CHAPTER 6. 3/14/44 TO 5/1/44 FIRE BOMB & PROXIMITY FUSES
14 March ‘44
I seldom mentioned air raids in my letters; it was probably because of censoring regulations so that the Germans wouldn’t be informed of the effectiveness of their attacks, and also it was because I didn’t want to upset Betty with reports of them. So I have no help in my letters to refresh my memories of the night the George Street apartment building was fire bombed. I have the date only from a letter Mr. Blake, the then occupant of an apartment where the fire was, sent me a couple of weeks afterwards while he was en route to Baghdad, Iraq. I kept that letter, putting it in an album along with newspaper clippings, theater programs, and other souvenirs I somehow brought home with me. His letter, which I have included following, dates the event as March 14, 1944.
It is the only time I was anywhere near a bomb exploding. It didn’t explode, but was a magnesium incendiary bomb that landed on the roof and burned it’s way down through the building, starting a fire in the roof and in every floor as it fell. I heard enough noise that I went to see what had happened, and joined the other residents in fighting the fire.
Every building in London was equipped with a bucket of water, a small stirrup pump, and (if I remember correctly) a bucket of sand on every floor. I had not been trained in fire fighting, so I first threw the bucket full of water at one of the fires, with little effect. I was told to use the stirrup pump, and found that a mist sprayed from it was very effective in putting out the fire, and efficient in the use of the water. The residents worked together and put out the fires before they spread much beyond the immediate area where the incendiary bomb had ignited them. The local damage was severe, but not extensive. No outside fire fighters came that I remember.
Mr. Blake’s letter credits me with extinguishing the fire in the roof, something of which I have no recollection, but the event still remains in my memory, even if the details do not. After the fire was out I went to my apartment and brought back a bottle of port wine to share with the others; it helped to cap off an exciting event.
Letter to Capt. Burke at 65 George St., London W1, dated April 3, ‘44.
3/4/44 At Sea Dear Captain Burke
Please accept my belated thanks for the splendid work you did at our flat on the night of 14th March when the place was fired by the bomb. You took on the stiffest job of all and I am certain that if it had not been for what you did in extinguishing the fire in the blazing roof, the fire would not have been extinguished.
After the job you had done, you certainly capped the evening by bringing your own drink for us.
We have had an almost uneventful voyage, so far. I expect to reach my port of disembarkation in the very near future.
I left my wife & youngster at Cheam but expect they have transferred to Wales by now.
Again many thanks, yours sincerely, R H Blake
Our offices were always in old residential buildings on Grosvenor Square, and their interior construction was largely of wood. We also had the buckets and stirrup pumps stationed on each floor, but had no occasion to use them. The military personnel had regular air raid protection (ARP) assignments so that there was someone responsible for the office all night every night. When I was there the raids were infrequent enough that the ARP officer did not have to stay at the office, if he lived close enough that he could come to the office if air raid sirens sounded; I had a cot and sleeping bag available at the office and preferred to sleep there when I
was on ARP duty. That seemed the better choice compared with the chance of having to awaken with the sirens, dress, and walk to the office.
We also had assignments as “duty officer” in the office on sundays and other non work days to handle any telephone calls or other business that might arise. Those weren’t bad, but one night only I was duty officer at the Theater Headquarters office on the Square; there I had to stay awake all night and was supposed to handle any telephone calls. Luckily there were no calls, and I was relieved since I didn’t feel qualified to make decisions at that level.
My love letter to Betty shows not a single mention or hint of the fire bomb incident in the George Street apartment building.
14 March ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
Boy, this has been a full day! By far the best part of it was when I got a lot of mail from you; I got your letters of Feb. 24, 27, 28 & 29. I also got one from (my sister) Alice, (my brother) Ray, and Mom. The one from Ray was written about the same time as the one you wrote about getting from him, Feb. 13. Maybe he is back in the States by now, lucky fellow; I wish I could get back home once in a while! Even if I had to leave again, it would be heaven to see you and to kiss you and to have you snuggled beside me once more.
I’m back in my home flat again tonight, and in a more comfortable bed than I’ve slept in for the last five days, but no matter where I am there is always something, or rather, someone missing, and you know who it is.
I awakened at the ungodly hour of 6:30. I was awake before six tho, ‘cause the orderly woke me up when he was in building the fire, and the coal bin must have been adjacent to my room ‘cause I could very clearly hear someone shoveling it. At least it was better than I have here; since I could get up to a warm room. Had fresh eggs again for breakfast; guess that is over for a while now. They seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of them, probably since the mess had its own chickens. It was a British mess, in case I haven’t mentioned it before.
We worked all morning getting things ready, and then early this afternoon we had the demonstration. Everything went like clockwork, and the only thing that was out of line was the weather, which was inclement, to say the least! The General was at our party today, and we put on a good show for him!
After the demonstration I went back to my billet and changed my clothes and packed my things, and then borrowed a jeep to take me to the train. I got to the station late, but the train was even later, so I caught it OK. I didn’t get to take any pictures today since cameras were banned, but I got George to take a couple of me. In the five days there I took about 15 pictures, half a roll. Did I tell you that George is going to sell me his camera, the one I’ve been using. Guess he figured that I’ve had it for so long that the only way he’ll get anything out of the deal is to sell it to me. I think it is a good investment ‘cause I’ve always wanted one like it and it is a darn good camera. He is selling it to me for what it cost him, when he could get about double that price if he wanted to.
When I got back I arrived just in time to have supper before the mess closed. After supper I went to the office and tried to line up things that have piled up while I’ve been gone. The Col. was there and I talked with him for a while, or to be more truthful, listened to him talk for a while. Then I came on home and took a good hot bath; that really felt good! Now I am in bed and it is awful late and seven o’clock isn’t far off. . .
(Notice there is no mention of the fire bomb in the letter above, The General I said was at the demonstration was probably General Eisenhower. The camera I bought was a 35 mm Agfa with special cassettes, and a slide on the back that pushed the unexposed film from one cassette into another cassette for the exposed film. I used it for many years before buying one that used the normal cassettes that film comes in. Getting a used camera was fortunate because new ones were just not available to buy in England.)
16 March ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
Guess I’ve worked long enough, and it is time I started my nightly talk with you. It is eleven, and I am at the office. I am ARP officer tonight; I have a cot made up here and will soon get to sleep. . .
One of the sgts. here recently made warrant officer; I’ve sent you at least one picture that he is in, Russ Goss is his name. Anyway, he is one heck of a swell fellow and I’m glad he got his promotion. Now that he is W.O. he has all the privileges of an officer and eats in our mess, etc. All of which leads up to my saying I had lunch with Goss, Tom, Scrib, and Hicks. . .
. . . . . This will make 240 nights that I’ve spent away from you darling, 240 too many!! I miss you an awful lot, and the only thing I want is to be with you again. I love you. Goodnight , darling, I love you!!! All my love and kisses, Glenn
18 March ‘44 Saturday My darling;
. . . . . I got up, reluctantly, at seven and got down to breakfast just before eight. I wander down there half asleep, and don’t really wake up til after my second cup of coffee. Maj. Keck was telling me later in the day that he was right behind me on the street and yelled at me, but I just kept going. He accused me of sleep walking, and maybe he was right! . . .
. .. . . I ate tonight with Goss and two captains. The latter two (Jean & Mitch, our proximity fuse experts) came from the States on temporary duty, and expect to return before too long. Too bad I couldn’t have come over on some such deal as that!
After supper I went back to the office; Tom and Saint were there, and we went down to Tom’s place. Saint and the other fellows have recently given up the house they were renting ‘cause it was too expensive and have split up and gotten smaller flats. Saint is staying with Tom til he can find another place. . .
25 March ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . When is Meg expecting? . . . I’m glad you are being so nice to her . . . . I guess one reason I love you so much is because you are so concerned with other peoples feelings and are always willing to help. I’ve got an extra million other reasons too. Remember back a couple of times when you said you were worried that you were pregnant? I have to admit that I was happy and hoped that you were, but it didn’t work out. Guess it is better this way ‘cause above all, I want to be with you when we have our first child, and besides I am selfish and don’t want to miss the pleasures, and hardships, of raising our children. You know I think a family is the most important thing in the world; we’ll have to work on that when I get back, eh? . . .
26 March ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
Hello honey, how are you tonight? I’m in my favorite position, prone, and now it is time for my nightly talk with you. I got real ambitious and wrote a V-mail to (my older sister) Dorothy and to (my brother) Ray, and a letter to Mom, so I’m caught up pretty well with my letter writing.
I’ve had a nice day, not near as nice as it would have been with you, but nice never the less. I slept til twelve this morning, a good way to spend Sunday morning. Besides I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep lately, and that helped me to catch up. After I woke up I just laid in bed day dreaming of you and missing you. I always miss you, but Sundays seem to be worse than other days, don’t you think so? I finally got up and shaved and drew water for my bath. There wasn’t any real hot water, but I had a quick rinse anyway in the lukewarm water there was.
