CHAPTER 12. 7/2/45 TO 10/25/45 TENNIS, VJ DAY, MAJOR!

2 July ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
I have about a half hour wait here in the air terminal, so I thought I might as well start on this letter. I’m at Bovington Airport, near London, so my “vacation” is about over, and I should have a stack of your letters in my possession in about an hour! That’s something to look forward to! The plane landed here at five, and the bus to town left then, so I have to wait til 5:30 for another one.

About 8:15 Joe called me. For breakfast I walked over to the Mayflower Red Cross Officers Club. It was a lot better meal than you would get at a Red Cross in London. . .

After I ate I went to the Ordnance office. I saw a lot of people there that I know, Prof. Woodruff, Col. Keck, Mrs. Finney, Marks, Tom, Russ, etc. I visited around all morning.

About eleven I rode out to the Racing Club with Russ while he renewed his membership. I was supposed to go there with him yesterday, but he had a chance to go see his brother, so he did that. Besides, yesterday was no day for swimming or tennis. It is a very nice looking club!

On the way back Russ dropped me at Ed Salant’s office, and I talked with him for a half hour. That was all the legitimate business I did during my stay in Paris, but my conscience doesn’t bother me any! Ed sent me back to the Ordnance office in a car, I got there about twelve.

I went on to the Plaza Athénée, where I met Russ and Tom and had lunch with them. I was lucky during my stay, I didn’t have a mess card for the Plaza, and you’re supposed to have one to eat there; I’d just walk in like I belonged! . . . . . . . . . After lunch I went back to the office and said my goodbyes, and then Russ took me to the ATC office in Paris. I weighed in and waited for a bus to take me to Orly, the airport I left from. See you later darling, here’s my bus. . .

Later. I am back in my own bed, and it isn’t the least less lonely here than all the other beds I’ve slept in the last couple of weeks, make that “the last couple of years”! I just finished reading the stack of letters I had hoped to find waiting for me, and did. They were yours of June 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, & 16, and an anniversary card. . .

Now lets see where I left off, I was just getting to Orly airfield. About three we boarded the plane. It was a C-47 again, but much nicer than the one I flew in from Wiesbaden to Paris. That one had “bucket” seats facing towards the center of the plane, like a bench along each side, with depressions supposed to conform to the shape of the posterior extremity, but they didn’t fit mine! The plane today had leather seats facing forward, and was very comfortable. There was even a WAC stewardess who saw to our comforts on the trip. The flight to Bovington took only two hours, which I spent gazing out of the window. There were quite a few clouds over France and we flew just below them at about 3000 feet, and through some of them. I don’t know where we crossed the French coast, but I recognized Eastbourne when we flew over it crossing the English coast. The airport is northwest of London and I thought we’d fly over the town, but we must have skirted it ‘cause I didn’t see it. . .

The bus took me to Marble Arch and I went on to the Grosvenor House mess, leaving my bed roll at the ATC, to be collected later. I ran into Bill at the bar of the mess and had supper with him. He had been over to Paris last weekend for Ray Conner’s wedding and told me all about it, must have been a drunken good time!

After supper I went by the office and picked up my mail and brought it on home. I went up and paid Mrs. Mac my rent money, and then came back and undressed and took my bath, and I really needed one! I soaked in the tub and read letters for quite a while. I finally came to bed and finished reading my letters, and then restarted on this. It is now eleven, took me quite a while to read your swell letters, and I really enjoyed doing it too! It’ll probably be forever before I get caught up on answering them tho.

The most important question, I saw Fred tonight and he said there was nothing new about families coming over. I still think it’ll be several months before you’ll be over, so all we can do for the moment is hope, and I’m hoping for all I’m worth. . .

4 July ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
Happy anniversary sweetheart!! I’m awful glad that you’re my wife, ‘cause I love you so very much. But I wish I could have spent today with you, and every other day too. We are bound to be together for our next anniversary, and long before that, I hope! That’s really something to look forward to, when these long lonely days and nights will be over, and we can live like married people are supposed to, together, and not in twin beds separated by 6000 miles. Better make that not in twin beds, period!! . . .

. . . . . I went to a reception given by the Ambassador tonight, he must have heard it was our anniversary. The reception was a prewar custom, and was started again this year. The Ambassador invites everyone working at the Embassy, from himself on down to the charwomen (and beyond to Ordnance officers) to a reception on July 4th. It was held at the Embassy residence down in Kensington. There was a mob, and with plenty of good liquor, everyone had a good time. A G.I. dance band played and the garden was set up complete with striped awnings. Winant & Admiral Stark received the guests. Bill and I got there about 6:30 and Marty came soon afterwards, and we did a little steady drinking til it ended at eight. I took it fairly easy tho, which is hard to do when the liquor is plentiful and good.

Tonight Bob Hope gave a show at Albert Hall, near where we were, but it started at eight, and we figured the lines would be terrific, and the place would be full before we could get in, so we didn’t even try it. . .

5 July ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . I had lunch about 12:30 with Bill. They handed out pictures of the mess with the meal, so I’ll enclose one. It shows the hardshIps we have to put up with here in London. The balcony that you see in the picture runs all around the room, and the bar is located on the right hand side of the balcony. In the center rear of the balcony is the Generals dining room. Underneath that are the counters where the food is dished up. The main dining room seats something like 900 people, only it is never full, they fill up the tables in order, and the picture shows how it usually is, half full with people eating, and the rest of the tables being cleared and set for the next bunch. . . (Photo at chapter end)

7 July ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . This morning Maj. Harvey, executive officer at the M.A. called for a fourth for tennis this afternoon, and I said I’d go. About three I took my tennis stuff and walked down to his apartment and went on with him. General Tindall and Angus Rutledge made up the rest of the party. We drove down to some club, I don’t remember the name of it, in General Tindall’s car, a big Packard, seven passenger, and about a block long, some buggy! I rented a racket, and we played on clay courts. We played four sets of doubles, Harvey and I played Tindall and Angus, and we each took two sets. The General is an elderly man, but like most regular army men is in good physical condition, and plays a mean game of tennis. I’m going to play singles with him tomorrow morning, we booked a grass court, and should be fairly evenly matched. . .

8 July ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . At ten I went outside the mess and in a couple of minutes Gen. Tindall’s car came along and picked me up. We went to the same club where we played yesterday, the Hurlingham Club. It looks like a very nice place, they have a swimming pool and putting green and clay and lawn tennis courts, and I don’t know what else. We played on the lawn courts this morning, and there was hardly anyone else around that early. . . . . . . . . The Gen. beat me four sets, most of them about 6 - 2. . . . . . I wore shorts and T-shirt; I would have liked to take the shirt off, but I’ve never seen anyone playing without one, so I didn’t want to take the chance of shocking the “natives”. . . . . . The club is in the middle of town, but you’d never know it when you are on the grounds; it is on the Thames near Putney bridge. . .

