some, it was hot and sultry out and I was wringing with sweat. Then we went up to the mess, got there a little before they stopped serving at eight; had a good supper of fried liver. After supper we wandered down to the Senior Officers Club and went in and up on the balcony overlooking Park Lane and watched the people walking by. Bob, a friend of Bill’s, joined us, and pretty soon he had invited up a party of Australian Air Force and British officers who were walking down the street. I had a drink of bourbon that I nursed along all evening, but Bill and Bob made regular trips to the bar. The Aussies had apparently been flying high since last night.

There was a dance at the club, and I had a couple of dances. About eleven Bill and I went to the Mirandas Club, where he had a drink, and then we walked around a while, stopped at the Senior Officers Club again and picked up Bob and then went out again.

The searchlights were all on, and some buildings had been flood lit, the front of the Dorchester Hotel was, and it really looked good. Down on Picadilly they had a bonfire going and were dancing a conga around it. The streets were still jam packed up til about two when I got home. Even then I could hear a crowd down on the street raising hell til I fell asleep, which was about ten seconds after I turned off the light. I was dead tired after all the walking I did! It was quite a night, I suppose there was more celebration here than any other place in the world last night, and it’s kind of nice to have seen it. . .

9 May ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
I’m the skeleton crew at the office again this afternoon, so I might as well start my visit with you. . . . . . I heard a lot of cheering outside a few minutes ago and looked out the window and saw Churchill drive by, preceded by two mounted policemen and with three carloads of Bobbies behind, mobile crowd control, I guess. . .

. . . . . I noticed in today’s paper that they’re finally printing weather forecasts in the paper again. Maybe I won’t have to go on intuition so much now as to whether or not to wear my raincoat. This morning it was bright and blue out when I left the apartment, when we went from the office to the mess at noon it was threatening rain, and clear again when we came out, and then rained when I went to supper. And how anyone can predict weather like that is beyond me!

. . . . . They’re supposed to announce soon the values for each of the four points for discharge, but even when they do I doubt that we’ll know when I’ll get home. I’m hoping they’ll let wives come over here,’cause that looks like the quickest way we could be together again. And the only thing I want is to be with you as soon as possible! . . .

11 May ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . The Stars and Stripes had a lot in it this morning about the plans for demobilization and redeployment, and I suppose they were published in the home newspapers as well. There was nothing cheerful in that news for me; even if I were an EM (enlisted man) I wouldn’t have near enough points for demobilization, and officers need even more “points”, tho they didn’t say how many. . .

. . . . . Fred and I decided to play tennis this evening, so he called and reserved a court, and I went to Special Services and picked up rackets and balls. . . . . . After supper I went home and gathered my tennis shoes, shorts, T-shirt, etc. and put them in my musette bag, and then started for the Queens Club. I caught a subway to Barons Court and walked the couple of blocks from the station to the club. We get the use of the club there, and the total charge for use of the court and dressing room, including towel, is 2/9 ($0.55). I got into my shorts and T-shirt, and about then Fred arrived. We played from 7:00 to 7:45 ; he walloped me as usual. . . . It was still very hot at that hour, and I had a good sweat. .

Larry was down to a show at Leicester Square last night and he said all the theaters are beginning to light their neon signs and marquees, and some of the Picadilly Circus signs are being put in action again, so London is starting to return to normal. A lot of the shelters and blast walls are being torn down too. It will take a lot more than that to erase the scars of war from London tho, that will take years of building new buildings to fill the gaps where bombs or incendiaries fell. . .

Well darling, for some reason the ink has flowed a little easier tonight, wish it always did, but now it’s time I quit my rambling and get some shuteye. I wish I could express to you just how much I long to be with you again, and what a miserable, unreal life this is so far away from you, but I can’t! I miss you every minute of the day and in everything I do. I miss our walks together, and gin rummy games, and everything we did together. I’ve got a lot of nice memories, from our first date, through awakening you with a kiss when I’d come home from work at our apartment in Berkeley, our trip east, snuggling in a lower berth, and our life in Philly. It was all wonderful, tho always dampened somewhat by the uncertainty of what was coming next. It is nice to have those memories to look back on, as an index of just how happy we can be in the future when we are together again. I love you darling, and I need your love too. Goodnight my darling wife, I love you. All my love and kisses, Glenn

12 May ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . Fred and I had planned to leave about four to play tennis, but the Col. put the kibosh on that when he said that a general was coming in, and we were to stay and talk with him. We got away a little before six and went by bus and tube to the Queen’s Club. We played til about 7:30, with the usual result of me getting one or two games out of a set. I had fun tho, and think I’m improving a little, and the main thing is I’m getting some much needed exercise! . . .

13 May ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . About 1:30 I went to the mess with the Col., and ate up with him, or with the “holy holies”, as he put it. That is the general officers and full colonels dining room, it is up on the mezzanine where the bar is, but back in one end. They get table service and have table cloths, etc., real classy. They had run out of chicken, so we had to be satisfied with steak! It was good steak too, thick and tender, but not rare enough to suit me. We ate and talked til 2:30 and then went back to the office. . .

. . . . . After supper I stopped by the office and then caught a bus and went to see Bill down at the hospital. He seems to be getting along pretty good, probably needed the rest more than anything else. I stayed there til about eight, and then caught a bus back. I went to the Nurses Club and got a dish of ice cream; I ran into Marty there and sat with him to eat my ice cream. They had a dance there tonight and we went up to it; there was a pretty good crowd, lots of people in for leave, and back from the front on leave now. . .