It was a beautiful day out, so I left my overcoat and went to the mess for dinner. They outdid themselves today, we had chicken and mashed spuds and gravy, pineapple salad, and raisin pie. By the way, can you send me some raisins, I’d like some if you can spare the points.
After dinner I stopped by the office to see if there was any mail, no luck. I picked up my camera and Tom, and we went for a walk.f We went to the (Regents Park) zoo and spent a couple of hours looking at the animals and saying “no” to innumerable small kids who come up to you and say “got any American chewing gum, Yank?” They’re worse than the kids in Philly were who were always asking for pennies. Remember the first nice Sunday there last spring when we went for a long walk in the park? Sure wish we were back there now. Tom said it was a hell of a deal when he had to go for a walk with me, when he’d much rather be with his wife, and I said I felt the same way myself. Anyway, it was nice to get some fresh air and sun.
We came back to the mess about six, pretty tired after all the walking we had been doing. We were thirsty and I tried to get a coke and Tom tried to get a beer at the bar. The only thing they had was scotch and soda, so we had a scotch and soda. I really felt more like having a coke, but the scotch & soda tasted good; they are usually out of it when I feel like having one. We had supper and then stopped by to see Scrib at her office; she was on duty. We talked with her for a while, and I looked at the cartoons in a New Yorker she had. She hadn’t had supper yet, so she bawled us out for not coming by for her when we went to eat, and then kicked us out so she could go eat. She doesn’t like to go to the mess alone, and I can see her point ‘cause the women there are in the minority, and the minority is very small. Guess she feels safe going with a couple of old married men like us, and besides her husband is bigger than we are.
Tom and I went on to the office, and I picked up some V-mail forms, and addressed a couple of envelopes, and looked again for some mail, but with the same result as earlier. Steve and Maj. Keck came and we shot the bull for a little while, and then I came on home.
I avoided even the thought of work today ‘cause I felt I needed a vacation away from it. I’ve been working too many nights and Sundays lately, and as a result have been getting fed up with it. Usually it is darn interesting work, tho, so I don’t mind working long hours. . .
I got home about nine and crawled into bed and wrote my letters to the family, and then started on yours. I want to send a couple more pictures so I’d better close now so the letter won’t be too heavy. I miss you an awful lot darling, or have I said that before. Anyway, it can bear repeating ‘cause I hate every hour of every day that I am away from you. I try to make the best of it, and enjoy myself as much as I can under the circumstances, but things just aren’t the same without you. Guess that’s the way it has to be, or else I wouldn’t be as much in love with you as I am. The only thing that really matters to me is getting back to you and starting to live again. Goodnight my darling, I love you with all my heart and soul. All ny love and kisses, Glenn
27 March ‘44 Monday My darling;
. . . . . I liked one of the little quips I read in the Readers Digest last night “If I’m blue today, it’s not because I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, it’s because I got up on the wrong side of the world.” Well, I got up on the wrong side of the world . . .
I persuaded the boys to let me take the jeep on my trip. This afternoon I changed into field clothes and then picked up Gene and Mitch and we were off. It was another nice day, but still drafty enough in that jeep to make warm clothing necessary. We got here just in time for supper, and it was good. We stopped on the way and had tea, more to warm us up and for a snack than because we have caught the habit. . . . . . This trip I’m seeing another part of this island I haven’t seen before, and so far it has been interesting. . . . . . . We had to bring our own bedding on this trip; it is the first time I’ve used my bedding roll since I came over; in fact it was still in the horseshoe pack I had it in on the boat. . .
( Gene and Mitch were captains from the States on temporary duty in our London office. They were experts in the then super secret proximity fuse which was soon to be released for use for the first time on land as part of the anti aircraft artillery defense against the anticipated buzz bomb attack on London. I didn’t remember the last names of Gene and Mitch, but a later letter helped me there. I learned that Gene spelled his name Jean, and his last name is Teas.
I spent a lot of time with Jean, and he helped me set up the enlarger and photo darkroom in the office. He had been with National Carbon, and, I believe, helped develop the battery for the proximity fuse that eliminated the shelf life problem and made the fuse much more reliable and effective. He and Mitch trained the anti aircraft artillery, both American and British, in the care and use of the fuse. The trip started above was to the headquarters of the American AA stationed near Folkstone, on the English coast near Dover.)
28 March ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . This is a nice town we are staying in; it must have been a resort in peace time, ‘cause there seems to be little more than hotels around, some nice looking hotels, tho. . . . . . I went for a walk along the beach this morning. It looked good, only I’d much rather have been walking along the Strand in Hermosa, considering that you would be with me there. We never have gone swimming at the beach together, have we? We’ll have to put that on the agenda for the future, the wonderful future when I’m back with you. . .
29 March ‘44 Wednesday My darling;
. . . . . I got up about ten minutes before breakfast time and rushed into my clothes and downstairs to eat. I had a head start on my dressing ‘cause I slept in my long woolen underwear and therefore was about half dressed. I travel pretty light on these trips of mine and don’t take more with me than I absolutely have to. I wear my longies on trips, although I don’t around London, ‘cause it is much colder traveling, especially by jeep, and outdoors you need the extra warmth. I had a good breakfast, fresh eggs again. In fact, all the meals I had there (a US Army mess), while not exceptional, were all darn good, and I had an appetite to go with it. After lunch we left for home, and didn’t hurry; we saw some of the interesting sights along the way, Canterbury, and the white cliffs of Dover, and even had a glimpse of the outline of the French shore. . .
(In the following two letters I tell about going by train to a mansion and then by truck to the beach. I was assigned as the officer required by security to convoy the first shipment of the proximity fuses from a depot to the anti aircraft artillery on the Dover coast. The depot was at a central England estate, with a beautiful old mansion that was used for depot offices and housing. This fuse was added to the buzz bomb defenses more than two months before the Germans launched the first flying bombs toward London from the French coast.)
1 April ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
Looks kind of like I’ll get to bed early tonight for a change; it’s only 7:30 and I can’t see that there is anything for me to do this evening, that is, after I finish my visit with you. Shall I set the scene for our visit tonight? I’m sitting in a deep comfortable leather easy chair in front of a good coal fire. The fire place is fancy, looks like marble, with gold color decorations. Above the mantle is a big mirror. It is a big room with very high ceilings, and I feel almost lost in it. Sound OK? This building is an old mansion that is being used as army billets. The fire is nice and hot and I’ve been basking here in front of it, and it is making me sleepy and dreamy, and when I’m dreamy, I dream of you and I like that, but I’d much rather you were here, in my lap, instead of this magazine I’m using to support the paper, ‘cause then all my dreams would come true and I wouldn’t have to write to you. Not that I dislike writing to you, ‘cause I don’t, in fact it is the only part of the day that I look forward to, besides getting your letters (and eating), but when I have to write to you it means that I’m away from you, and therefore I don’t like to write to you ‘cause I want to be with you, but since there isn’t any chance to be with you personally, I like to write to you, but I still don’t like having to write to you. I seem to be going in circles, so I’d better stop while you’re less confused than I am, are you?
I’ve gotten myself into this room, but I haven’t told you how, so I’d better go back to the start of the day, 6:30 AM, ungodly hour, but that is when I got up this morning, maybe that is why I’m sleepy this evening. I had breakfast and got to the office before eight. I met Steve coming out of the mess, he had gotten up early by mistake ‘cause his watch is on the blink, and it soon became apparent that I had gotten up early in mistake, ‘cause there was a message waiting for me on my desk and I had to make a phone call before I left; by time that was done it was too late to catch my train, so I had to wait til after lunch to catch the next one. It worked out so it didn’t make much difference, but I was mad ‘cause I got up a whole half hour early, and all for nothing!!
I caught my train right after lunch and it was crowded, the train I mean, and not my lunch. However I got to stand in a first class coach and I had a window right in front of my nose, so I got to see more of the country than I would have if I had gotten a seat. Things are slowly getting greener now, but not many of the trees have leaves on them yet.
I was met at the station by a jeep, after I had called to have one come pick me up, and it carted me here. I had a very good supper, nothing fancy but good appetite satisfying food, and some of the best tea I’ve had since I hit this island. I still like the American way of making tea better than the English way. After supper I came in here, and that just about completes “my day”. I still think that I need you here in my lap to really make my day complete, in fact, I need you here, period. Guess I’m just a little blue this evening, got up on the wrong side of the world, but then I’m always a little blue when I’m away from you.