. . . . . They must be having a dance at the Reindeer Club tonight, I can hear the orchestra from the apartment; I’d like to be up there, with you! I’d like to be anywhere with you at the moment, but I think my preference would be-- in bed!. . .

. . . . . The bronze combat star I got is kind of a joke ‘cause I got credit for battle participation in the campaign of Northern France, without leaving England. HQ ETOUSA was awarded the star, so I got it ‘cause I’m assigned to that HQ!. . . . . . . . ( However, it was valuable to me as 5 points toward release from active service).

9 July ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . At nine I took off on my trip for today, with Fred, Hill, and another fellow. We had a M.A. car today, the Colonel’s, and it was a brand new Chev., and nice riding, much better than the junk heaps they have in the U.K. motor pool these days. We drove out to Shoeburyness, near Southend, at the mouth of the Thames. It was a nice drive and I noticed a lot of cars on the road loaded with families, heading for Southend. That’s something you never used to see, but now they have the “basic” gas, pardon me, petrol ration, which is roughly equivalent to the A card at home, and you see a lot more cars out pleasure driving. . . .

15 July ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . The lights are on in London again, they were really turned on tonight for the first time, and it looks good, and strange to these old blackout accustomed eyes. There were some street lights on before, and they were a big improvement, but now the normal peace time street lighting is on and the town is practically blazing! . . .

. . . . . I went to what I thought was going to be a cocktail party this evening, only it turned out to be a 21st birthday party. It was given by her parents for an English girl who works at the Embassy. After cocktails, I took it easy, had only one, we all went to Quaglino’s Restaurant where we had supper, complete with birthday cake and champagne. It was a damn nice party, and must have cost her parents a tidy sum, there were 15 in the party. . .

16 July ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
Hello sweetheart, here I am again, home and in bed, and wishing with all my heart that you were here beside me. I was very happy to get your swell letters of July 3, 4, & 7 today, especially the July 4 one, darling, it was such a nice letter! I’m glad you liked the flower, and I only wish that I could have been there to pin it on, among numerous other reasons why I wanted to be with you.
. . . . . Bill and I had a conference with the Colonel, he is due to leave tomorrow or the next day, so we have to be brought up to date on some of his pet projects that he keeps to himself. The Colonel dispensed with some liquor today, four bottles per, two of gin, and two of rye, so my stock is at a new high. . .

. . . . . About 5:30 I walked with Bill & Marty over to The Senior Officers Club for Gen. Tindall’s cocktail party. It was for a WAC Major who is leaving for the States. There was a large crowd, most of the people in the M.A. office and some others besides. Lucile was there with Jimmy, her mother and dad were there too, so I wonder where they parked the baby. . .

19 July ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . I passed you up again today, didn’t I, and will be older than you for another six months. I feel a lot older than 25, and look it too, I’m afraid, but all I need to feel young again is to be with you. All I need is to be with you, period, and I need it so very much darling!. . .

. . . . . The Colonel called us all together for a meeting, and we spent most of the morning in his office. He left about noon, so we won’t see him anymore for about six weeks. . .

22 July ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I met Al Sturr at two, and our car came and took us to Euston Station. We got on the train about a half hour before it started, and found seats in a first class compartment. It is marked “Reserved for Overseas Leave”, but no one has objected to us being here so far. . .

. . . . . I think we’re due in Manchester about eight, which should be well in time for dinner. We have reservations at the Midlands Hotel, which is rated “five star” in the RAC hotel book, so it should be OK. . .

. . . . . After supper we looked around downstairs, but there was nothing doing so we went out for a walk. This town is well lit up like London is now. There were lots of people on the streets, but everything was closed up tight. . .

23 July ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . We caught a train to Bury (pronounced berry); that’s only a 20 minute run, so we got there about ten. We walked over to the Military College of Science and talked with some of the officers there. First thing, of course, was “morning coffee” which we had at the canteen, and then we talked some more and saw some equipment. About noon we went to the Royal Hotel; that’s a high sounding name for a pub, which the Royal is. We stayed there the last time I was here, just before I came down with jaundice. We sat in the bar and drank til 12:45, I sipped along on one beer, and then went upstairs and had lunch. There were three British officers and Al and me. After lunch we went back to the bar and had another beer and played a game of bar billiards, which is a pin ball game, only played with billiard balls and cue. We went back to the College and talked some more til tea time at four.

After tea, Al and I went to the train station and at five caught a train back to Manchester. At the hotel we “booked” a table, the three British officers are coming in for supper. . .

. . . . . After I signed off above I went downstairs with Al and about seven the Br. contingent arrived, two Majors and a Lt. Col. with his wife. We had a lager in the lounge, and then went into the restaurant for supper. They had an orchestra (with a subsequent additional “music” charge on the check) and it was a nice place. We ate cold turkey for supper, and talked. About 9:30 the Lt. Col. & his wife left, had to catch the last bus home. The rest of us stayed an hour more. . .

. . . . . The Lt. Col. is a fellow I’ve known ever since I’ve been over here, he was one of the first British officers that I met, he was a Major then. He’s a funny duck, red haired and thin and nervous, and I’ve never cared much for him. Guess he’d be OK once you got to know him, but as Al said you’d probably get too mad at him first. He has a very charming and comely wife tho. (I was putting my entertainment allowance to good use here). . .

26 July ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . Al Boyd came by for me at 1:45; we went to a demonstration a few miles out of town, and spent the rest of the afternoon there. I saw a lot of British officers that I know. They had a teletype machine giving the latest election counts, so we dropped in ever so often to see how it was coming out. It was a surprise to see how thoroughly Churchill was beaten, I don’t think that was expected at all. . .

We came back about 5:30, and I had them drop me at the Queens Club, I had brought my tennis stuff with me. The other three, Bill, Marty, and Angus came about six; we dressed and then played some doubles. Angus & I played Bill & Marty, and they beat us two sets out of three. We were well along in our fourth set when we were informed that the joint was closing. . .

28 July ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . General Tindall called me, and I’m scheduled to play tennis with him in the morning. That was an interesting conversation, I managed to say “Captain Burke”, and then about three “yes sir’s” in quick succession, and that’s all!. . .

. . . . . After I got out of the tub I put on my robe, and tried to see if I could make “our” phonograph work. That was quite a job, but it works pretty good now. It is a Special Services (army) one Larry’s brother had when he was here, and gave it to Larry when he left. Larry had tried to fix it, but didn’t do so good. It is an electrical one and the trouble was that even tho it could take the 230 volt supply, it was designed for 60 cycle supply and on the 50 cycle current here it ran too slow. I fixed it by winding some thread on the driving wheel to “increase the gear ratio”. It works pretty well now, but I had to rewind it, using larger thread. . .

Answers: General Tindall is the Military Attaché, my boss’s boss, and he’s a very nice fellow too, and a better tennis player than I am. I’m griped at the Colonel about this trip of his to the States, after all, we have been working for him for two years now, and I think the least he should have done was to take addresses of our wives and folks & call them during his visit; he’ll be in Calif. for a while too. Bill and I are burned up about it. . .