14 May ‘45 Monday My darling Betty;
It is eleven PM and time for me to start my visit with you on this blue Monday, blue like all the other days ‘cause we are apart, but a lighter shade of blue since I got your swell letter of April 28 today. I am home and in bed as usual, and wishing you were here beside me as usual, only “wishing” is much too mild a term, longing with my whole being is more like it! Darling I love you and want you and miss you every minute. . .

. . . . . I dressed, that took me longer than usual ‘cause I couldn’t find a shirt with buttons intact. I finally chose one that only had three missing, and wore it; remind me to do some sewing one of these nights, or why don’t you come along and do it for me, and I have a few other things you could do too, such as snuggle up in my arms and make love with me! Nice dreaming! . . . . . .
. . . . . I finished eating about seven and then decided to see a movie. I walked down to Leicester Square and saw “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. I got in just as the last show started, and didn’t have to stand in line either. It was an interesting picture, even tho a little on the gruesome side. After I got home I took a good look in the mirror to see if all my sins were making their mark on my face! . . .

15 May ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I found a book in the (Reindeer) lounge that was pretty good. I had heard of it and sat down and read part of it. It’s written in free verse, supposedly by a cockroach who punches the typewriter with his head and feet, and can’t reach the shift bar so he doesn’t use any caps or punctuation (like in my letters). Anyway I thought it was good, and from some of the comments you’ve made aboout cockroaches maybe you should read it, . I extracted part and will enclose it. The book is called “archys life of mehitable” by Don Marquis, and I suspect you can get it there.

16 May ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . After lunch I worked a while, and then bussed down to the hospital and took Bill his mail and had a chat with him. He seemed to be much better, he was beginning to show interest in the nurses, and that’s a sign he’s feeling better. . .

18 May ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I also had a letter from Walt Turnier, the fellow I met in the hospital. He had gotten his captaincy, and was telling me about his VE Day celebrations in Paris; he fell off the wagon, for three days, so I suppose he really went on a bender, but he said he had to pay for it ‘cause he had to go back to the doc, and is now taking vitamin pills. So it’s probably a good thing that I fell off the wagon with moderation. I’m good now til July 4th, but then I’m going to drink a toast to you, jaundice or no jaundice!. . .

. . . . . About eleven I walked to the bank; as I was standing in the inevitable “queue” I noticed an Air Corp. Lt. at the end of the line who looked familiar, and was looking as if he recognized me. He came up and just then I figured out who he was, he is a second or third cousin of mine that I haven’t seen for at least ten years, so no wonder I didn’t recognize him right off. We had a little talk there, and made arrangements to meet for lunch. . . . . . . . About 12:30 I walked down to Shepherds Market and to Shepherds Pub where I was to meet him. He’s fallen for a girl over here, and she was to eat with us, and that’s why we didn’t go to the mess, no guests allowed there. I met them in the pub, and pretty soon we went upstairs to the restaurant and ate. Roger is due to return to the States almost immediately, and doesn’t want to go. I offered to trade places with him, but we were afraid the details wouldn’t work out so good. He wants to stay here so he can marry her and it will be easier for her to follow him to the States, but apparently there is some difficulty about them getting married. I didn’t inquire about the details, but they mentioned that she has a baby, so I assume her divorce isn’t final as yet. Anyway, it was interesting to run into him like that; I probably never would have recognized him, except he is the image of his dad. . .

. . . . . After I ate I caught a bus to the Scala Theater for a 6:30 show; it was “Harvest Moon”, and I enjoyed it a lot. It was over about 8:30 and I walked back to the office, quite a long way. It was a beautiful warm evening, and nice for a walk, tho I sure wish you had been with me. Guess I’m growing to like this old town, at least in nice weather, and it’s getting easier to like with more lights, etc. So I wouldn’t mind at all staying on here for a while, if you were with me, and that “if” is a big one! . . .

23 May ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I met a three-star general this afternoon, General Collins, who you probably have seen in the newsreels. His men captured Cherbourg, and were in on a lot of the other critical, and successful battles. He is a very handsome man, gray haired, but young looking, about my height but fairly stocky. I really enjoyed meeting him, he was very nice. . .

. . . . . We didn’t get away from the office til after 6:30, the Col. cornered us on the way out. He also took that time to dispense a couple of bottles each of fire water (Seagrams bourbon). I don’t know what the occasion was, maybe just the arrival of a new shipment. Anyway, now I’m all set to go off the wagon July 4, but I’ll do it mildly. . .

. . . . . I almost forgot to tell you about our rain today; in the middle of the afternoon it clouded up and got dark, and then we had a real downpour and hail storm, complete with lots of lightning and thunder. I never thought I’d see a real rain here in England, it is usually just a drizzle, but for a half hour or so it really came down! . . .

24 May ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
I’m getting an early start on my visit with you tonight, since it is just a little past eight thirty. . . . . You’re holding up your end of the visit admirably, since I got five letters from you today!! . . .

. . . . . Before the Colonel left he told me to come in and hold down the throne of the holy holy, so I spent the rest of the day in his office. That would have been OK, except that the gal who is taking Lucile’s place while she is having her baby is about the most stupid person I’ve ever met, and besides that she is definitely on the ugly side. I was pretty busy most all day, just call me Col. Burke. Gen. Collins was in again today after the Colonel left, just came in to make a bunch of telephone calls. . .