I didn’t get any mail from you today, but I brought three of your latest letters along with me so I would have them to reread. Did you get the captain bars earrings that you said you were going to get when I was promoted, I wondered if those were the ones you wrote about in your March 15 letter. I haven’t heard from Mom for some time now, guess I should write to the folks tonight while I have the time, but I don’t think I will ‘cause I want to get to bed early, and already it is eight thirty. However, any time before eleven or twelve seems to be early for me lately. I’d be much more anxious to go to bed if you were waiting there for me!! As it is, the best I can hope for from my lonely bed is that I’ll dream of you! Hope I do dream of you tonight, darling. Well, darling, the fire is getting lower and my eyelids are trying to shut, so I’d better quit for this day. I miss you, every minute of every day, and I love you too!! Goodnight my darling wife, I love you! All my love and kisses, Glenn
2 April ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
Hello darling, are you ready for our nightly visit? Well, ready or not here I am. I’m comfortably in bed, in a hotel tonight, and a pretty nice one at that. Shall I start back at the beginning of the day so as to confuse you less; I woke up this morning and the room was dark because the blackout curtains were drawn. I looked at my watch and it said 7:15, so I decided it was time to get up since I wanted to get an early start. I was washing my teeth and face before I realized that double summer time had gone into effect last night, and I should have set my watch ahead an hour, so it was 8:15 when I woke up, not 7:15. Oh well, I like losing the hour when I’m awake, rather than losing an hour of sleep. I went downstairs and had french fried toast, bacon, mush, and coffee.
I left the mansion by truck; it was a nice ride, but not a very nice day. I came by my home office and stopped there so the driver and sergeant could eat. I went in and was very pleased to find three letters from you waiting for me, yours of March 1, 10, and 14. I was glad to get them, especially since I hadn’t expected to get back to the office til tomorrow night, but our route took us near there, so I decided to stop off. After the men had lunch we continued on our way. I got here in the middle of the afternoon and met Gene. We had the truck unloaded and sent it back. I had “tea” at a British mess, then Gene and I came to the hotel where I am now.
. . . . . After supper we went for a walk. This is another resort town on the seashore; ought to be a very nice place in peace time. . .
3 April ‘44 Monday My darling wife;
Hi darling, I’m back in the office tonight after being away for the last two letters. I got back about seven, and was glad to find a letter from you waiting for me, it was yours of March 12. I also got a letter from Mom that was written on the same day. She had gotten my letter telling of my promotion, and you hadn’t, but then she had gotten it that day (Sunday) and since you don’t have delivery on Sunday, you probably got it the next day.
After I finished your letter last night I went to sleep almost immediately, and slept like a log. I had a very comfortable bed in the hotel, it was one of those wide single bed things, plenty of room there for you, and I sure wished that you were there!! I was awakened by the maid bringing morning tea, I think that is a good custom, but with coffee in place of tea. I had my tea and a cigarette in bed and then got up and dressed.
I met Gene as I went out my door, and we ate breakfast together. I had mush, toast, and coffee. There was some kind of smoked fish too, but my stomach felt a little uneasy when I looked at it, so I let that go by. Speaking of sea food, Gene found a place there where he had fresh oysters on half shell. We were going to go back there and have them again, but never did get around to it, darn it, I would like to have some. Remember those we used to have at the Colonial Hotel before our Sunday chicken dinners? Um! I’d like to spend my Sundays there now, but if I could just spend the lazy Sunday with you, I wouldn’t care if we ate or not.
After breakfast we went on about our business. We had lunch in a little pub, and it was pretty good, too. We finished up about three, but didn’t get back to the hotel til five. We checked out and left right away; we hooked a ride with a British officer. It was in a Studebaker President and most of the way we were flying low rather than driving. We went around eighty some of the way; I was sitting in the front seat and there was a little sign right in front of me stating that the maximum speed limit of the car was 40 mph!
. . . . . Tom has left on a week’s leave; he went to Edinburgh. Steve goes on leave tomorrow, too, it seems to be a popular thing to do. I don’t think that I’ll take any leave, tho. I don’t know what I’d do if I did, maybe I could just sleep for a week. I feel with all the traveling I’ve been doing that I get a change of scenery often enough, and beside also all my traveling is paid for! What I do need is a leave long enough so I could visit you, but---!!!!!
When is (or was) the test that you were studying for? Will you change jobs if you pass it? I don’t mind if you cut your hair, honey. I like the pictures you sent of it when it was short. As long as it is neat, that is the part that makes the most difference in your appearance. Mine doesn’t seem to be growing out very fast, although I haven’t had any cut off the top for a long time now. I hope you get your film soon so you can send me some more pictures. You probably won’t have any luck, but while you are looking, see if you can find some 35 mm color film to send me. . .
4 April ‘44 Tuesday London, England My darling wife;
Today I was looking through some new regulations on mail censorship and I noticed that we are now authorized to say that we are in London. . . . . I sent some film to the pictorial service this morning; Gene has some color film he wants to take, so he is going to put it in my camera tomorrow. He brought the film with him when he came, but he didn’t bring a camera; seems someone told him it was easy to get a camera over here because of the scarcity of film, but so far he hasn’t been able to find one. We stopped at a camera store today to see if they had any, but they didn’t. I found out they did have some 35 mm film tho, so I may buy some just in case my supply of free film runs out. They didn’t have any color film tho, so if you can find any, be sure and buy it and send it to me.
. . . . . After I finished your letter last night the Col. came in and I talked with him for a while, and then I went on home. I polished a pair of shoes and put my brass on my blouse that had come back from the cleaners so I could wear it this morning. It is really a job to get the captains bars on straight, guess that I haven’t had enough practice yet. With the old bars I had the holes all worn in so all I had to do was put the bars back in the old holes, and they were right, but with these I have to put them on and take them off and adjust several times before they look right. . .
8 April ‘44 Saturday Night My darling wife;
It seems so much like Sunday that I almost wrote “Sunday Night” up above. As I wrote last night, or maybe the night before, we were asked to take off two days in a row (for Easter), and since I’m Sunday duty officer tomorrow, I took off yesterday and today. . .
. . . . . As we were leaving the mess we ran into Bill and George going in. We decided it would be a good day to take some pictures, so Gene and I went for a walk while Bill and George ate. Gene has a roll of color film in my camera, so I didn’t get any pictures today. . . . . . We all decided to go see Kew Gardens, so we hopped a bus and were off. We got out to the Gardens and spent most of the afternoon walking around them. You remember that I wrote last fall about visiting them, there were a lot more flowers out then than today, guess it is still too early for them. There were a lot of pretty trees in bloom tho, they reminded me of the cherry trees that we saw in Washington, except that there weren’t so many of them in bloom all at once. There were some orchids blooming in the hot houses that were very pretty.
We started back in time for supper; the others dropped off at the mess, and I came on to the office with the cameras. You ought to have seen me, I had my camera slung over one shoulder, Bill’s case with movie camera and snap camera over the other, and George’s camera slung around my neck. I must have looked like a real camera fiend. I was lucky and found a letter from you when I got in; it was yours of Mar. 29; it made very good time, considering what they usually come in. There was also some mail for the others which I stuck in my pocket and then went upstairs and got Goss and we went to the mess.
Bill and George were waiting for us at the bar and also Tom, who had just gotten back from his leave, and Tom’s roommate, Henry. We all had a scotch and soda and then went down to eat. It wasn’t a bad meal at all, some kind of beef, and a good soup. After supper I went to a show with Tom and Henry, and the rest went their own ways. The picture was one about French prisoners of war in Germany , “The Cross of Loraine”; it wasn’t too good and of course full of propaganda, and I didn’t like it in general.
After the show we dropped by my place and had a drink of wine while I gathered some toilet articles to bring to the office. I am on ARP duty tonight and am going to sleep here. That just about covers “my day”; I looked at an Esquire that came for George and then started on this letter. It is getting along towards eleven and I’ve picked up a slight headache somewhere, and maybe I ought to put it to bed, and besides I plan to attend a sunrise service out in the park in the morning, I’ll have to be getting up pretty early to make that; I asked the guard to call me at 6:30.
It would have been such a swell day if only I could have spent it with you, darling. What did we do last Easter, I can’t remember at all; did we go to church then? Whatever we did I was with you and that is all I want now! I miss you so much my darling, I love you and think of you all the time, so come to me in my dreams tonight, won’t you? Goodnight my love, I love you. All my love and kisses, Glenn
10 April ‘44 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . We had a new man arrive in our office this morning, and in my usual job of official “greeter” I showed him around. It wasn’t long ago that I was using his text in my EE courses at Cal, so it was something to meet him today, to me at least! (This was Professor Woodruff, of M.I.T., a civilian and an extremely nice and friendly person. He was with us in the office in London and Paris until late in the fall of 1945). . .
. . . . . I ate supper with Tom, Saint, and Jean (I thought he spelled his name Gene, but his initials are J.P., so it must be Jean). We stopped by the office after supper, and Tom had gotten a package from home containing a very small radio modified to work on 220 volts. We wanted to try it out, and at the same time could see no good reason not to launch the bottle of gin I got a few days ago, so we did both at the same time. We took them to Tom’s apartment and while Tom poured the drinks Jean and I fixed the plugs so they would work in the English sockets, and managed to blow out one fuse. The radio worked good, tho!