29 July ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
, , , , , It is a beautiful night out, clear and warm, with a hint of light where the moon will be coming up soon. I’m awful lonely for you tonight darling, tonight and every night. . .

. . . . . After I ate breakfast I sat there and read my paper and smoked and had another cup of coffee to kill the time til ten. That was terrible about the bomber hitting the Empire State Bldg., wasn’t it! At ten I went outside the mess, and soon General Tindall came along and picked me up. He had arranged for a couple other people to play too, a Group Captain in the RAF and his gal friend. We went to the Hurlingham Club as usual; changed, and then played a couple sets of doubles, the Gen. and I played the other two. We were fairly evenly matched, so we had some good games. We won both sets, one 7 - 5 & the other 6 - 4. The General wasn’t up to his usual good game today; he blamed it on some “serious” drinking he had to do last night with the Navy. . .

. . . . . I went in the living room and played the records we have. We don’t have any popular pieces, but have three albums full of classical ones. I particularly like one of Menuhin fiddling away at Ave Maria, it is really beautiful! Another one that is good is Paul Robeson singing “Songs My Mother Taught Me”. . .

1 August ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . It is just past 9:30 and Larry and Tom and I are sitting in the living room and Tom is writing a letter too, Larry is reading, just a single man with no responsibilities! We got a rude shock today, we were informed we’ll have to move out soon, within three weeks or so. They are going to convert this building into offices, so we have to look for another place to live. Bill’s roommate is leaving soon, so I’ll move in with him. I’ll hate to leave this place tho, it has been comfortable, and I liked it here. I hope Larry gets fixed up OK too ‘cause I like the guy and I’ll feel like I’m running out on him if he can’t find a nice place . . .

3 August ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . About 4:30 I put my work away and walked down to the apartment with Tom; we stopped on the way at the Reindeer and got shoe shines. At the apartment we got ready for General Tindall’s cocktail party, I had gotten Tom invited. We had a couple of drinks while we were getting ready, my rye has been disappearing fast while Tom has been here. We finally got dressed and buttons shined, I even mended my blouse where a seam had ripped open a little.

About six we walked up to the Senior Officers Club where the cocktail party was being held. Gen. Tindall greeted me as I walked in with “All right for tennis Sunday morning, same time, same place?”, so I’ll play with him again. There was a good sized crowd, mostly British. .

4 August ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . I played two sets, and I was playing pretty good tennis, for me, my game has improved a lot lately. Fred took the first set 6 - 4, but I won the next one 6 - 2; that’s the first set I’ve ever won from him, so I felt pretty good about it. Now if I can only win a set from General Tindall once! . . .

. . . . . I was supposed to meet Tom at the apartment at seven, but I didn’t get here til 7:30. I came in and dropped my tennis stuff, and then went upstairs to the party, which was still going full swing, and Tom was there. They still had a good supply of liquor, Teachers Scotch, so I joined in the party, and Tom and I never did get away to eat. I stuffed myself with sandwiches etc. there tho. Like most of Mrs. Mac’s parties it soon turned into a song fest, with Mrs. Mac at the piano, and the rest of us doing some lousy singing. . .

5 August ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
I finished your yesterday’s letter about an hour ago, and since then have been sorting and reading and filing your letters. The situation is pretty good at the moment, I have all your letters up to July 25, which is the latest one I have. I hate to do it, but I may have to burn up the old ones, two years of writing at one per day is a lot of letters, and I won’t have room to store them when I move. (I wish now that I had shipped them home!). . .

. . . . . I was playing a lot better than usual, but I have a long way to go before I’m in his class. I give the General a pretty good game tho, we are more even than the scores indicate. Most of the games go to deuce, ad, deuce a couple of times, but he is a lot steadier and so usually comes out ahead. After playing I took a cold shower (there’s no hot water) and then we came back to the Grosvenor House mess. I left my racket at the club to have the strings shellacked to tighten them up some. He wants to play again tomorrow morning, so I can pick it up then.

Tomorrow is a “bank holiday” here; no special event, but the banks just close, and so does everyone else, and what’s more most places close not only for the day, but for the week. It makes it kind of bad, ‘cause everyone tends to take their vacation at the same time, and trains and resorts are crowded beyond any semblance to their capacity. . .

. . . . . I walked over to Regent Street and caught a bus up to Edgeware Street, and then walked to the party. It was given by Larry’s gal for her roommate, who is going to Prague. It was a nice party, and quite a few people I know were there, mostly Larry’s crowd. They had some good eats, including grilled cheese on rye-vita, and I stuffed myself.

I left about 8:15 and walked on home. It was a long walk, but it was very nice out, and I enjoyed it. I went by my old apartment on George Street, I haven’t been in that neighborhood in ages. I finally got home and undressed and read a short story in a magazine, and then I came in to bed and restarted on this. And that’s “my day”, a pretty nice one, but very lonely without you darling. I miss you and need you and want you so much, more than I can ever tell you, especially by pen and paper. It has been such an eternity since I last kissed you that early morning over two years ago. Gosh, it was just two years ago today that I arrived in London, it seems more like a lifetime to me, a lifetime that I want to end and forget.

The Reindeer seems to be having its usual Sunday evening dance tonight, I can hear the orchestra from here; the music sounds nice. Wish I were dancing with you, but probably that song idea would hold, “if I hold you in my arms, I won’t dance”. So I’d really much rather have you cuddled beside me in bed; it would be so nice to be making love to you again. I love you my darling, with all of me. Please come to me tonight in my dreams. Goodnight, my dearest darling wife, you are my whole life, and I want you so very much. I love you. I adore you. I love you!! All my love and kisses, Glenn

7 August ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I read the paper first, all about the spectacular atom bomb. Boy, this war has brought stuff into use that almost makes H.G. Wells a conservative!. . .

10 August ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
About time I was starting this letter, or rather, way past time, since it is now Saturday noon. Boy, what news that was yesterday; now if they just accept the surrender! That’ll probably take a few days negotiations, so til we hear, I’ve got my fingers crossed. Even if the surrender isn’t accepted, the war can’t last much longer. Now the main problem as far as we are concerned is when do I get home! That’s just as indefinite as ever, of course, but if the Jap war is over soon it should speed up the return of troops to the U.S. from Europe, and that’s good!! Of course the surrender offer was the big news here yesterday.

. . . . . Mrs. Hulbert, one of the secretaries, said she could see pictures of California gleaming in my eyes, and if they reflect what I’m thinking, she wasn’t far wrong!. . .

. . . . . General Tindall gave the cocktail party, for no reason other than just to have a party I guess, at least it wasn’t in honor of anybody. I did a little too much drinking, but not enough to make me sick.