. . . . . Guess that’s all the comments, except to say, you write the nicest letters, honey! It is after ten now, and I’m sleepy, so turn off the light darling and then lets snuggle up together here and do a little loving. Don’t I wish it? I do!! Goodnight sweetheart, I love you and miss you every minute. Please come to me in my dreams. Goodnight my darling wife, I love you!!
All my love and kisses, Glenn

25 May ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
This business of playing “colonel” is a little strenuous for my weak mind, so I thought I’d relax for a minute, and what better way to relax than to start my visit with you?! I am at the office, and it’s just 4 PM. I’m sitting at the Colonel’s expansive glass topped desk and his basket is to the left, and mine is to the right, both full to overflowing, and the space between is also filled with papers. I didn’t even try to clear them off to write, just leveled a spot. I’ve been going like sixty all day long, but still the pile of papers grows instead of diminishing. The Col. can have his job, and pay, for all I care, it’s too much work to suit me! Besides I probably wouldn’t look good with eagles on my shoulder (and probably white hair). . .

. . . . . I had a good breakfast of fresh egg, etc. and went on to the office. Bill was already here, he came back from his trip last night. One of us had to sit in here on the “throne”, and since he had more of his own work to do than I did, between us he decided I was the lucky one. . .

. . . . . After I signed off above, I did some more work, and then at 5:30 I put away my papers, and Bill and I left. We walked up to Oxford Street and caught a bus to Picadilly Circus to see a show, only all the ones we wanted to see had long queues, and this was at 6 PM! It wasn’t like that in the days when the buzz bombs were coming over; then you could go to about any show
at any time, and get in without waiting. So we went to a newsreel theater instead and saw the news and a couple of cartoons. . .

. . . . . It has been a busy day for me today, and looks like it will be likewise tomorrow. Oh well, the time seems to go faster the busier I am; it can’t go fast enough to keep me from missing you tho, darling! Seems like after all this time I should be getting used to being away from you, but that lonely ache is with me all the time. . .

30 May ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . At 11:30 Bill and I left for the Memorial Day services. We caught a taxi and went down near Westminster Abbey. First there was a ceremony where General Van Vorst, Acting Military Attaché, and Admiral DuBose, Naval Attaché placed wreaths at the Lincoln statue, and then we went into St. Margarets Cathedral, which is near Westminster Abbey, and attended a special service. . . . . . After the service Ambassador Winant led a procession into the Abbey to lay a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. . .

. . . . . We had been forewarned that the lunch at the mess was no good, so Bill and I went to the Nurses Club to eat. I had a waffle, and was still hungry, so I had some potato salad and a couple of tomato and cream cheese sandwiches; it made a pretty good lunch. We ate out in the patio, and it was nice there; with high buildings all around it wasn’t windy, and the sun was shining bright and warm down on us. I could have stayed there sun bathing all afternoon, but I didn’t, we went on back to the office. . .

. . . . . That trip I took last year was an interesting one; we had an Ordnance General visiting over here, and wanted to visit several different establishments around England. So the Colonel got busy and invited four or five generals to go along, and on that basis requested General Lee’s private train, which we got, and had a tour deluxe!. . .

. . . . . Today I had an offer of a job in the Army of Occupation from a colonel I’ve gotten to know, and apparently he liked my work ‘cause it sounded like a good job, but I’ll be damned if I’ll volunteer for any occupation job, and so told him.

1 June ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I went through the red tape to send some money to you, by money order this time, that way it should get to you well before July 1. It took me about an hour; first I went to the APO and picked up some money order application forms; next stop was the bank where I checked that my May pay had been deposited, it is sent directly there by the finance office; it had come in, so I cashed a check. Next stop was the AG where I got permission to send the money orders, and got the application forms stamped OK. Then I went back to the APO and traded my cash and the application forms for money orders; simple procedure isn’t it?! I had gotten fifteen five pound notes new from the bank, but still had to endorse each one at the APO before they would take them. Seems they are easy to counterfeit, and you always have to endorse them like a check; remind me to get one pound notes next time! It involved quite a lot of walking around and waiting in various “queues”, but anyway, $300 is on its way to you now. . .

. . . . . About ten I decided to come on home, and asked Bill if he wanted to come with me to get a dish of ice cream, but he had some stuff he wanted to carry home with him tonight, including some fresh eggs he had picked up, so he invited me to his place for a snack. We fixed up some fried eggs, toast, and coffee. The eggs were sure good, large and fresh. . .

4 June ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
Happy anniversary darling! Thirty five months, and I’m as much in love with you as the day we were married, if not more so! The big difficulty, of course, is that we have been apart so many of these months, but our day will come, and then we will make up for all this lost time! I’m awful glad we’re married, darling! I’m also glad to have gotten your swell letters of May 24, 25, 26, 27, & 28! As you say that’s the way to start out a week; they made me real happy, sweet, such nice long letters too. . .

. . . . . Marty, Bill, and I went to the mess for lunch; we had a drink at the bar first and then ate a good roast beef lunch. There was a big crowd there today and the lines for food extended the whole length of the dining room on each side, reminded me of how it used to be before D Day. They are set up to handle a lot of people tho, and the lines moved fast. You just pay your money, grab a tray and pass along a long counter holding it out, and the gals slap the food on. You are seated in order, and as soon as you are finished eating the gals are there cleaning up the table and setting it for the next round. “Willow Run” (the large airplane plant) is no misnomer! .
. .
. . . . . This afternoon I spent a couple of hours with one of our visiting firemen down talking with a British Major General and some of his officers. I got back to the office about five, tho a couple of times I didn’t think I was going to make it; we had called for a car, and the motor pool sent a jeep driven by a stupid looking, and acting, Englishman, who thought he could argue with busses, etc. with a jeep. I had to tell him to slow down a couple of times; a few lessons on how to drive wouldn’t have hurt him either! The drivers they get at that motor pool are really bad; the gals as a rule are pretty good, but those moronic men can’t drive worth a damn! That’s a pet gripe of mine, so ignore it. . .