Tom went upstairs to get the landlady to fix the fuse, and she, her husband, and daughter came down. The fuse was fixed, and then the six of us proceeded to finish up the bottle of gin. We mixed it with pineapple juice, and when that ran out, with some canned orange and grapefruit juice the landlady had. They are Scotch and we had quite a gab fest with them. . .
13 April ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . The news of the day sure looked good to me, reminded me of a story I heard at the Marble Arch Corner of Hyde Park; that is where all of the soap box orators gather to give their speeches. Anybody can talk about anything that he pleases there. Anyway, the story was that Churchill was at home one evening and had given instructions not to be disturbed. As usual, I can’t remember how it goes, but the essence of the story is that Joe Stalin calls and C asks him where he is calling from, Moscow? No. Odessa? No. Well then where? I’m calling from Calais, and say, do you want me to come any farther? Guess I messed that up, but the Russians are doing a marvelous bit of fighting there! . . .
23 April Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . We planned to go to the tea dance today, so a little before four Saint and I went back to the office to pick up Tom, and then the three of us went to the dance. As I was going in I saw a navy lieutenant walk by who looked very familiar. He was (Lowell Dailey) the fellow who coached the football team that I played on in high school!! We had quite a chat before the dance. It sure is nice to be running into so many people that I knew from home, that makes three of them so far. He is a great big fellow, he played fullback at Montana when he went to college. At home he taught mathematics and coached the lightweight football team.
The dance was very nice, a RAF band played for it and the music was good. The partners I danced with didn’t step on my toes too often; I’m not sure whether or not the vice-versa holds true. I danced with only you for so long that you are the only one that can follow me, and I only wish I could have been dancing with you this afternoon, tho if I could hold you in my arms I don’t think that I would want to dance. It will sure be swell when we can go dancing together again, in fact everything will be swell when we can enjoy things together once more. Sounds like I miss you, doesn’t it, and I do, too, more than I can ever say darling. . .
27 April ‘44 Thursday Night My darling wife;
I was glad to get your letter of April 17 today. I got the roll of film that you sent the same day too; that made good time for a parcel, didn’t it? I didn’t know how much Kodachrome cost, $2.84 is quite a bit, but it covers the cost of the developing as well as the cost of the film. I’ll put the film in the camera just as soon as I finish the roll that is in it now. Jean has borrowed the camera again so maybe he will have shot some of the roll up by time he gets back in town. I think I can get the Kodachrome developed here, it says so in the instruction leaflet that came with the film, but it doesn’t make much difference anyway ‘cause I have to turn it in to the pictorial service for developing and censoring, the same as regular film. . .
. . . . . It was nice and warm after supper so we went for a walk in the park and watched a game of softball for a while. I think we are going to get up a team in the office soon, we are supposed to have our first practice tomorrow evening, if we can get some equipment and a place to play. It’ll be nice to get some exercise, and will give us something to do these long evenings.
. . . . . Tom and I decided to go for a walk. We went by the R.A.C., the club I wrote you about last fall where I have an honorary membership. Tonight is the first time I’ve been in it; it is a big joint, and very impressive looking, you know, deep leather easy chairs and all that; we went into the bar and had a beer. The club is located on Pall Mall, guess that’s where they got the name for those cigarettes. We walked through St. James Park, by Buckingham palace, and through Green Park; all in all it was a good long walk.
We came back by the Officers Red Cross Club and had a coke and a piece of cake. Then we came here to Tom’s apartment and have been writing our letters and listening to the radio. Tom’s roommate has dropped in and left a couple of times; he made the tactical error of leaving a box of chocolates on the table, and Tom & I have been eating them. . .
. . . . .
Later. I’m home and in bed now. It sure was nice out today and this evening, just the right kind of weather to go for a walk with you; any kind of weather is right for that tho! Even those nights in Berkeley when we walked to a show and sometimes got caught out in the rain, or that night in Havre de Grace when we were out in the first snow of the winter. I have so many pleasant memories to think and dream about and they help a lot, but they aren’t enough to keep me from longing for you and missing you and wanting you now! Goodnight my darling wife, I love you with all of me. All my love and kisses, Glenn
30 April ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I saw Jean and Tom at the office; they were going to play golf today. I got caught in a conference with the Colonel, so it was 12:30 before I got up to the mess for brunch. I ran into Mitch there; he had just gotten back into town for the first time in a couple of weeks. He had eaten, so I went on and ate alone. I went back to the office and met Mitch and we started out on a big sightseeing trip. I had seen most of the places we went to before, but Mitch hadn’t, and I got a better look and it was a nice day to take pictures, so I enjoyed myself a lot
First place of interest we saw was Buckingham Palace, from the outside. I think I sent you a picture I took of It. It isn’t a very impressive looking place, just big and somewhat like a barn. We walked through St. James park and it was very pretty; everything was green, the trees had new leaves of light green, and the grass was a much deeper green. There were several beds of tulips in full bloom, all kinds of colors. I would have liked to have the color film in my camera there! We went by Westminster Abbey and Cathedral next; it seemed to be all closed up at the time, so we didn’t get to go inside. Right across the street from it are the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben and Westminster bridge.
We walked up Whitehall street where most of the govt. buildings are, Scotland Yard, and just off Whitehall is 10 Downing Street, where the prime minister hangs out. That street was blocked off about half way up and you needed a pass to get by, so we just got a poor look at No. 10. We went down to the Victoria Embankment along the Thames (pronounced “Tems”) and walked east along that. Next we came to St. Paul’s Cathedral; we were able to go in that and look around; It is an enormous place! I can’t really describe it, but I’ve never seen anything quite like it. We went on east from there, by “Bank” which is a crossroad of about six streets and where all the big banks have their headquarters - the center of the financial world, I think it is supposed to be. Then we went by the fish market, a very pungent area, and saw the tower commemorating the great fire of 1666; it is an ugly tower, just a column and that’s all. Next, and the end of the line, was the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. It was too late to go through the Tower of London, 2:30 is the only time you can do that, so we just got a look at the outside. It is really what you expect from a medieval castle, complete with moat.
We had worn our legs down to stumps by that time, and were hot and thirsty, so we caught a subway back. We went back to the office and washed up a little and then spent an hour or so talking with the Colonel; he was in a good mood today and was telling us some tales of his experiences in the last war.
About five thirty Mitch and I went up to the mess; we had a couple of gin and limes, which with soda makes a fairly passable tom collins, they were quite thirst quenching, anyway. We saw Goss there and talked with him a few minutes before eating. After supper Mitch was as tired as I was, so we headed for our respective homes.
I was walking along the street and a G.I. highballed me. I returned the salute and went on a couple more steps then spun around ‘cause it just dawned on me that the face was familiar! He must have done the same thing, since he turned around as I did. He was a kid I played football with in high school! I didn’t know him very well then, but I remembered his last name, which is Roberts. We talked for a couple of minutes and then I came on home.
Sunday just isn’t right without you, darling, and neither is any other day of the week!! I miss you every minute, and my only desire is to be with you all the time! We had a wonderful year together, darling, and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything, only it makes me realize how much I am missing now. I love you so much and only hope that soon we can take up where we left off and start living again. Goodnight my darling wife, I love you with all my heart and soul. All my love and kisses, Glenn
1 May ‘44 Monday My darling;
Happy May Day to you. honey! I suppose you are out in the park about now, enjoying the sun while you eat your lunch. . . .
I forgot to remark yesterday that all the buildings here look like they have an inch thick layer of soot on them. I don’t know if that is because they are so old, or if they never thought of cleaning them. It is a shame ‘cause many of the famous buildings are white, or rather would be if cleaned, and they look so dull and drab with all that soot on them. . .
. . . . . I got back from that second trip just too late to eat at the mess, knowing how promptly they stop serving, I didn’t even try to get in there. I went down to the club before it was too late to eat there and had a pretty fair meal of ham. It is nicer, with table service instead of cafeteria style, but I don’t think it is worth double what we pay at our mess. Boy, what a few cigarettes strategically placed won’t do! Back when that club was our regular mess, we used to give the waitresses a pack of cigs occasionally, and even now they remember me and I get the best of service, and seconds of whatever I want! . . .
(Some time near the end of April the Enemy Ordnance Intelligence Group moved their headquarters from London to a base near Bath, preparing to follow close behind the D-Day invasion troops. Included in this group were “Saint” St. Lawrence, George Drury, Steve Rousch, and Major Keck.
Their job was to examine and report on captured German ordnance, some of which could be used against the enemy. They were also great at supplying headquarters personnel with souvenirs; I still have a German pistol {firing pin removed} they gave me.
Being up with the combat troops, they earned lots of battle stars, which allowed them to get home early when the war was over.)