We stayed there til nine, that was when the bourbon ran out, and then Angus and I and a couple other fellows headed out to see what Picadilly was like. . . . . .. . . . Picadilly Circus was jammed with people doing a little premature celebrating. Busses and cars were caught in the mob of people and you had to fight your way through the crowds. In Leicester Square someone had gotten hold of some firecrackers and was throwing them into the crowds, so I skirted that area. Trafalgar was jammed, and there was a crowd in front of No. 10 Downing Street off Whitehall, but nothing happening there. . .

. . . . . I certainly hope all this isn’t for nothing, and if the war is really over, that we can be together before long. One day additional separation is more than I want, but at this stage if I could be sure of being with you by Christmas it would be a big improvement! . . .

13 August ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
I am in my new place tonight, and it isn’t a bad little foxhole, in fact it is almost luxurious. At least it is modern, which is something in this country. . .

This place is Portsea Hall, a large building on Edgeware Road, a couple of blocks north of Marble Arch. We are in Flat 80, on the seventh (top) floor. There’s an automatic elevator, so the top floor is no disadvantage. We have a bedroom with two single beds, bathroom, small kitchen, and a large living room. The place is nicely furnished, with rugs and overstuffed furniture, and Bill has a radio too, which is bothering me now as I write. I should turn it off so I could concentrate better, but it’s so good to have a radio to listen to that I hate to turn it off, besides there is some good classical music playing. . .

. . . . . A jeep that I had asked for came this morning, and I started my moving. I called Larry and we took him to his new place where he got out; I went on to the apartment and loaded my stuff in the jeep and went up to Portsea. After my stuff was loaded into the elevator I sent the jeep back to Larry so he could move. Bill let me in, and helped me in from the elevator. . .

14 August ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
(The 14th letter was written the next day, VJ Day) At last the war is over! It seems almost too good to be true that at long last the world has a chance to return to normal. It seems an awful long time since Dec. 7, 1941, and a lot has happened to us personally since then, most of it directly affected by the war. But now maybe we’ll have a chance soon to start living our own lives, and be able to forget this long separation. I don’t know just what effect this sudden ending of the war will have on how soon I’ll return to the States and, more important, to you, but it is bound to speed it up. Trouble is, I didn’t know before how long I’ll be here, and even if it will be shorter now, I still don’t know how long it will be.

With the war over, the British as well as the U.S. are bound to cut down on the research and development of new weapons; funds will probably get tight like they were before the war, maybe not to such an extent, but enough so we won’t need as large a staff as we have now to keep track of British Ordnance developments. There will be a period of cleaning up and evaluating what we have learned, both from our own experience and what we’ve found out about German stuff, but after that it hadn’t ought to require more than one or two officers here, where we now have five in our office. It is nice speculating on when I’ll go home, but darn, that’s all it is, speculation. Surely Col. Reed will bring back some info when he returns from the States, he is due back in a couple of weeks now. So we’ll have to hold tight for a little while longer, but we’re sure to get a break soon darling! . . .

. . . . . After supper we went to the Junior Officers Club and had a drink there, and then went across to the Senior Officers Club and visited the bar there. Guess we were being a little psychic about our celebrating, but it turned out right! We stayed at the S.O.C. til about eleven and then Bill and I walked on home. We were almost ready to go to bed when we heard the official announcement of the end of the war.

We had a drink to the end of the war, and decided we ought to go down to Picadilly Circus. It was quite a walk from here, about a half hour. It was jam packed, with a large enough proportion of Yanks to make it noisy. We didn’t stay long, and were lucky to get a taxi back, got to the apartment about 1:30. We listened to the radio for a while and had another drink, and then I poured myself into bed. . . . . . . I wondered about that dream of Carolyn’s where she dreamed I’d be home by Aug. 15th, you wrote about it, remember! Seems funny she’d pick on VJ Day!. . .

16 August ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . I awoke at seven this morning, an ungodly hour for a holiday, but then today wasn’t much of a holiday for me. The sun was shining brightly and the skies were clear. . . In spite of the good weather I carried my raincoat along, and it turned out to be a good idea! Walking through the park I saw bonfires still going, and people sitting around them, apparently from the night before. Wood must have been scarce for the fires, ‘cause most of them had blackened iron frames of what had once been park chairs and benches in the middle of the fires.

. . . . . I just sat and enjoyed the scenery; it was a beautiful morning for a ride in the country. We got to the School of Artillery at Larkhill about 10:30, which was pretty good time, ‘cause it is about 80 miles down there. . . . . . It was really a good show, they had a lot of brass there and were making every effort to make things go right, There was a big crowd of spectators, most of them wearing red bands around their caps, which in the British army signifies full Colonel or higher. There were two Field Marshals, one was Lord Brooks, chief of the Imperial General Staff, and that’s about as high as they come in the British army. There were a half dozen or so U.S. Brigadier Generals too. As usual I was the junior officer present, but I’ve been long used to that. . . . . At one we all went back to the school mess; I carted along two U.S. Generals in my car since they didn’t have one out there. We had lunch at the mess, and then spent the rest of the afternoon looking at the equipment that had been demonstrated in the morning. It had clouded up about noon, and around five it started to rain, so I was glad I was pessimistic and brought my raincoat.

I left about 5:45 and headed back to London; there was a lot of traffic on the road, mostly these miniature autos, about the size of the Austins we used to have at home. We got back just too late to make the mess, so I had the driver drop me at Portsea Hall. Here I argued with myself as to whether to cook something, or go to the Red Cross. It’s a long way to the Nurses Club, the nearest officers club, so I decided to cook something here.

I looked through our food supply & the best thing seemed to be some buckwheat cake flour, so I fixed some of that, and with a couple cups of Nescafe, that was my supper. We have a pretty fair little, or rather, tiny kitchen here, with a small electric stove, complete with oven. There is no refrigerator, which is a nuisance, but I guess the English don’t believe in these modern conveniences. After I ate I cleaned up, stacked the dishes in the sink, or rather, added them to an already good sized stack in the sink. There’s a maid who comes in and cleans the place every day, except Sundays and holidays, so things have accumulated the last two days. . .

20 August ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . After breakfast I left for Ft. Halstead, out towards Seven Oaks in Kent. A couple of visiting officers went along with me. . . . . . We spent most of the day there talking with the people. We had lunch in the cafeteria and it was a good meal too. We had boiled cabbage, and boiled potatoes, of course, but they weren’t prepared too badly. . .

One of the officers with me, Capt. Dorsett, is interested in prefabricated houses, I think that is his business in peace time, and so we came back by way of the prefab exhibit. They have two houses set up, one U.S. manufacture, and one British. The exhibit isn’t open to the public, but Dorsett talked our way in to see it. It was very interesting, but I didn’t care much for what I saw, they were too darn small for one thing, all the rooms were tiny, and the arrangement wasn’t so good either, had things like a utility closet right beside the folding kitchen table so one side of the table couldn’t be used, and obvious poorly planned things like that. . .