. . . . . I had a call from a British manufacturer I know. Last summer I took a picture of the front of his plant after a buzz bomb had lit nearby, and he wanted a copy of the picture. So this evening I enlarged one for him, but didn’t get too good a job; I’ll send him the negative and let him make his own copy, he has a good photo lab. . .

. . . . About ten Bill and I were leaving, but the Colonel must have heard us going out ‘cause he called out and snagged us, and talked to us for a half hour or so. That’s a favorite trick of his, to catch us on the way out at evening or night, and then keep us there talking business for a little longer. . .

. . . . I have a trip to Scotland lined up for Thursday, only it’s not going to be any pleasure junket, ‘cause I go up Wed. night on the sleeper, stay there during the day, and then come back Thursday night. I’m tired just thinking of it! . . .

. . . . . Can’t say I blame the sailor for trying to wolf you, I’d like to do a little of that myself! Shows he had good taste, anyway. I can hardly convince people that I show your picture to that we are the same age, they all say “oh, she’s young, isn’t she!” (everyone takes me for about thirty, til I set them straight)

. . . . . Guess I’d better get a little “beauty” sleep, it is twelve, and I’m sleepy, so maybe I won’t lay awake tonight. If only I could snuggle with you and make love to you now darling! I love you so very much and want your kisses and your warm body next to me in bed, I want you!! Goodnight my lovely lovable wife, I adore you. All my love and kisses, Glenn

7 June ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
Here I am again, on the train, and it has already started moving, so I’ll probably have trouble writing. I’ve had a pretty good day, tho I’m tired, and will be even more tired tomorrow morning after another night on the train. I’m in an upper berth in a 3rd class sleeper compartment, just like last night.

I got to sleep soon after I finished your letter last night. I took off my blouse, shirt , and pants and slept in my underwear, since I forgot to bring any pajamas. With only one blanket I was warm enough, tho I sure wouldn’t have been in the winter. I slept pretty good, only woke up a couple of times, and I even had a nice dream of you; we were riding on a train, in a lower pullman, and on the way from N.Y. to S.F., I think. It was nice having you cuddled beside me, even in a dream!

I finally awoke about 8:30 and got up and climbed into my clothes and was all ready to leave when we pulled into Kilmarnock at nine, the train was only ten minutes late. At the station there was a car waiting for us , and we went to the plant. There we talked until about noon and then went to lunch. Had a good meal, but not too filling, especially since we had missed breakfast.

In the afternoon we went out on the range and watched firing, and my ears are still ringing a little from it! It was very interesting anyway. It rained most of the afternoon (good old Scotland), but not too hard. About five Hill and I went with a British Colonel to the local pub and had a couple rounds of drinks, and then his driver took us to catch a train at six.

We took a train on to Glasgow, got there about seven. We checked our bags and went out for supper. We went to Roganos Restaurant, where I had been before, and about eight finally got to eat, had some good lobster as the main dish.

After eating we went back to the station, got our bags, and went to the men’s room in the station hotel. I shaved while Hill argued with three slightly soused Scots; it wasn’t much of an argument, he just listened while they cussed out the English and told how much better a people the Scots are.

We got on the train just before it left about 9:30. So here I am, about ready to go to sleep. The compartment filled up when we stopped at Kilmarnock a few minutes ago; we have two Navy officers in with us. . .

(The British Colonel mentioned in the above letter was Colonel Skentleberry, a very nice and friendly gentleman that I had a lot of contact with during my stay in London. I believe the picture of Col. Skentleberry with me after this chapter was taken on this trip at Kilmarnock.)

9 June ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . The Colonel called us into his office for an interesting little chat. Seems like we will definitely not be assigned as Assistant Military Attachés, but will go on as in the past for an indefinite time. The most interesting part is that he believes that families will be allowed to come over when a lot of the troops that are leaving have gone. Of course that is nothing official, just rumor, but it sure made me feel a lot better to think that there is the possibility that you can come over some time!! Anyway, that is the rumor for the day. . .

. . . . . After supper Bill & I caught a bus down to the theater district and went to the Apollo Theater and saw “Private Lives”. It is a Noel Coward play, and I enjoyed it a lot. That’s the first time I’ve been to a play for quite a while, and there are a lot of new ones playing now that I would like to see. The play didn’t start until 6:45, so maybe they are tending to get back to pre war schedules, or maybe it’s just that it is summer, and it doesn’t get dark til so late. . . .
. . . . . We caught a bus up to Bill’s apartment and had a snack of fried egg, tomato sandwich, and coffee. That sure was good, we had eaten so early and I was getting hungry again. . . . . .

13 June ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . At five we had a presentation of a medal in our office. We have a new major in the office; he got the Legion of Merit for work he did in France before he came here. There was a little ceremony & we had some guests in and a public relations reporter and photographer. The Colonel pinned the medal on him, and then we all went to a cocktail party in honor of the occasion at the International Sports Club, a very nice, and exclusive, club located in the Grosvenor House Hotel. I had one drink which I poured myself and nursed along all evening, just a smell of bourbon and lots of soda, so I was nice and sober, and I think I was the only one.

At 6:30 the Colonel and Professor Woodruff played a game of squash, and we watched. It was an interesting game, they both are very good. The Col. has played against some of the best players in England, and does pretty good against them, but tonight the Prof. won. . .

14 June ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . I got a letter from Mom too, she enclosed a clipping listing the fellows killed in the war from the South Bay: Redondo, Hermosa, and Manhattan. It was kind of a shock, ‘cause there were 48 of them, every name was familiar, and most of them fellows I went to school with. I haven’t been in close contact with news from the home town, but I didn’t expect so many kids I know had been killed. It’s a damn shame, and it will be even more of a shame if we don’t do all that’s possible to prevent a third world war in another twenty years!! . . .