I seldom mentioned air raids in my letters; it was probably because of censoring regulations so that the Germans wouldn’t be informed of the effectiveness of their attacks, and also it was because I didn’t want to upset Betty with reports of them. So I have no help in my letters to refresh my memories of the night the George Street apartment building was fire bombed. I have the date only from a letter Mr. Blake, the then occupant of an apartment where the fire was, sent me a couple of weeks afterwards while he was en route to Baghdad, Iraq. I kept that letter, putting it in an album along with newspaper clippings, theater programs, and other souvenirs I somehow brought home with me. His letter, which I have included following, dates the event as March 14, 1944.
It is the only time I was anywhere near a bomb exploding. It didn’t explode, but was a magnesium incendiary bomb that landed on the roof and burned it’s way down through the building, starting a fire in the roof and in every floor as it fell. I heard enough noise that I went to see what had happened, and joined the other residents in fighting the fire.
Every building in London was equipped with a bucket of water, a small stirrup pump, and (if I remember correctly) a bucket of sand on every floor. I had not been trained in fire fighting, so I first threw the bucket full of water at one of the fires, with little effect. I was told to use the stirrup pump, and found that a mist sprayed from it was very effective in putting out the fire, and efficient in the use of the water. The residents worked together and put out the fires before they spread much beyond the immediate area where the incendiary bomb had ignited them. The local damage was severe, but not extensive. No outside fire fighters came that I remember.
Mr. Blake’s letter credits me with extinguishing the fire in the roof, something of which I have no recollection, but the event still remains in my memory, even if the details do not. After the fire was out I went to my apartment and brought back a bottle of port wine to share with the others; it helped to cap off an exciting event.
Letter to Capt. Burke at 65 George St., London W1, dated April 3, ‘44.
3/4/44 At Sea Dear Captain Burke
Please accept my belated thanks for the splendid work you did at our flat on the night of 14th March when the place was fired by the bomb. You took on the stiffest job of all and I am certain that if it had not been for what you did in extinguishing the fire in the blazing roof, the fire would not have been extinguished.
After the job you had done, you certainly capped the evening by bringing your own drink for us.
We have had an almost uneventful voyage, so far. I expect to reach my port of disembarkation in the very near future.
I left my wife & youngster at Cheam but expect they have transferred to Wales by now.
Again many thanks, yours sincerely, R H Blake
Our offices were always in old residential buildings on Grosvenor Square, and their interior construction was largely of wood. We also had the buckets and stirrup pumps stationed on each floor, but had no occasion to use them. The military personnel had regular air raid protection (ARP) assignments so that there was someone responsible for the office all night every night. When I was there the raids were infrequent enough that the ARP officer did not have to stay at the office, if he lived close enough that he could come to the office if air raid sirens sounded; I had a cot and sleeping bag available at the office and preferred to sleep there when I
was on ARP duty. That seemed the better choice compared with the chance of having to awaken with the sirens, dress, and walk to the office.
We also had assignments as “duty officer” in the office on sundays and other non work days to handle any telephone calls or other business that might arise. Those weren’t bad, but one night only I was duty officer at the Theater Headquarters office on the Square; there I had to stay awake all night and was supposed to handle any telephone calls. Luckily there were no calls, and I was relieved since I didn’t feel qualified to make decisions at that level.
My love letter to Betty shows not a single mention or hint of the fire bomb incident in the George Street apartment building.
14 March ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
Boy, this has been a full day! By far the best part of it was when I got a lot of mail from you; I got your letters of Feb. 24, 27, 28 & 29. I also got one from (my sister) Alice, (my brother) Ray, and Mom. The one from Ray was written about the same time as the one you wrote about getting from him, Feb. 13. Maybe he is back in the States by now, lucky fellow; I wish I could get back home once in a while! Even if I had to leave again, it would be heaven to see you and to kiss you and to have you snuggled beside me once more.
I’m back in my home flat again tonight, and in a more comfortable bed than I’ve slept in for the last five days, but no matter where I am there is always something, or rather, someone missing, and you know who it is.
I awakened at the ungodly hour of 6:30. I was awake before six tho, ‘cause the orderly woke me up when he was in building the fire, and the coal bin must have been adjacent to my room ‘cause I could very clearly hear someone shoveling it. At least it was better than I have here; since I could get up to a warm room. Had fresh eggs again for breakfast; guess that is over for a while now. They seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of them, probably since the mess had its own chickens. It was a British mess, in case I haven’t mentioned it before.
We worked all morning getting things ready, and then early this afternoon we had the demonstration. Everything went like clockwork, and the only thing that was out of line was the weather, which was inclement, to say the least! The General was at our party today, and we put on a good show for him!
After the demonstration I went back to my billet and changed my clothes and packed my things, and then borrowed a jeep to take me to the train. I got to the station late, but the train was even later, so I caught it OK. I didn’t get to take any pictures today since cameras were banned, but I got George to take a couple of me. In the five days there I took about 15 pictures, half a roll. Did I tell you that George is going to sell me his camera, the one I’ve been using. Guess he figured that I’ve had it for so long that the only way he’ll get anything out of the deal is to sell it to me. I think it is a good investment ‘cause I’ve always wanted one like it and it is a darn good camera. He is selling it to me for what it cost him, when he could get about double that price if he wanted to.
When I got back I arrived just in time to have supper before the mess closed. After supper I went to the office and tried to line up things that have piled up while I’ve been gone. The Col. was there and I talked with him for a while, or to be more truthful, listened to him talk for a while. Then I came on home and took a good hot bath; that really felt good! Now I am in bed and it is awful late and seven o’clock isn’t far off. . .
(Notice there is no mention of the fire bomb in the letter above, The General I said was at the demonstration was probably General Eisenhower. The camera I bought was a 35 mm Agfa with special cassettes, and a slide on the back that pushed the unexposed film from one cassette into another cassette for the exposed film. I used it for many years before buying one that used the normal cassettes that film comes in. Getting a used camera was fortunate because new ones were just not available to buy in England.)
16 March ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
Guess I’ve worked long enough, and it is time I started my nightly talk with you. It is eleven, and I am at the office. I am ARP officer tonight; I have a cot made up here and will soon get to sleep. . .
One of the sgts. here recently made warrant officer; I’ve sent you at least one picture that he is in, Russ Goss is his name. Anyway, he is one heck of a swell fellow and I’m glad he got his promotion. Now that he is W.O. he has all the privileges of an officer and eats in our mess, etc. All of which leads up to my saying I had lunch with Goss, Tom, Scrib, and Hicks. . .
. . . . . This will make 240 nights that I’ve spent away from you darling, 240 too many!! I miss you an awful lot, and the only thing I want is to be with you again. I love you. Goodnight , darling, I love you!!! All my love and kisses, Glenn
18 March ‘44 Saturday My darling;
. . . . . I got up, reluctantly, at seven and got down to breakfast just before eight. I wander down there half asleep, and don’t really wake up til after my second cup of coffee. Maj. Keck was telling me later in the day that he was right behind me on the street and yelled at me, but I just kept going. He accused me of sleep walking, and maybe he was right! . . .
. .. . . I ate tonight with Goss and two captains. The latter two (Jean & Mitch, our proximity fuse experts) came from the States on temporary duty, and expect to return before too long. Too bad I couldn’t have come over on some such deal as that!
After supper I went back to the office; Tom and Saint were there, and we went down to Tom’s place. Saint and the other fellows have recently given up the house they were renting ‘cause it was too expensive and have split up and gotten smaller flats. Saint is staying with Tom til he can find another place. . .
25 March ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . When is Meg expecting? . . . I’m glad you are being so nice to her . . . . I guess one reason I love you so much is because you are so concerned with other peoples feelings and are always willing to help. I’ve got an extra million other reasons too. Remember back a couple of times when you said you were worried that you were pregnant? I have to admit that I was happy and hoped that you were, but it didn’t work out. Guess it is better this way ‘cause above all, I want to be with you when we have our first child, and besides I am selfish and don’t want to miss the pleasures, and hardships, of raising our children. You know I think a family is the most important thing in the world; we’ll have to work on that when I get back, eh? . . .
26 March ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
Hello honey, how are you tonight? I’m in my favorite position, prone, and now it is time for my nightly talk with you. I got real ambitious and wrote a V-mail to (my older sister) Dorothy and to (my brother) Ray, and a letter to Mom, so I’m caught up pretty well with my letter writing.
I’ve had a nice day, not near as nice as it would have been with you, but nice never the less. I slept til twelve this morning, a good way to spend Sunday morning. Besides I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep lately, and that helped me to catch up. After I woke up I just laid in bed day dreaming of you and missing you. I always miss you, but Sundays seem to be worse than other days, don’t you think so? I finally got up and shaved and drew water for my bath. There wasn’t any real hot water, but I had a quick rinse anyway in the lukewarm water there was.