21 August ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
What a set up this would be, I’m home and in bed, and there’s a bright full moon shining in the window, now if only you were here beside me! But no, I have to “celebrate” our 25th month apart by myself. Celebrate is a bad choice of words there, even put in quotes! Anyway it has been a damn long time, and I’ve missed you, and am missing you every minute that we are apart. I love you sweetheart, and all I want and hope and dream of is for the day when we ‘ll be together to hurry up and come! . . .

. . . . . We got to Shoeburyness a little early, 9:15, and then the tests didn’t start on schedule, so we might as well have slept later. Brigadier Lickman, CO out there greeted us loudly, and wanted to know “why the hell we haven’t been repatriated, the war is over”; we told him that was the $64 question. He is a darn nice guy, and delights in cussing out the Americans, and in calling for an interpreter when you try and fight back! . . .

22 August ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . Bill talked to Col. Quinn, the new head of the Tech. Div. in Paris, trying to find out just where we stood, we are assigned to them and are on their T/O, but they either don’t know it, or won’t admit it. Anyway, the Col. told Bill that the Tech. Div. is cutting down drastically by Oct. 1 to about 25 officers, and if we are assigned to them, the probability is pretty good they won’t let us stay over here. So something is bound to happen, either Col. Reed will have to work out some deal to keep us here, or - - and after the or comes a big question mark! . .

25 August ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . I went to Lucile’s apartment, got there about five, just in time for the toast to the baby, with some pretty good champagne. There was just a small crowd, her family and eight or nine friends. There wasn’t room for any more in their small apartment. . .

. . . . . We won’t have a chance to find out what is going on til Sept. 15, ‘cause Col. Reed got an extension on his orders til then. . .

26 August ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . So here I am, and there you are, 6000 miles away, which is a very undesirable state of affairs, if you ask me, and if you don’t, I’ll tell you anyway. . . . . . . . Tho it was a nice quiet day, it wasn’t at all the way that I’d like to spend my Sundays, which us with you!! What I wouldn’t give now to be able to stay in bed with you til noon, and then wander over to the Colonial (Hotel in Havre de Grace) for oysters and fried chicken, and then home for gin rummy, and then to bed early. That was sure heaven darling, all the time I spent with you was. . .

31 August ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I am in my room at the Midland Hotel in Manchester. . . . . Our car was waiting for us outside and we drove to Bury and the Military College Of Science there. They had a display of German fire control instruments today, that’s what we came up to see. . . . . . Maj. Walter and I left about five and drove back to the Midland. . . . . Walter is the guy who is replacing Al Boyd as Assistant M.A. for Signal Corps. . .

1 September ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . We left Manchester and drove to Coventry, and had a look at it in passing; it was pretty well banged up from bombing, had most of the center of town destroyed. We stopped along the road for lunch, and then went to Stratford-on-Avon. We stayed there a while, went through Shakespeare’s birthplace, and Ann Hathaway’s house. . . . . . We also saw a couple other places of interest, seems like all the town of Stratford is living on Shakespeare, and it is all set up for the tourists, practically nothing but “he was born here, he lived here, his daughter lived here” etc. They have a Memorial theater that gives his plays during the summer. We didn’t have time for that today, but I’d like to go some time for a longer visit and see a play, and the rest of the show places that I missed today. . .

2 September ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I ran into Col. Rivkins going into the mess and had breakfast with him. He has been Gen. Saylor’s press relations officer, and a pretty good publicity agent too! He told me that Saylor has gone back to the States to take over the job of Chief of Ordnance, which is a good deal for him! Bill told me later that he was just going to be “acting” chief, and that Campbell will hang on to the title, and the 3 stars, while doing his job of reconversion. Even so, Saylor has done OK during the war, when he came over here, he was a Colonel, and now he is a Major General, and acting in the highest position in Ordnance! . . .

. . . . . After breakfast I walked on down Park Lane to the Dorchester, soon the General came out and we left for the Hurlingham Club. We dressed and played three sets, he took the first two 6 - 4, 6 - 3, and then after we took a short rest, I actually won a set from him! I had him 5 - 2 once, and then he put the pressure on, and I finally won 6 - 4. . .

6 September ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . Today I am a golfer, as I can tell by a couple of muscles that I use in golf that I haven’t been using in tennis. I’m not sore yet, and I’m not too tired, but there is a lot more exercise to golf than I thought there was! . . .
.
. . . . About 12:30 I went to the mess with Woodruff; we had a beer and then went downstairs and ate. Angus was sitting at a table near me; he came over and asked if I wanted to play golf this afternoon. I told him I had only played on pitch and putt courses before, but he said they were dubs too, and they had the equipment. I had a lot of work piled up, but as usual didn’t feel like doing it, and besides I’ve been wanting to try golf, so I said I’d go. . . . . . . At 1:30 Angus came by for me, he had an Embassy car and driver, and Tatar, a warrant officer at the M.A. office came along too. We went to the Mid Surrey Golf Club near Kew Gardens.

I put on the T-shirt & field jacket in place of shirt and blouse. We had Special Services clubs, and Angus loaned me a couple of balls, of which I managed to lose one. It was cloudy and fairly cool today so we didn’t get too hot from our exercise. Tatar was a pretty good player, but Angus and I were dubs extraordinary; I had 131 for 18 holes, and he had two fewer. I had a lot of trouble with the woods, usually could get much better shots with irons, but used the woods to try and learn how to use them. My putting was fairly good, once I was on the green I was usually down in two putts. I had a lot of fun, and I think I was improving some. . .

8 September ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . I had a coke at the bar, where I ran into Larry (Henry), and had lunch with him. He had big news, he is engaged now, and plans to get married in a month or so, as soon as he can get the required approval from the army. The gal is very nice, and he has been gong with her for over a year now, but I always thought he was too practical to get married before he got back to his law practice and had a good restart on that, at least that is what he has always said. The girl is an American, she works as a secretary at the Embassy. He has never met her family, and he is afraid that his dad is going to object to the marriage, not to the girl, but to the idea of him getting married at this time, but he’s going to go ahead with it anyway. . .

9 September ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . Tomorrow is the day Colonel Reed is supposed to leave Washington, and unless the weather is bad he ought to be here Tuesday or Wednesday. I hope that he’ll bring back some news for us, and I have my fingers crossed that it’ll be good news!! It just has to be! . . .

13 September ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . I kept hoping the Colonel would walk in, but he didn’t. . .

. . . . . While I was eating lunch I noticed a fellow going by who looked familiar, then I figured out who it was, and he recognized me about the same time. It was Bob Faulkner, a fellow I knew in High School. He is a flyer, and said he is due to go home in a month or so. . .