We drove out near Southend (to the Royal Artillery test facility at Shoeburyness) and watched a test. I saw about $10,000 worth of tank used up testing a gun against it today! (The gun’s explosive shells used shaped charges which concentrated the explosive forces and made them more effective against the tank’s armor) At twelve we drove into Southend and had lunch at Gerands Restaurant; they served a pretty fair meal. Southend is the Coney Island of London, and it was pretty well packed today. After we ate we had a little time so we walked along the sea front. There isn’t much of a beach, and it is rocky and dirty. There are a few whale boats with sails offering rides for 1/- ($0.20), and some of the merry-go-rounds and other amusements are beginning to operate again. I liked the town better when it was a restricted area and more or less deserted. . .

About noon the sun came out and I got a little sunburn on my face. I couldn’t see the logic of all the people sunning themselves on the beach at Southend, it would have been too cold for me! Of course I didn’t see any bathing suits, and only a few kids in wading. . . .

After lunch we went back and saw more tests, and about four we headed for home. We had a blowout, and the jack wouldn’t work, but a truck driver stopped and changed the tire for us. So it was six when we got back to the office.

15 June ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . About eleven the Col. called me into his office and told me I was to take another visiting colonel down to a British place in Kent, leaving practically at once. I hurriedly dumped everything into my basket and we got a car and left. It was a nice day, and a nice ride, had a new Chevrolet and a good (Embassy) driver. We got down there about twelve, and talked to some of the officers til one, and then had lunch in the canteen. It was a good lunch, tho typically British with two kinds of potatoes, but we had a good gooseberry pie for dessert. After lunch we talked some more and saw some equipment; all very interesting, but not much to write about. We stayed there til about four, and then headed back to London.

As we were going into the place this noon, the driver spotted some strawberries; we were right in the middle of the district where most of them are grown, so while we were doing our business, he went back and picked up some for us. I’ve really gorged myself on them, they are very good, big and fresh, but don’t have the flavor of the Sacramento strawberries, if I can remember back that far; still they were a real treat!

We got back to the office about five, and by time I had dictated my notes it was 5:30. I was about ready to leave, but the Colonel came in and wanted to borrow my camera to take with him on a trip tomorrow. I didn’t particularly want to loan it, but what could I say? So I got hold of some bulk film and went up in the dark room and loaded a couple cassettes for him, and then gave him some instructions on how to use the camera, all of which added up to my not leaving until after 6:30.

After supper I went by the office and picked up my strawberries, and went to Bill’s apartment. A friend of Bill’s was there with his fiancé, an army nurse. They are getting married next week, in Paris, through the aid and assistance of General Saylor. Did you say it didn’t do any good to know a general? (Hasn’t helped me any, I must admit!) Ray is the Lt. Col.’s name, and he is a young fellow, under 30, and very nice. He is a regular army man, which explains his age and grade! Well, he is going back to the States soon, and wanted to get married before he leaves, only he was in Germany and the gal was in England. He spoke to the general about it, and now the gal is on Detached Service in Paris, and so is he, and they are to be married next week and have a honeymoon on the Riviera, and since they’ll be married, she will return to the States either with him, or soon after. They are getting a good break, I would say!

We had some strawberries and gabbed for a while. Bill brought out some bourbon, but I decided to stick with lemon squash (til July 4th) and so had that. I left about ten and walked on home, a pretty good 20 minute walk. . .

16 June ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
Another Saturday night, and I wish I were spending it with you sweetheart, and I don’t mean spend it writing to you, either. Let’s see, what shall we do, go dinner dancing, or see a show, or call up some people to come over and play bridge, or just play gin rummy and go to bed early? Anything with you would be fun, but about now I think I favor the last idea, how about you?. . .

. . . . . There was a very interesting, and hopeful story in the paper today, saying that the war dept. will relax restrictions to allow families (that’s you) to join servicemen in Europe “when conditions permit”. So that was a good rumor I heard. Although there is no indication about when “conditions” will be right, at least it does give us some hope, and maybe being here in England will be an advantage. I hope so!! So you be ready to pack any month now! . . .

17 June ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . Bill & I went out on Park Lane and caught a bus down to Victoria, and walked on to the Army Station Hospital where we went in to see Lucile and her new offspring, who is just a week old. We caught a glimpse of the baby, who was very much asleep. Lucile’s room was like Grand Central; her mother was there, and Fred came in, and Jimmy (Lucile’s husband), and some other friends of theirs. Lucile is already planning to get back to work as soon as possible, she’ll park the baby with “mother”, who likes the idea. I think Lucile’s crazy, but it is none of my business. . .

18 June ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . Looks like maybe I’ll finally get a trip to the continent, I’m supposed to leave about Wednesday to go to Leipzig in Germany. I don’t know too much about it yet, but it looks fairly certain this time. Course I’ve had trips fall apart every time before, but this one seems to be pretty far along, and maybe by time the Colonel gets back he won’t be able to throw a monkey wrench into things, besides he told me I could take a trip if I could arrange it! . . .

. . . . . I was reading an article in Colliers the other day about “The Dream Weapon” and how it helped defeat the buzz bombs. It was all about the M9 (antiaircraft) director; you remember I went to the place where they are made during our trip to Chicago. I also met Dr.
Lovell when he was over here, he was mentioned a lot in the story. It was pretty interesting reading about it, more from the standpoint of reading about somebody I know rather than learning anything new. . .

20 June ‘45 Wednesday Germany My darling wife;
Well, it - and that was as far as I got, and now I’m in Wiesbaden, and it is 12:45, and I think I’ll be able to write without any interruptions, I hope. I’m tired and have a slight headache too, so I want to get to sleep as soon as possible. I’m down at the writing room of the hotel I’m staying at ‘cause the room I’m in is a double, and the other guy is trying to sleep, and I can’t say that I blame him. . .