It was a beautiful day out, so I left my overcoat and went to the mess for dinner. They outdid themselves today, we had chicken and mashed spuds and gravy, pineapple salad, and raisin pie. By the way, can you send me some raisins, I’d like some if you can spare the points.
After dinner I stopped by the office to see if there was any mail, no luck. I picked up my camera and Tom, and we went for a walk.f We went to the (Regents Park) zoo and spent a couple of hours looking at the animals and saying “no” to innumerable small kids who come up to you and say “got any American chewing gum, Yank?” They’re worse than the kids in Philly were who were always asking for pennies. Remember the first nice Sunday there last spring when we went for a long walk in the park? Sure wish we were back there now. Tom said it was a hell of a deal when he had to go for a walk with me, when he’d much rather be with his wife, and I said I felt the same way myself. Anyway, it was nice to get some fresh air and sun.
We came back to the mess about six, pretty tired after all the walking we had been doing. We were thirsty and I tried to get a coke and Tom tried to get a beer at the bar. The only thing they had was scotch and soda, so we had a scotch and soda. I really felt more like having a coke, but the scotch & soda tasted good; they are usually out of it when I feel like having one. We had supper and then stopped by to see Scrib at her office; she was on duty. We talked with her for a while, and I looked at the cartoons in a New Yorker she had. She hadn’t had supper yet, so she bawled us out for not coming by for her when we went to eat, and then kicked us out so she could go eat. She doesn’t like to go to the mess alone, and I can see her point ‘cause the women there are in the minority, and the minority is very small. Guess she feels safe going with a couple of old married men like us, and besides her husband is bigger than we are.
Tom and I went on to the office, and I picked up some V-mail forms, and addressed a couple of envelopes, and looked again for some mail, but with the same result as earlier. Steve and Maj. Keck came and we shot the bull for a little while, and then I came on home.
I avoided even the thought of work today ‘cause I felt I needed a vacation away from it. I’ve been working too many nights and Sundays lately, and as a result have been getting fed up with it. Usually it is darn interesting work, tho, so I don’t mind working long hours. . .
I got home about nine and crawled into bed and wrote my letters to the family, and then started on yours. I want to send a couple more pictures so I’d better close now so the letter won’t be too heavy. I miss you an awful lot darling, or have I said that before. Anyway, it can bear repeating ‘cause I hate every hour of every day that I am away from you. I try to make the best of it, and enjoy myself as much as I can under the circumstances, but things just aren’t the same without you. Guess that’s the way it has to be, or else I wouldn’t be as much in love with you as I am. The only thing that really matters to me is getting back to you and starting to live again. Goodnight my darling, I love you with all my heart and soul. All ny love and kisses, Glenn
27 March ‘44 Monday My darling;
. . . . . I liked one of the little quips I read in the Readers Digest last night “If I’m blue today, it’s not because I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, it’s because I got up on the wrong side of the world.” Well, I got up on the wrong side of the world . . .
I persuaded the boys to let me take the jeep on my trip. This afternoon I changed into field clothes and then picked up Gene and Mitch and we were off. It was another nice day, but still drafty enough in that jeep to make warm clothing necessary. We got here just in time for supper, and it was good. We stopped on the way and had tea, more to warm us up and for a snack than because we have caught the habit. . . . . . This trip I’m seeing another part of this island I haven’t seen before, and so far it has been interesting. . . . . . . We had to bring our own bedding on this trip; it is the first time I’ve used my bedding roll since I came over; in fact it was still in the horseshoe pack I had it in on the boat. . .
( Gene and Mitch were captains from the States on temporary duty in our London office. They were experts in the then super secret proximity fuse which was soon to be released for use for the first time on land as part of the anti aircraft artillery defense against the anticipated buzz bomb attack on London. I didn’t remember the last names of Gene and Mitch, but a later letter helped me there. I learned that Gene spelled his name Jean, and his last name is Teas.
I spent a lot of time with Jean, and he helped me set up the enlarger and photo darkroom in the office. He had been with National Carbon, and, I believe, helped develop the battery for the proximity fuse that eliminated the shelf life problem and made the fuse much more reliable and effective. He and Mitch trained the anti aircraft artillery, both American and British, in the care and use of the fuse. The trip started above was to the headquarters of the American AA stationed near Folkstone, on the English coast near Dover.)
28 March ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . This is a nice town we are staying in; it must have been a resort in peace time, ‘cause there seems to be little more than hotels around, some nice looking hotels, tho. . . . . . I went for a walk along the beach this morning. It looked good, only I’d much rather have been walking along the Strand in Hermosa, considering that you would be with me there. We never have gone swimming at the beach together, have we? We’ll have to put that on the agenda for the future, the wonderful future when I’m back with you. . .
29 March ‘44 Wednesday My darling;
. . . . . I got up about ten minutes before breakfast time and rushed into my clothes and downstairs to eat. I had a head start on my dressing ‘cause I slept in my long woolen underwear and therefore was about half dressed. I travel pretty light on these trips of mine and don’t take more with me than I absolutely have to. I wear my longies on trips, although I don’t around London, ‘cause it is much colder traveling, especially by jeep, and outdoors you need the extra warmth. I had a good breakfast, fresh eggs again. In fact, all the meals I had there (a US Army mess), while not exceptional, were all darn good, and I had an appetite to go with it. After lunch we left for home, and didn’t hurry; we saw some of the interesting sights along the way, Canterbury, and the white cliffs of Dover, and even had a glimpse of the outline of the French shore. . .
(In the following two letters I tell about going by train to a mansion and then by truck to the beach. I was assigned as the officer required by security to convoy the first shipment of the proximity fuses from a depot to the anti aircraft artillery on the Dover coast. The depot was at a central England estate, with a beautiful old mansion that was used for depot offices and housing. This fuse was added to the buzz bomb defenses more than two months before the Germans launched the first flying bombs toward London from the French coast.)
1 April ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
Looks kind of like I’ll get to bed early tonight for a change; it’s only 7:30 and I can’t see that there is anything for me to do this evening, that is, after I finish my visit with you. Shall I set the scene for our visit tonight? I’m sitting in a deep comfortable leather easy chair in front of a good coal fire. The fire place is fancy, looks like marble, with gold color decorations. Above the mantle is a big mirror. It is a big room with very high ceilings, and I feel almost lost in it. Sound OK? This building is an old mansion that is being used as army billets. The fire is nice and hot and I’ve been basking here in front of it, and it is making me sleepy and dreamy, and when I’m dreamy, I dream of you and I like that, but I’d much rather you were here, in my lap, instead of this magazine I’m using to support the paper, ‘cause then all my dreams would come true and I wouldn’t have to write to you. Not that I dislike writing to you, ‘cause I don’t, in fact it is the only part of the day that I look forward to, besides getting your letters (and eating), but when I have to write to you it means that I’m away from you, and therefore I don’t like to write to you ‘cause I want to be with you, but since there isn’t any chance to be with you personally, I like to write to you, but I still don’t like having to write to you. I seem to be going in circles, so I’d better stop while you’re less confused than I am, are you?
I’ve gotten myself into this room, but I haven’t told you how, so I’d better go back to the start of the day, 6:30 AM, ungodly hour, but that is when I got up this morning, maybe that is why I’m sleepy this evening. I had breakfast and got to the office before eight. I met Steve coming out of the mess, he had gotten up early by mistake ‘cause his watch is on the blink, and it soon became apparent that I had gotten up early in mistake, ‘cause there was a message waiting for me on my desk and I had to make a phone call before I left; by time that was done it was too late to catch my train, so I had to wait til after lunch to catch the next one. It worked out so it didn’t make much difference, but I was mad ‘cause I got up a whole half hour early, and all for nothing!!
I caught my train right after lunch and it was crowded, the train I mean, and not my lunch. However I got to stand in a first class coach and I had a window right in front of my nose, so I got to see more of the country than I would have if I had gotten a seat. Things are slowly getting greener now, but not many of the trees have leaves on them yet.
I was met at the station by a jeep, after I had called to have one come pick me up, and it carted me here. I had a very good supper, nothing fancy but good appetite satisfying food, and some of the best tea I’ve had since I hit this island. I still like the American way of making tea better than the English way. After supper I came in here, and that just about completes “my day”. I still think that I need you here in my lap to really make my day complete, in fact, I need you here, period. Guess I’m just a little blue this evening, got up on the wrong side of the world, but then I’m always a little blue when I’m away from you.