. . . . . Late in the afternoon my British officer friend came in. His name is Pennycuick (pronounced Pennycook) and I’ve known him for a year and a half or so. He waited until 5:30, and we went to the Junior Officers Club and had a couple of whiskeys at the bar. Then we caught a cab and went to a little restaurant he knows off Leicester Square. It is an Italian joint, and they served a pretty fair macaroni dinner, nothing fancy tho. After supper we walked down to a pub near Charing Cross station and sat there and drank lager and talked for the rest of the evening. We left about 9:30 and I decided to walk home to wear the beer off. I came through Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Picadilly Circus, Bond Street. Marble Arch, and so home. . .

16 September ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I walked down the edge of Hyde Park to the Dorchester and met General Tindall at ten. We left right away and drove down to the Hurlingham Club, where we dressed and then played three sets. I won the first set 7 - 5, and was real proud of myself, but then he trimmed me 6 - 1 & 6 - 1, and very effectively put me in my place. . .

. . . . . After dinner I walked home and dropped my tennis stuff, and then went out for a walk. I looked at an interesting exhibition of German airplanes in Hyde Park, including a couple of jet propelled jobs; they sure are odd looking things. Then I watched a few innings of a softball game and walked on down to the Serpentine. They were having a program in a natural amphitheater down that way. This week is “National Savings Week”, and that’s the reason for all the exhibitions. The best part was an exhibition put on by a British jet propelled plane; it was stunting overhead, and really put on a show. It was the first time I’d seen a jet plane flying, and it really was something! Sounded like a flying blast furnace to me! . . .

17 September ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . One thing that didn’t happen, the Colonel didn’t get back. Some officers were in who just arrived from the States, and they had seen him in Washington last Monday, and he was sick and thought he’d be leaving for here last Saturday. So we’re still expecting him any moment. Bill was talking to Paris today, and now it seems they’re cutting Tech. Div. down to 12 officers from 25! They’re waiting til Col. Reed gets back before doing anything about us. . .

18 September ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . Bill and I got to the Picadilly Theater just in time to sit down when the curtain went up at 6:45. The show was Noel Coward’s “Sigh No More”. It was pretty good, but nothing spectacular. It was a straight musical, just a series of skits, songs, and dances. Some were good, I particularly liked one song, “Mattelot”, and the title song scene was good too. . . . .

20 September ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . We just got some bad news a little while ago, had a cable saying the Colonel had been admitted to the hospital in the States Sept. 18 for about two weeks. So it looks like we’ll go on stumbling in the dark for a while longer. . .
. . .
. . . . . About 12:30 I walked up to the mess, had a beer at the bar and ran into Larry there. He says he is spending most of his spare time these days making preparations for his marriage. The army OK is clear, and he can get married any time after Oct. 25. His gal is not Catholic tho (he is), and he is having some difficulty arranging for the wedding to be in a Catholic church.

. . . . . The show got out about 10:30 and I walked home. It was a beautiful night, clear skies, and a bright moon shining, and the streets were all wet and reflecting the light from the moon and the street lights. I got here about eleven; I was hungry, so I fixed myself a snack. Had some bacon, toast, coffee, and scrambled eggs. The eggs were of the powdered variety, and it was the first time I’ve made them. They weren’t too bad, but maybe that’s ‘cause I’ve gotten fairly used to them. The worst part is the smell, just like rotten eggs. . .. . . . . .

21 September ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I read a report on the atom bomb. It’s all unclassified, doesn’t give the secret parts of the project, but it does give a good background to the work that went on, and tells who did what. Makes real interesting reading, especially since it brings in a large part of what was done at UC Berkeley on the project. All the time we were busily engaged in playing bridge and watching football games and falling in love, there was some very important work going on right beside us. . .

22 September ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . Mostly all I did today was write up some stuff as a basis for a recommendation for a Legion of Merit for the Colonel, at the General’s request. Even if I’m personally a little mad at the Colonel, I have to admire the work he has done during the war, and I say it’s about time his work was officially recognized. . .

. . . . . About four an embassy car came by the apartment for me, it was the General’s block long Packard, and so I rode in style. We went by the M.A. office and picked up Lt. Col. Harvey, and then went on to the Hurlingham Club. We dressed and then played three sets; I lost the first one 6 - 2, but then won the next two 6 - 1 & 7 - 5. . . . . . . . We stopped by Harvey’s place and he invited me up for a drink. We had our drink and got to talking, and had another one, and then he invited me to supper, and we had another drink. His maid cooked the meal, it was steak, and very well prepared, almost like eating at home again. After supper we had some port, and then I walked home.

Harvey is a nice guy, young, I guess in his early thirties, and just got promoted to Lt. Col. a couple days ago. He is Executive Officer to General Tindall, so our conversation was very interesting, discussing all the various officers in the office. Seems Col. Reed has them buffaloed, so they’re anxiously awaiting the Col.’s return too. Harvey agreed with me that two officers besides Col. Reed are all we need now; hope that happens, at least then I would have a 50 - 50 chance of leaving. . .

23 September ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I dressed in shorts and T-shirt and field jacket, and then took my tennis racket and went downstairs. It had poured with rain at two, but cleared up very nicely and the sun was shining fifteen minutes later I hadn’t been there long before General Tindall came along for me; we went on down to Sloane Street; there is a tennis court in some private gardens in the middle of the divided street. We went on the court and pretty soon Group Captain Langdon came along and we volleyed for a while and then Mrs. Plum came. Those two are friends of the General, he knew the G.C. in Turkey. They are an interesting pair, not young at all, but sophisticated as can be, and, privately, amusing to me. They are both pretty good tennis players.

The G.C. and I played the General and the gal today; we won two sets out of three, and were ahead in the fourth when we quit. In the middle of the sets we had to take shelter in a small shed while it poured. Those clay courts are good that way tho, the rain didn’t bother it at all. After we finished playing at four, we went to Langdon’s apartment across the street and had “tea”. Then we came back and the General’s driver dropped me at Portsea. . .

29 September ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
I am getting a late start on our visit again ‘cause now it is Sunday afternoon, and not Saturday, but I think I can remember pretty well what happened yesterday, and there was a lot happening too, for a change. It was an exciting day, but like all days, was woefully incomplete ‘cause we’re apart. I didn’t even get a letter from you, maybe Monday.

The big news of the day, of course, was the promotions in the office. In case you haven’t gotten yesterday’s letter, or haven’t noticed the change in my return address, you’ll have to throw away your captain’s earrings and pin, and buy new ones, yes, it is now Major Burke! . . .

. . . . . We hadn’t been at the office very long before Bill called Marty and me into his office (he’s holding down the Colonel’s chair now) and told us that we were majors. Tom Daly had called earlier in the morning and told one of the secretaries to tell us the news. Marty and I didn’t know whether to believe it or not, ‘cause it came as a complete surprise; I had no idea anything like that would happen. And then Fred wasn’t included, and he outranked both Marty and me! I put in a call to Tom, and he said he had seen the orders, and gave us the order number and paragraph, and said he had been promoted to major too. . .