. . . . . We checked in at the airport and took off about 10:45. We had an Anson plane, a two motor cabin type with seats for five passengers. Two British officers and two U.S. civilians made up the rest of our party. We flew to Brussels, going over Dover and Dunkirk. It sure was an interesting trip, my first plane ride of course, and I was rubbernecking all the way. It was a beautiful day most of the way, clear and warm, with just a few clouds. Everything looked unreal from the plane, like looking at a miniature model, and I didn’t have any feeling at all of being up high. We flew at about 3000 feet most of the way, which is low enough that you get a good view of the ground.

We got into Brussels about noon, it was supposed to be just a refueling stop, but they found that a bearing was giving out, so we waited at the airport til they sent another plane over from England for us to continue our trip. We had a snack in the buffet bar and then sat and talked and waited til about five when we took off again. I’m not sure how we came then, but I think we passed over Coblentz and finally ended up at Frankfurt-on-Main about 6:30. We could see from the air the immense damage done to buildings in Germany, and on the ground it looks even worse. The damage in London just doesn’t compare at all.

We caught a bus up to the headquarters building, and after a while finally got some supper. They have taken over the I.G.Farben buildings there which were virtually undamaged (on purpose, saving them for use by our army), and the officers mess was like something out of a dream, it was strictly modern, and immense, had good food too! After supper we saw about billets for the night, and got booked into the hotel there, then one of the fellows called up here and they wanted us to come on tonight. That’s when I was interrupted on this letter after the first two words.

We came to Wiesbaden by car and got here about eleven. After checking into the hotel we went down the street and had another meal, only I didn’t have much appetite. Then we came back and I started on this letter. And that’s “my day” for today; there sure has been a lot packed into it, only I’m so tired now I probably missed half of it, or more. Maybe I’ll have more time to write tomorrow, but probably won’t.

I suppose that now that I’ve gone from the office a whole bunch of letters came in for me today, but I’ll just have to get along without them for the next couple of weeks, or however long I’m over here. I don’t like that one bit, I miss getting your letters, but not near as much as I miss you, darling. I think of you all the time, and long for you every minute. I love you so very much sweetheart. Goodnight my darling lovable wife, I love you with all of me. I love you. I adore you. I love you!! All my love and kisses, Glenn

21 June ‘45 Thursday Germany My darling wife;
It’s 12:20, and time I was starting my visit with you. I’m somewhere in Germany tonight, and I say that ‘cause I’m not sure just where I am, somewhere east and north of Nordhausen. I’m staying with an ordnance company, our car broke down near here and they towed us in and put us up for the night. It’s a pretty nice place too, our billet is in the executive offices of a brass and copper company. I just had a hot bath, and feel almost human again . . .

. . . . . From Wiesbaden we came via a 3/4 ton weapons carrier. There were six of us, a British major & myself in one party, and then some British naval officers. We came up the autobahn to Kassel, and that really is a nice highway. Had lunch a la K rations on the way. We saw some beautiful county, nice and green, and crops all in and doing well. I don’t quite see why they are prophesying bad food conditions here this winter, I didn’t see any damaged fields all the way today, in fact I didn’t see hardly any damage, except in the towns, and some of them have been practically erased!

. . . . . There were a lot of people on the road, carts, bicycles, and walking, but in no particular direction. The Germans seem to go in a lot for sun tans, and you see lots of men and women in brief costumes with nice tans, very healthy looking as a whole.

We got to our destination near Kassel about three, and after a short wait the major and I got another car and came on. We went to Nordhausen and tried to get supper, but couldn’t, so we stopped a little farther along the way and had K rations again. Not long after that we started having car trouble, we have a German Ford sedan, a little thing with a motor about the size of a Willys, and an even smaller body. The carburetor must be dirty, or something, ‘cause the gas kept shutting off. We would fix it (by lifting up the hood and looking hard at it) and it would go a few miles farther and stop again. Finally we stopped a passing jeep, it was an Ordnance Lt. and he had to go on, but he said he’d send someone back for us. We waited, and finally a jeep came and towed us in. We got here about 10:30, and have been talking to the officers, and I had a German beer, it was pretty good too! . . .

22 June ‘45 Friday Germany My darling wife;
. . . . . Tonight I’m about as far east as I’m likely to go, in Trebsen, on the banks of the Mulde, about 50 yards from the Russians, so the eastward part of my trip is over.

. . . . . After breakfast I spent the rest of the morning waiting for our car to be fixed. . . . Our car was all set to go after lunch, the trouble turned out to be a broken fuel pump, so we took off, drove through Halle, and on to Leipzig. We reported in at the headquarters and had supper and then drove on to Trebsen. We got here about seven and since then have been busy talking to the people here and talking with some Germans - I was an interested bystander there, understanding none of what was being said.

We saw the local castle and a factory, and then finally came on to the billet, where I found an empty room and started this letter. This billet is really a nice place, it used to belong to a wealthy Nazi, and is now being used by the Americans. It is very well furnished, in rich, but good, taste. . . . . . . . . . . . . . One thing that has struck me during my travel in Germany is the number of children you see, The Germans are really prolific! . . .

23 June ‘45 Saturday Germany My darling wife;
. . . . . Tonight I’m in Leipzig, in the home of the former mayor, it is a pretty nice house, but not overly so. If you remember, the former resident took his life when the U.S. army moved in, there were pictures in the papers of it. . .