I didn’t get any mail from you today, but I brought three of your latest letters along with me so I would have them to reread. Did you get the captain bars earrings that you said you were going to get when I was promoted, I wondered if those were the ones you wrote about in your March 15 letter. I haven’t heard from Mom for some time now, guess I should write to the folks tonight while I have the time, but I don’t think I will ‘cause I want to get to bed early, and already it is eight thirty. However, any time before eleven or twelve seems to be early for me lately. I’d be much more anxious to go to bed if you were waiting there for me!! As it is, the best I can hope for from my lonely bed is that I’ll dream of you! Hope I do dream of you tonight, darling. Well, darling, the fire is getting lower and my eyelids are trying to shut, so I’d better quit for this day. I miss you, every minute of every day, and I love you too!! Goodnight my darling wife, I love you! All my love and kisses, Glenn
2 April ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
Hello darling, are you ready for our nightly visit? Well, ready or not here I am. I’m comfortably in bed, in a hotel tonight, and a pretty nice one at that. Shall I start back at the beginning of the day so as to confuse you less; I woke up this morning and the room was dark because the blackout curtains were drawn. I looked at my watch and it said 7:15, so I decided it was time to get up since I wanted to get an early start. I was washing my teeth and face before I realized that double summer time had gone into effect last night, and I should have set my watch ahead an hour, so it was 8:15 when I woke up, not 7:15. Oh well, I like losing the hour when I’m awake, rather than losing an hour of sleep. I went downstairs and had french fried toast, bacon, mush, and coffee.
I left the mansion by truck; it was a nice ride, but not a very nice day. I came by my home office and stopped there so the driver and sergeant could eat. I went in and was very pleased to find three letters from you waiting for me, yours of March 1, 10, and 14. I was glad to get them, especially since I hadn’t expected to get back to the office til tomorrow night, but our route took us near there, so I decided to stop off. After the men had lunch we continued on our way. I got here in the middle of the afternoon and met Gene. We had the truck unloaded and sent it back. I had “tea” at a British mess, then Gene and I came to the hotel where I am now.
. . . . . After supper we went for a walk. This is another resort town on the seashore; ought to be a very nice place in peace time. . .
3 April ‘44 Monday My darling wife;
Hi darling, I’m back in the office tonight after being away for the last two letters. I got back about seven, and was glad to find a letter from you waiting for me, it was yours of March 12. I also got a letter from Mom that was written on the same day. She had gotten my letter telling of my promotion, and you hadn’t, but then she had gotten it that day (Sunday) and since you don’t have delivery on Sunday, you probably got it the next day.
After I finished your letter last night I went to sleep almost immediately, and slept like a log. I had a very comfortable bed in the hotel, it was one of those wide single bed things, plenty of room there for you, and I sure wished that you were there!! I was awakened by the maid bringing morning tea, I think that is a good custom, but with coffee in place of tea. I had my tea and a cigarette in bed and then got up and dressed.
I met Gene as I went out my door, and we ate breakfast together. I had mush, toast, and coffee. There was some kind of smoked fish too, but my stomach felt a little uneasy when I looked at it, so I let that go by. Speaking of sea food, Gene found a place there where he had fresh oysters on half shell. We were going to go back there and have them again, but never did get around to it, darn it, I would like to have some. Remember those we used to have at the Colonial Hotel before our Sunday chicken dinners? Um! I’d like to spend my Sundays there now, but if I could just spend the lazy Sunday with you, I wouldn’t care if we ate or not.
After breakfast we went on about our business. We had lunch in a little pub, and it was pretty good, too. We finished up about three, but didn’t get back to the hotel til five. We checked out and left right away; we hooked a ride with a British officer. It was in a Studebaker President and most of the way we were flying low rather than driving. We went around eighty some of the way; I was sitting in the front seat and there was a little sign right in front of me stating that the maximum speed limit of the car was 40 mph!
. . . . . Tom has left on a week’s leave; he went to Edinburgh. Steve goes on leave tomorrow, too, it seems to be a popular thing to do. I don’t think that I’ll take any leave, tho. I don’t know what I’d do if I did, maybe I could just sleep for a week. I feel with all the traveling I’ve been doing that I get a change of scenery often enough, and beside also all my traveling is paid for! What I do need is a leave long enough so I could visit you, but---!!!!!
When is (or was) the test that you were studying for? Will you change jobs if you pass it? I don’t mind if you cut your hair, honey. I like the pictures you sent of it when it was short. As long as it is neat, that is the part that makes the most difference in your appearance. Mine doesn’t seem to be growing out very fast, although I haven’t had any cut off the top for a long time now. I hope you get your film soon so you can send me some more pictures. You probably won’t have any luck, but while you are looking, see if you can find some 35 mm color film to send me. . .
4 April ‘44 Tuesday London, England My darling wife;
Today I was looking through some new regulations on mail censorship and I noticed that we are now authorized to say that we are in London. . . . . I sent some film to the pictorial service this morning; Gene has some color film he wants to take, so he is going to put it in my camera tomorrow. He brought the film with him when he came, but he didn’t bring a camera; seems someone told him it was easy to get a camera over here because of the scarcity of film, but so far he hasn’t been able to find one. We stopped at a camera store today to see if they had any, but they didn’t. I found out they did have some 35 mm film tho, so I may buy some just in case my supply of free film runs out. They didn’t have any color film tho, so if you can find any, be sure and buy it and send it to me.
. . . . . After I finished your letter last night the Col. came in and I talked with him for a while, and then I went on home. I polished a pair of shoes and put my brass on my blouse that had come back from the cleaners so I could wear it this morning. It is really a job to get the captains bars on straight, guess that I haven’t had enough practice yet. With the old bars I had the holes all worn in so all I had to do was put the bars back in the old holes, and they were right, but with these I have to put them on and take them off and adjust several times before they look right. . .
8 April ‘44 Saturday Night My darling wife;
It seems so much like Sunday that I almost wrote “Sunday Night” up above. As I wrote last night, or maybe the night before, we were asked to take off two days in a row (for Easter), and since I’m Sunday duty officer tomorrow, I took off yesterday and today. . .
. . . . . As we were leaving the mess we ran into Bill and George going in. We decided it would be a good day to take some pictures, so Gene and I went for a walk while Bill and George ate. Gene has a roll of color film in my camera, so I didn’t get any pictures today. . . . . . We all decided to go see Kew Gardens, so we hopped a bus and were off. We got out to the Gardens and spent most of the afternoon walking around them. You remember that I wrote last fall about visiting them, there were a lot more flowers out then than today, guess it is still too early for them. There were a lot of pretty trees in bloom tho, they reminded me of the cherry trees that we saw in Washington, except that there weren’t so many of them in bloom all at once. There were some orchids blooming in the hot houses that were very pretty.
We started back in time for supper; the others dropped off at the mess, and I came on to the office with the cameras. You ought to have seen me, I had my camera slung over one shoulder, Bill’s case with movie camera and snap camera over the other, and George’s camera slung around my neck. I must have looked like a real camera fiend. I was lucky and found a letter from you when I got in; it was yours of Mar. 29; it made very good time, considering what they usually come in. There was also some mail for the others which I stuck in my pocket and then went upstairs and got Goss and we went to the mess.
Bill and George were waiting for us at the bar and also Tom, who had just gotten back from his leave, and Tom’s roommate, Henry. We all had a scotch and soda and then went down to eat. It wasn’t a bad meal at all, some kind of beef, and a good soup. After supper I went to a show with Tom and Henry, and the rest went their own ways. The picture was one about French prisoners of war in Germany , “The Cross of Loraine”; it wasn’t too good and of course full of propaganda, and I didn’t like it in general.
After the show we dropped by my place and had a drink of wine while I gathered some toilet articles to bring to the office. I am on ARP duty tonight and am going to sleep here. That just about covers “my day”; I looked at an Esquire that came for George and then started on this letter. It is getting along towards eleven and I’ve picked up a slight headache somewhere, and maybe I ought to put it to bed, and besides I plan to attend a sunrise service out in the park in the morning, I’ll have to be getting up pretty early to make that; I asked the guard to call me at 6:30.
It would have been such a swell day if only I could have spent it with you, darling. What did we do last Easter, I can’t remember at all; did we go to church then? Whatever we did I was with you and that is all I want now! I miss you so much my darling, I love you and think of you all the time, so come to me in my dreams tonight, won’t you? Goodnight my love, I love you. All my love and kisses, Glenn
10 April ‘44 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . We had a new man arrive in our office this morning, and in my usual job of official “greeter” I showed him around. It wasn’t long ago that I was using his text in my EE courses at Cal, so it was something to meet him today, to me at least! (This was Professor Woodruff, of M.I.T., a civilian and an extremely nice and friendly person. He was with us in the office in London and Paris until late in the fall of 1945). . .
. . . . . I ate supper with Tom, Saint, and Jean (I thought he spelled his name Gene, but his initials are J.P., so it must be Jean). We stopped by the office after supper, and Tom had gotten a package from home containing a very small radio modified to work on 220 volts. We wanted to try it out, and at the same time could see no good reason not to launch the bottle of gin I got a few days ago, so we did both at the same time. We took them to Tom’s apartment and while Tom poured the drinks Jean and I fixed the plugs so they would work in the English sockets, and managed to blow out one fuse. The radio worked good, tho!