On the basis of that information, Marty and I put on our leaves. The orders came out Sept. 24 (in Paris) and haven’t arrived here yet. I checked at both UK Base AG and UK Base Ordnance, and they hadn’t gotten any orders that late.

I came home and dug out the leaves you had sent me and pinned them on for you. Then I tried to buy some more leaves, but the clothing PX was closed for inventory. I went back to the office and was talking to Bill when he got a call from John Atkins in Paris, telling him that he had been promoted to Lt. Col.!! So I had to go out right away and buy him some silver leaves, got them at a civilian store, and came back to the office and pinned them on him. His promotion gave me an adequate supply of major’s leaves, by the way. . .

. . . . . After the show we walked back to the office, nothing was doing there, so we went on to the mess. We had a couple of scotches, and had to keep buying drinks for fellows we know who came up to congratulate us. This promotion business is an expensive affair!!

After supper we walked on home; I took a quick bath and cleaned up, and about 8:30 Bill and I left for a party given by a couple of American girls who work in the Embassy. We were invited before we knew about the promotions, but it worked in well for a celebration; they get a liquor ration, and had lots of good bourbon (before the party started). There was a good sized crowd there, mostly army officers. There was one Lt. Col. who was wearing the Congressional Medal of Honor, and tho he got pretty well plastered and made a fool of himself, there are very few of those medals floating around! I had a good time, but moderated my drinking quite a bit. Bill and I left about twelve and were lucky to get a cab right away, and came on home. I went right to bed, and to sleep. . . .

30 September ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . The pay boost from captain to major is pretty good, I now get $250 base pay, $105 rental, and 3 rations, or $63. With overseas pay, that totals $443, and with my fogie which starts Nov. 28, it will be $455.50, at which rate I shouldn’t be in too much of a hurry to get out of the army. But I’d much rather they cut off the $25 for overseas pay!!! . . .

. . . . . I’m getting quite a kick out of my leaves, can’t get used to them yet, and am self conscious about them. Guess I’ll get used to them soon. . .

1 October ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . I saw Larry at the mess, he congratulated me on the promotion, and I told him about Tom coming here soon on his way to Ireland. Larry and Mary Jane have set their wedding date for Oct. 27. He is busy house, or apartment hunting at the moment. . .

4 October 45 Thursday My darling wife;
Hello sweetheart, happy anniversary! Lets see, which one is this now, I’ll have to get out my slide rule or an adding machine for an accurate calculation, but a finger tip count says it must be 39 months! That’s swell, but we’ve spent too damn many of them apart. Anyway, I’m glad we were married when we were, and one of these days we’ll be together again and can make up for all this wasted time apart! . . .

. . . . . Col. Harvey (Executive Officer for the Military Attaché) was here this morning looking our office over. They’re contemplating moving, and when they do, will want us to move into the same building. . . . . . That’s another reason they want to see Col. Reed, ‘cause they want to know how much space he’ll require. Everyone is waiting for him to return, not the least of them are the four of us here, and you too!. . .

. . . . . That was a good play that I saw tonight (“Duet for Two Hands”). . . . There was some good dramatic acting. It was about a man who had his hands amputated, and then had the hands of a condemned murderer grafted on, and then the hands would do things on their own volition. It was sort of fantastic but they handled it very effectively. . .

5 October ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I hear that the M.A. office is going on a five day week, and wonder if it will apply to us. It will probably depend on how the Col. interprets it, and if I know him, I know how that will be. I’m wondering tho if maybe he won’t be inclined to take life a little easier now that the war is over, but that doesn’t fit into my experience of his character. Anyway I’m hoping he’ll release me, then he can work all the evenings and Saturdays and Sundays that he wants to. . .

6 October ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . After I signed off on my letter last night I read a short mystery story and before I finished it Bill and his brother came in. Jim is going to the Army University Center on a two month course, and he got into town on pass. . . . . . Bill had some good news, for him, he had gotten two offers of jobs in the States yesterday afternoon. One was for some job at Aberdeen, a cable came in asking if he was available, and the other was from Col. Bob Turner, who used to be here. He wrote Bill a personal letter inquiring what the set up was ‘cause he had a job for him in MIS (Military Intelligence Service) in Washington. Guess I should join the RA so I can get home! So Bill is more anxious than ever for Col. Reed to get back. . . . . In answer to the Aberdeen job offer a cable was sent telling them to consult Col. Reed on availability, and also asked when we could expect him back here. . .

. . . . . I saw Larry on the street this morning, and found out from him that Mary Jane’s silver pattern is Gorham’s “Fairfax”. So, will you see if you can’t get them something in that for a wedding present? . . .

AMERICAN EMBASSY
OFFICE OF THE MILITARY ATTACHE
1. GROSVENOR SQUARE, W. 1
LONDON, ENGLEND
10 October ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
I’ve got some bad news tonight, but maybe you’re used to that by now. We heard from the Colonel, or rather about him, and this latest info is that he will be gone two weeks more. Gosh, that will make about three and a half months, if he gets back here in two weeks. But that is only the start of the bad news, so hold on to your hat; Bill’s “Aberdeen” request blew up in his face today; somebody must have butched up the cable requesting him, ‘cause what they wanted to do was assign him to Aberdeen, but to the Overseas Maintenance and Modification bunch with station in London, which is just one way of transferring him on paper so he can be taken off the T/O of the Paris office. And a cable we had today indicates that the three other of us will be transferred the same way after Bill’s orders come out.

Just what that all means, I’m not too sure, but it looks like an attempt is going to be made to keep us over here. Anyway, I don’t feel too happy about the way things are shaping up, and it will be about two more weeks before we can know what gives. . .

. . . . . Back again. I’m home and in my robe, sitting at the writing desk. It was a beautiful night out, the stars were out and it was fairly warm, very unusual weather. It was that way all day, clear sky and warm, would have been a good day for golf. Lets see what there is in your letters to answer; sorry I’m keeping you on edge all the time, I think that is almost worse than having bad news, not knowing at all, you don’t know what to plan. Maybe we’ll get some news in two weeks now, so rest easy for a while and hope with me. Dagone, those two weeks could just stretch out endlessly, they sure seem to be doing that. The Col. must have been pretty sick tho, he has been building up to a good breakdown now for four years or so. . .

14 October ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I’m about out of vitamin pills too, which is bad with the winter months coming on fast, and nothing in sight to indicate that I’m not going to spend them here in London! That is really a discouraging thought; it’s bad enough being away from you, but freezing at the same time chills my Californian heart. I could easily stand it here tho, if I had you to keep me warm at night, even if I had to put up with your cold feet!! Something just has to happen soon so we can be together again darling. It has been such a long time since I’ve been with you, I sometimes find myself wondering if I remember just what you look like. Oh, your pictures keep me up to date pretty well, but I mean what you look like when you are asleep, and early in the morning, and a million other times when you wouldn’t think of taking photographs.