. . . . . Then I took off with a local captain, we looked around the town, and then walked across the bridge over the Mulde River and saw the Russian sentries on the other side. Four or five of them gathered around and we tried to talk to them, but they didn’t know any English, and we didn’t know any Russian. The captain with me spoke German and he and one of the Russians who also spoke some German carried on a sort of conversation. (The Russians wanted to buy our wristwatches) At least I got a look at some Russian soldiers, and I would have hated to leave without doing that since I was so close. . .

. . . . . About five we left Trebsen and drove back to the division headquarters and ate supper at their mess. They had taken over a country estate mansion which they used for an officers club and mess. It was a super luxurious place, formerly owned by a Nazi. . .

24 June ‘45 Sunday Germany My darling wife;
I’ll give this thing a try, but I don’t know how well I’ll be able to do with it. It is a German typewriter, and seems to have the same keyboard as ours, except it has z where we have y - note the word “typewriter” above.

I have spent a very lazy day so far, and probably won’t do much the rest of the day. I am still in Leipzig, and will stay here tonight and probably leave tomorrow morning. I awoke at 8 this morning and got up right away, dressed, splashed some water on my face, and went in to eat a god breakfast of cereal and eggs.

The British major was working on the reports, he had taken all the notes, so I took off for a walk to see some of the town. We are near the center of the town, but there is a big park between here and there, I walked thru the park to the main part of town, what there is left of it, which isn’t very much, it has all been pretty much flattened.

I came back thru the park and got here about 11:30. We had lunch of pork chops at 12, it was pretty good food too. They have a couple of German women who do the cooking, cleaning, and keep the place in order. After lunch I took a nap for a couple of hours, I guess I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately, and then I started on this. While I was taking my nap I had a dream of you; I can’t remember what it was all about, but I think that you had come to London to join me and we were moving into an apartment there. It was nice, and I hated to wake up. Maybe one of these days soon that dream will come true, I want so much for it to, it has been such a long time that we have been apart!

It was a beautiful day this morning, clear and hot. But now it has clouded up and is raining and thundering out. . . . . . I went with “my” British Major while he interviewed another German; we didn’t get back until about seven. Here we found two of the others who had come with us on the plane from England. We had supper with them (steak) and then talked over what we had done so far, and what we were going to do. . . .

(Our mission on this trip was to interview German technical personnel who had volunteered to be relocated from territory that was to be part of Russian occupied Germany. The interviews would help determine if they were worthy to be included in the relocation program. “My” British major was fluent in German, and did all of the interviewing. I was available for consultation, and may have been some help since we were in American occupied territory, but he had almost all the work and responsibility.)

(My letters were rambling and lacking in paragraphing and capitalization, in excerpting parts of letters, and transcribing letters, I’ve corrected some of these errors but have tried to retain the original writing style.)

25 June ‘45 Monday Germany My darling wife;
. . . . . I got to sleep right after I finished your letter last night. There were a couple of mosquitos trying dive bomb tactics on me, but I pulled the blanket over my head and went to sleep. . . . . . . . . . . . I left about 10:30 and went over to the barber shop and got a haircut and shampoo, had to wait quite a while, but it was worth it. It only cost two marks, about $0.20, which is more than reasonable, I would say. . .

. . . . . Later this afternoon I took a ride out to see the monument where the last Nazis in Leipzig holed up and held out for a while. It was a massive thing and must have made an excellent fort, shells hardly made a dent in its thick stone walls. I spent the rest of the afternoon working, sitting in the sun on the back porch typing our report. . .

26 June ‘45 Tuesday Germany My darling wife;
. . . . . I’m at Camp Dentine tonight, which is near Kassel. It is a former camp for German girls who worked in a nearby factory. It’s not such a bad place ‘cause it was constructed on a more or less permanent basis. About all I did today was ride from Leipzig to here. . .

. . . . . We stopped for lunch at an Ordnance outfit near Weimar. I had heard that Saint was located there and wanted to look him up, but he had left for Paris a week or so before. From Weimar we took the autobahn on west; near Gotha we had more car trouble, and the thing stopped on us. I hitched a ride in a jeep into Gotha and located an Ordnance outfit there. They took me back in a jeep and fixed the trouble in no time at all. . .

27 June ‘45 Wednesday Germany My darling wife;
. . . . . I am still at Camp Dentine, but we are leaving again in the morning, going back to Wiesbaden. . . . . . . As we came back into the camp we met the other two people in our party: another British major, Bentley, and a U.S. civilian, Chaplin. . .

. . . . . After we ate supper we started working on reports.. We finished them about eleven, so are all clear to leave early tomorrow morning. . .

28 June ‘45 Thursday Germany My darling wife;
. . . . . I’m in Wiesbaden tonight, and comfortable in a soft bed with clean sheets in a nice room in a good hotel, and have just had a hot bath.

. . . . . After breakfast I rolled up my bedding roll and gathered my stuff and piled it into Chaplin’s jeep, and about 9:30 Chaplin, Bentley and I took off. We took the autobahn at Kassel and headed south. I drove part of the way and it was a lot of fun. I’ve ridden around enough here to get used to driving on the right side of the road, and besides, on these autobahns it’s no trouble, they are all four lane divided roads, and very good. Only occasionally there is a blown bridge to be detoured, or a bomb crater that has been filled and left a rough spot on the road.

About noon we left the freeway and went west to Wetzlar. We tried several places there to get a hot meal, and finally succeeded at a displaced persons camp. That’s the town where Ernst Leitz makes his cameras, so after lunch Chaplin went into the factory to see about buying one; no luck there, some joker high up in the Signal Corps has to give his approval first.

We went on to Dillenburg and tried to look up a German engineer, but he had gone to a small town about 20 kilometers south, so we went there and found him. The other two interrogated him, but it wasn’t interesting to me so I went outside and sat in the jeep.