Tom went upstairs to get the landlady to fix the fuse, and she, her husband, and daughter came down. The fuse was fixed, and then the six of us proceeded to finish up the bottle of gin. We mixed it with pineapple juice, and when that ran out, with some canned orange and grapefruit juice the landlady had. They are Scotch and we had quite a gab fest with them. . .
13 April ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . The news of the day sure looked good to me, reminded me of a story I heard at the Marble Arch Corner of Hyde Park; that is where all of the soap box orators gather to give their speeches. Anybody can talk about anything that he pleases there. Anyway, the story was that Churchill was at home one evening and had given instructions not to be disturbed. As usual, I can’t remember how it goes, but the essence of the story is that Joe Stalin calls and C asks him where he is calling from, Moscow? No. Odessa? No. Well then where? I’m calling from Calais, and say, do you want me to come any farther? Guess I messed that up, but the Russians are doing a marvelous bit of fighting there! . . .
23 April Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . We planned to go to the tea dance today, so a little before four Saint and I went back to the office to pick up Tom, and then the three of us went to the dance. As I was going in I saw a navy lieutenant walk by who looked very familiar. He was (Lowell Dailey) the fellow who coached the football team that I played on in high school!! We had quite a chat before the dance. It sure is nice to be running into so many people that I knew from home, that makes three of them so far. He is a great big fellow, he played fullback at Montana when he went to college. At home he taught mathematics and coached the lightweight football team.
The dance was very nice, a RAF band played for it and the music was good. The partners I danced with didn’t step on my toes too often; I’m not sure whether or not the vice-versa holds true. I danced with only you for so long that you are the only one that can follow me, and I only wish I could have been dancing with you this afternoon, tho if I could hold you in my arms I don’t think that I would want to dance. It will sure be swell when we can go dancing together again, in fact everything will be swell when we can enjoy things together once more. Sounds like I miss you, doesn’t it, and I do, too, more than I can ever say darling. . .
27 April ‘44 Thursday Night My darling wife;
I was glad to get your letter of April 17 today. I got the roll of film that you sent the same day too; that made good time for a parcel, didn’t it? I didn’t know how much Kodachrome cost, $2.84 is quite a bit, but it covers the cost of the developing as well as the cost of the film. I’ll put the film in the camera just as soon as I finish the roll that is in it now. Jean has borrowed the camera again so maybe he will have shot some of the roll up by time he gets back in town. I think I can get the Kodachrome developed here, it says so in the instruction leaflet that came with the film, but it doesn’t make much difference anyway ‘cause I have to turn it in to the pictorial service for developing and censoring, the same as regular film. . .
. . . . . It was nice and warm after supper so we went for a walk in the park and watched a game of softball for a while. I think we are going to get up a team in the office soon, we are supposed to have our first practice tomorrow evening, if we can get some equipment and a place to play. It’ll be nice to get some exercise, and will give us something to do these long evenings.
. . . . . Tom and I decided to go for a walk. We went by the R.A.C., the club I wrote you about last fall where I have an honorary membership. Tonight is the first time I’ve been in it; it is a big joint, and very impressive looking, you know, deep leather easy chairs and all that; we went into the bar and had a beer. The club is located on Pall Mall, guess that’s where they got the name for those cigarettes. We walked through St. James Park, by Buckingham palace, and through Green Park; all in all it was a good long walk.
We came back by the Officers Red Cross Club and had a coke and a piece of cake. Then we came here to Tom’s apartment and have been writing our letters and listening to the radio. Tom’s roommate has dropped in and left a couple of times; he made the tactical error of leaving a box of chocolates on the table, and Tom & I have been eating them. . .
. . . . .
Later. I’m home and in bed now. It sure was nice out today and this evening, just the right kind of weather to go for a walk with you; any kind of weather is right for that tho! Even those nights in Berkeley when we walked to a show and sometimes got caught out in the rain, or that night in Havre de Grace when we were out in the first snow of the winter. I have so many pleasant memories to think and dream about and they help a lot, but they aren’t enough to keep me from longing for you and missing you and wanting you now! Goodnight my darling wife, I love you with all of me. All my love and kisses, Glenn
30 April ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I saw Jean and Tom at the office; they were going to play golf today. I got caught in a conference with the Colonel, so it was 12:30 before I got up to the mess for brunch. I ran into Mitch there; he had just gotten back into town for the first time in a couple of weeks. He had eaten, so I went on and ate alone. I went back to the office and met Mitch and we started out on a big sightseeing trip. I had seen most of the places we went to before, but Mitch hadn’t, and I got a better look and it was a nice day to take pictures, so I enjoyed myself a lot
First place of interest we saw was Buckingham Palace, from the outside. I think I sent you a picture I took of It. It isn’t a very impressive looking place, just big and somewhat like a barn. We walked through St. James park and it was very pretty; everything was green, the trees had new leaves of light green, and the grass was a much deeper green. There were several beds of tulips in full bloom, all kinds of colors. I would have liked to have the color film in my camera there! We went by Westminster Abbey and Cathedral next; it seemed to be all closed up at the time, so we didn’t get to go inside. Right across the street from it are the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben and Westminster bridge.
We walked up Whitehall street where most of the govt. buildings are, Scotland Yard, and just off Whitehall is 10 Downing Street, where the prime minister hangs out. That street was blocked off about half way up and you needed a pass to get by, so we just got a poor look at No. 10. We went down to the Victoria Embankment along the Thames (pronounced “Tems”) and walked east along that. Next we came to St. Paul’s Cathedral; we were able to go in that and look around; It is an enormous place! I can’t really describe it, but I’ve never seen anything quite like it. We went on east from there, by “Bank” which is a crossroad of about six streets and where all the big banks have their headquarters - the center of the financial world, I think it is supposed to be. Then we went by the fish market, a very pungent area, and saw the tower commemorating the great fire of 1666; it is an ugly tower, just a column and that’s all. Next, and the end of the line, was the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. It was too late to go through the Tower of London, 2:30 is the only time you can do that, so we just got a look at the outside. It is really what you expect from a medieval castle, complete with moat.
We had worn our legs down to stumps by that time, and were hot and thirsty, so we caught a subway back. We went back to the office and washed up a little and then spent an hour or so talking with the Colonel; he was in a good mood today and was telling us some tales of his experiences in the last war.
About five thirty Mitch and I went up to the mess; we had a couple of gin and limes, which with soda makes a fairly passable tom collins, they were quite thirst quenching, anyway. We saw Goss there and talked with him a few minutes before eating. After supper Mitch was as tired as I was, so we headed for our respective homes.
I was walking along the street and a G.I. highballed me. I returned the salute and went on a couple more steps then spun around ‘cause it just dawned on me that the face was familiar! He must have done the same thing, since he turned around as I did. He was a kid I played football with in high school! I didn’t know him very well then, but I remembered his last name, which is Roberts. We talked for a couple of minutes and then I came on home.
Sunday just isn’t right without you, darling, and neither is any other day of the week!! I miss you every minute, and my only desire is to be with you all the time! We had a wonderful year together, darling, and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything, only it makes me realize how much I am missing now. I love you so much and only hope that soon we can take up where we left off and start living again. Goodnight my darling wife, I love you with all my heart and soul. All my love and kisses, Glenn
1 May ‘44 Monday My darling;
Happy May Day to you. honey! I suppose you are out in the park about now, enjoying the sun while you eat your lunch. . . .
I forgot to remark yesterday that all the buildings here look like they have an inch thick layer of soot on them. I don’t know if that is because they are so old, or if they never thought of cleaning them. It is a shame ‘cause many of the famous buildings are white, or rather would be if cleaned, and they look so dull and drab with all that soot on them. . .
. . . . . I got back from that second trip just too late to eat at the mess, knowing how promptly they stop serving, I didn’t even try to get in there. I went down to the club before it was too late to eat there and had a pretty fair meal of ham. It is nicer, with table service instead of cafeteria style, but I don’t think it is worth double what we pay at our mess. Boy, what a few cigarettes strategically placed won’t do! Back when that club was our regular mess, we used to give the waitresses a pack of cigs occasionally, and even now they remember me and I get the best of service, and seconds of whatever I want! . . .
(Some time near the end of April the Enemy Ordnance Intelligence Group moved their headquarters from London to a base near Bath, preparing to follow close behind the D-Day invasion troops. Included in this group were “Saint” St. Lawrence, George Drury, Steve Rousch, and Major Keck.
Their job was to examine and report on captured German ordnance, some of which could be used against the enemy. They were also great at supplying headquarters personnel with souvenirs; I still have a German pistol {firing pin removed} they gave me.
Being up with the combat troops, they earned lots of battle stars, which allowed them to get home early when the war was over.)
posted by Betty & Glenn Burke | 10:37 AM
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