Anyway, I want to get back to you just as soon as I can so we can start living again. I didn’t know what real happiness was til I married you darling, and, I’m ashamed to admit, even then I didn’t realize how much happiness I had, or was apt to take it too much for granted, til I came over here. . .

15 October ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
I just dialed the little girl at TIM, and she said “It is eleven-one precisely”, which means it is now fewer than seven and a half hours til I have to get up again. I have to hit the deck early in the morning ‘cause I’ve got a car coming to pick me up at the mess at 7:45. . .

. . . . . I arranged myself another trip to Malvern next week. . . . . Malvern is a nice spot, very quiet, probably even more so now, ‘cause there used to be a lot of US army hospitals around there, and they are all gone now. . .

. . . . . It was an engagement announcement party for Al Loeb and Bobbie Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins is about second man to (Ambassador) Winant at the embassy, only he is in the States at the moment, I met him before tho. Mrs. Hawkins is a very charming person, and even tho she had met me only once before, she remembered my name, which ability must come in handy for a diplomat’s wife. Larry and Mary Jane were there, and a lot of other people that I know. The place cleared out pretty well about eight, but a few, including me, stayed on. We had a buffet supper and then coffee and cake, a birthday cake at that, it was Bobbie’s birthday too. . .

17 October ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . After supper Bill and I walked on down to General Tindall’s cocktail party at the Senior Officers Club. This party was given for the British Liaison Officer, who was leaving, and introducing his successor. . .

. . . . . A little after eight I walked to the tube station and caught a subway out to Wood Green, that’s a long ride out east. I transferred to a bus and wound up at the Nightingale pub, which is the Macrey’s new place of business. They left the apartment building when we were all moved out. There was a good crowd, but I didn’t know many of them; I was the only one from 15 Clifford Street. They had a rum punch, and with the $15 start I had from the cocktail party I was in high gear, or maybe it was just “high”. Mac sang some of his dirty, or he says “rude” songs. I’d like to get the words to them some time, but probably most of the effect would be lost without his accent . . .

. . . . . I like that picture you enclosed, it was really a good one, those kids must have a good camera, and know how to use it! Thank Bob and Maurine for me, and drop a gentle hint that I’d like some more! . . .

19 October ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . Col. Harvey is going to the U.S. tomorrow for a month of temporary duty. . . . Prof. Woodruff will be heading for home as soon as he can get transport, he went back to Paris yesterday and was going to leave from there. It is hard to see all these guys going when I want to go so much, and nothing in sight, but then I’m glad for them. It’s like at your end, with all the other gal’s husbands coming home, I can’t help but be a little jealous. . .

20 October ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
Here it is Saturday afternoon, and I’m at the office instead of out playing golf as I had planned. The reason is that we had a cable saying the Col. is due in today, and checking at the airport, we found that his flight had made a routine stop in the Azores. . . . . I wouldn’t want to miss seeing him, and besides, Bill asked me to stay around so someone would be here, and he may have to go out. . . . . With the Col.’s arrival so imminent, I’ve really got my fingers tightly crossed; I’m hoping I’ll be able to go home, but would settle for some definite information. . .

. . . . . Bill’s orders came through assigning him to Aberdeen, with station in London; that’ll probably happen to me too, and it looks like a bad sign to me. No use being too pessimistic til I see the Col. but I’m afraid I fear the worse. . .

21 October ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . The Colonel hasn’t come in yet, his plane was apparently held up by weather in the Azores, and now is scheduled to be here tomorrow morning. . .

. . . . . Jim (Bill’s younger brother) and I caught a bus down to Picadilly Circus, and walked to Greek St. where the Shanghai Restaurant is; Bill was already there. We had a darned good meal, ate with chopsticks too, and it wasn’t as hard as I had imagined, in fact by time I finished eating I was almost a veteran with them! I stuffed myself to capacity, Bill says it’s the best Chinese restaurant, for one thing they have a lot of foods that you don’t find in the others, and you see a lot of Chinese eating there, which must mean something. . .

22 October ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
It is 5:45 now and the Colonel is getting in any minute now, yes, looks like he’ll finally get in tonight, and now if we can only get some good news!! . . . . . . Bill went out to the airport to pick up the Colonel, and they are past due here. . .

. . . . . I am home now and it is almost ten. I haven’t seen the Col. yet. Bill came in just before we left for the mess at 6:30. He wasn’t much help, he was going to a play and was late for that. He said the Col. said that we could stay here, if we wanted to. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23 October ‘45 Tuesday Malvern My darling wife;
I’m at the County Hotel in Malvern, and it’s an hour before I can get supper, so I thought I’d get a start on my visit with you. . . . . I couldn’t get to sleep last night, and then Bill came in and we had a bull session, number one subject, and believe me that is not sex, but when are we going home! Being regular army, points don’t mean much to him, tho he has about a hundred, so he’s discouraged about when he’ll get home, unless it is on T.D., since the office here is to be continued. He has the out tho that his gal can come over here on a job since they are not married. He wants to get home the same as the rest of us tho . . .

. . . . . I went in to say “hello” to the Colonel, but didn’t get much farther than that ‘cause he had a couple Colonels in conference, and then about ten he went out for the rest of the day. So I’m still in the dark about what happens to me. . . . . . . . . It’s hard for me to evaluate the Col., I admire and respect his technical ability, and he has done a good deal for the U.S. during the war that way, but as an individual I come pretty close to hating him. It’s a shame that he isn’t more human and hasn’t got more of a flair for dealing with men, ‘cause if he had, he would have been a general long before now, and you know how much that means to a R.A. man. . .

. . . . . Back again. I just had supper, not a very good one, but topped off with a glass of port, it wasn’t too bad. Malvern is a quiet spot where moderately rich people come to retire, and spend their declining years. One old gal sat at the table next to mine at supper, and kept up a conversation with me. She was very nice, had white hair cut like a man’s and combed straight back. She wore a white lace blouse, high around the neck, and a black formal, very much a period piece. I suspect that now I have the inside information on everyone who lives in the hotel, from the six foot girl who has a six foot six boy friend, to the old lady who walks with a cane. . .

25 October ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . Your husband is no longer a 65 point man, it went up to 70 today. I got orders awarding me the Bronze Star Medal, or as we call it, the officers good conduct medal. . .

. . . . . I finally got a chance to have a talk with the Colonel, and while I didn’t get a definite answer, I know that I won’t be getting home any time in the near future. As far as the job here is concerned, it will go on at full strength as long as there is free exchange of information between the U.S. and British. I then brought up the question of a trip home, either on temporary duty or on leave. He said he needed to have a look at the orders putting me on duty with Aberdeen O.O.M.M. first. I asked if he intended to let me go home that way if it could be done, and he said “yes”! He intends to send Marty home on T.D. while Dr. Seifert (Rocket specialist from Cal Tech) is here to replace him. As for bringing families over here, he didn’t have any information. While it wasn’t a very satisfactory interview, at least we have a little more idea what gives, and I guess bad news is better than no news at all. . .