A crowd of kids collected, and before long I didn’t have any candy and gum left. A couple of the kids, 8 or 10 years old, spoke English, and said they had learned it at their local school. That sounds funny when you think of a kid in grammar school learning a foreign language. I wonder if they were foreseeing the end of the war, or whether these would be the kids who would govern England in later years! (In retrospect, I now know how important it is to be able to speak “foreign” languages, and believe the German schools were way ahead of ours)

We left there about six and took a small road across to the Cologne-Frankfurt autobahn at Limburg; that last place is where the cheese of the same name comes from. It was pretty well beat up by the war, had as many holes knocked in it as limburger cheese (pun). We came on to Wiesbaden, got here about eight, and were lucky enough to get checked into the Schwarzer Bock Hotel which is pretty nice. I ran into Russ Goss first thing, he is here on a visit. Maj. Mackey & Lt. Dill are here too. . .

. . . . . We went downstairs and had a bath; this town is a spa, famous for its hot mineral springs, and they had some very elaborate baths down there, with a miniature swimming pool sunk in the steam heated floors. I soaked in the hot water for about ten minutes. . .

29 June ‘45 Friday Germany My darling wife;
. . . . . I am still in Wiesbaden tonight, in the same hotel room as last night. . . . . I slept hard last night, and the mosquitos didn’t bother me very much, tho I thought I saw quite a few in the room this AM who looked as if they had fed well the night before!. . .

. . . . . After supper Russ, Chaplin, a Lt. Col., and I went for a jeep ride up to the top of the hill overlooking Wiesbaden and had a look at the view; it was really pretty! . . .

. . . . . I think that I’ll head back to London soon; Russ is going back to Paris tomorrow, and I’d like to go with him and stop over there a day or so. I may have trouble doing that ‘cause my orders don’t call for Paris, and I understand they are sticky about that, but we’ll see. . .

30 June ‘45 Saturday Paris! My darling wife;
Well here I am in Paris at long last, and from what I’ve seen of the town so far it lives up to all the tales I’ve heard told about it! It is late now, 2 AM, so maybe I’d better get along with “my day” so I can get some sleep.

. . . . . I fooled around Mackey’s office til eleven, the only thing I accomplished was to get myself booked on the 4 PM flight to Paris. . .

At the Paris airport I caught a bus into town, and was dumped in the middle of a strange territory. I first tried to call Russ, but couldn’t locate him, or Marks, or anyone. So I gave up and dumped by bedding roll in a room at Seine base section where I was, and lugged my musette bag up the Champs Elysées to the Plaza Athénée Hotel. That used to be the Ordnance billet, and long ago they kicked out all junior officers, and only Lt. Cols. & above live there now, but I thought I’d run into someone I know.

I walked into the bar and the first guy I saw was Joe Barkley. He was sitting with a bunch of fellows I know, so I was at home right away. Joe has a “guest” room in his apartment, so that’s where I am now. He brought me here and I dumped my stuff, and then we went back to the Plaza A. I kept running into people I know and haven’t seen for a long time, all Ordnance. There was a dance there tonight, so everyone was around.

Tom Daly was there and Mary Rufe (Red Cross girl I knew at the London Reindeer Club) was with him. I had a dance with Mary; she and her Ord. Lt. are going to be married in the fall. That Plaza A. is really the nicest place I’ve seen on the continent, and the dance had a superb setting, it was in the courtyard outdoors, with stars overhead, a marble floor, and a fish pool at one end with underwater lighting - the rigors you have to undergo when serving overseas!! These headquarters boys, including me, really have an easy time of it!!

Joe and I stayed there til about twelve, and then walked up to the Champs Elysées and to the Petite Cabaret. One of Joe’s roommates is going with a singer there, we sat at their table and watched the dancing and talked. The name of the place is really descriptive, it is tiny. . .

A couple of WACs came in and wanted some help; they had found a soldier laying in an alley, just drunk; Joe and I went out and escorted him home. We had to look in his wallet to find out who he was and where he worked, and then inquired as to where his billet would be, and half carried him up there. So I did my good deed for the day!

I didn’t get to see much of Paris, but what I saw was very beautiful, wide avenues and lots of trees and good looking buildings, and it hasn’t been touched hardly at all by the war. My orders don’t call for me to be in Paris, but I think I’ll be OK, and I do have some legitimate business here, and I had sworn that I would get a look at this town on this trip if possible. . .

1 July ‘45 Sunday Paris My darling wife;
I’ve had a nice day in Paris sight seeing, only the weather man wasn’t in a very cooperative mood, and it was cold and raining most of the time. . .

We went to the Ordnance office, which is on the Champs Elysées. I tried to see several people, but didn’t have any luck, they were all out. Marks finally came in and said she’d try to book me a plane ride to London tomorrow afternoon.

Joe had gotten a jeep, and so we went out sight seeing, in the rain. We saw quite a lot of the town, including Napoleon's tomb, Notre Dame, and a lot more places I can’t even remember the names of. We went up the Eiffel Tower and had a look at the town from there. . .

After supper we took the Metro (underground) to the Montmartre district and went to see the famous Follies Bergére. It lived up to its reputation for nakedness, beautiful costumes, scenery, and had some good comedy too. After the show we took the Metro back. . .

(Betty and I did make several trips to Paris, but the first was 37 years later when we spent a total of two weeks there in 1982. We returned in 1986 while we were driving around Europe for 90 days; then we stayed at St. Germain-en-Laye and took a RER train into Paris for each of three days to see sights we had missed before. Our final trip to Paris was in 1994, when we stayed in a B&B room for a week while seeing more of the city )