CHAPTER 7. 5/7/44 to 8/5/44 BATH, D DAY, & BUZZ BOMBS
7 May ‘44 Sunday London, England My darling;
. . . . . After supper we headed out in the (Hyde) park again. There is one corner of the park that is soap box lane; maybe I have mentioned it before, but anybody can talk on anything there, and they do, you hear speeches on everything from religion to communism. There is one fellow who usually has the biggest crowd, and he really puts on a show. He is a Negro, or an Indian, I don’t know which, and he is all rigged up in a very flashy and colorful costume, complete with about five large flags that he waves in the breeze. I don’t know what his subject is supposed to be, but he surely is an actor, and keeps the crowd in a good mood while practically cussing them up one side and down the other. We stayed and listened to him for quite a while.
After that we went to the free movie. It was Fred McMurry and Claudet Colbert in “No Time for Love” and was really funny, have you seen it? After the show we dropped by my place for a little while and I picked up my shaving stuff, etc. and we finished up the bottle of sherry that has been sitting on my dresser since Christmas. There was just a small glass each left in it. Then I came down to the office and Tom went home. He is going on a short trip tomorrow so I may have to pull his ARP duty tomorrow unless I can find someone to trade with him. . .
Now for the comments, answers, and questions department. I’m sure that the rumor that you heard about the mail was false, and silly besides. There are bound to be a lot of rumors going around now, and the best thing to do is ignore them all. That’s swell about the “Admiral”, did you choose the right color to knit for him, or did you have time for much knitting since you’ve been working? We are sure getting behind our friends, aren’t we, at this rate they will all have families before we get a chance to start. I thought you would like the “Mairzee Doats” cartoon, most of Wingart’s cartoons are very good. I think the prize cartoon tho, is the one I sent you showing the US airmen climbing out of their crashed plane in Berlin and shouting “taxi”. I love you too, darling!
I haven’t gotten very far toward getting (my sister) Alice a (high school) graduation present here. I may get her one of those scarfs like I sent you for your birthday, what do you think of that idea? Outside of that I don’t know what I could get her. Have you gotten a wedding present for (my brother) Dick and Arlena yet? Better do that before you have to get a present for their offspring. They didn’t waste any time, did they. . .
11 May ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . My driver and I climbed into the jeep, and we were off; we picked up Jean, and then headed out of town. The jeep didn’t have a top, so that made it a little windier than usual. The air was chilly this morning, so a top coat felt comfortable. We had to ride a couple of hours, and it was swell to get out into the country again. We stopped for a few minutes on the way and had a cup of coffee to warm us up.
After we finished our business we had lunch at a pub; it was a darn good meal, as English cooking goes, roast beef that was almost rare, with well seasoned gravy and two kinds of potatoes, and lots of them, peas, and then rhubarb and custard for dessert. I’ve eaten at that inn several times and have always had good meals. After dinner we headed back to London; it had warmed up a lot and was quite comfortable riding. With a combination of windburn and sunburn I picked up today my face feels slightly hamburgerish. I think my driver thought he was in the Air Force from the way he was piloting that jeep; we were flying dangerously low at times! . . .
At four Jean and I went to the station to catch a train. We got there a little early, so we decided to have tea to tide us over til supper. We went into the lounge of the station hotel and had tea, cake, and sandwiches; we also got a couple of sandwiches to take with us. When we got back to the train it was almost full and there weren’t any first class seats left, so we had to take what we could. During the train ride I spent half the time looking out the window and the other half dozing. I can’t seem to get over how green this country is; very seldom do you see any other color, the yellowish green of the fields and then the darker green of the hedges and trees; only occasionally is a red roof or a white barn in sight.
We got here (Malvern, a favorite town of mine to visit) about eight thirty, and after checking into our hostel we cleaned up some and had a cold supper of sliced spam and a salad. Afterwards we wandered out for a walk. This is a beautiful place, a resort town of the quiet type, the kind you retire to, and not one you go to to spend a weekend. It is on the lower slope of a fairly high hill and there is a wonderful view of the (Severn River) valley. . .
12 May ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
(Still in Malvern). . . . . Last night as we were walking we saw a nice subject for a color picture, a house covered with ivy that had a blue flower, wisteria Jean called it. It was very pretty, so after breakfast we went there and took a picture. . . . . . . . . The hill behind here looks a lot like the hills behind Berkeley in that it goes almost straight up. We are about 1/3 the way up it, so we have a good view of the valley, and it is very beautiful, with small splotches of red marking the little villages, and the rest various shades of green. . .
(Our business here was at the British research facility that was working on the British version of the proximity fuse, among other things. They had not solved the design and manufacturing problems of the fuse, so all the ones used in the defense of London against the buzz bombs came from the USA)
. . . . . This evening, on the way back to the hostel (and it is hostel, not hotel) I stopped off at some gardens I had seen last night and took a walk through them; very nice, with well kept lawns and flower beds, and a small pool. I think they were originally part of the church grounds and were taken over by the town. . .
13 May ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . . .(Starts in Malvern) After Jean and I had breakfast, we carried on with the business of the day. That was over by noon, so we went back to the hostel for lunch, and then decided to climb the hill in back of the town. It goes up practically straight for about 800 feet, the climb is a lot like that going up to the big “C”. We puffed and wheezed our way up to the top. There was a wonderful view from up there, only it wasn’t clear enough so we could see very far. It was a lot easier coming down than going up!
A car picked us up at three and we were off to our next destination, a pretty ride of about fifty miles. As soon as we were set with billets for the night, I gave Saint a call; he and George were at their new office, so I went over to see them. We went to supper together (had steak) and then went out to their billet. Meanwhile Jean had wandered off to meet a British friend of his. George and Saint have a very nice place, a room with an English family. I took a bath there and put on clean clothes.
(The Enemy Ordnance Intelligence Group which had been with us in London moved to this base, near Bath, in anticipation of following the First Army in their invasion of the continent)
There was a dance at their mess that night and we were going to go to it. On the way back there we ran into Steve, and he came along. I couldn’t get into the dance ‘cause only members (without guests) were allowed. Saint had a date, so he went on to the dance, but George, Steve, and I went to a nearby pub and had a couple pints of beer. After that we went to Steve’s place and sat and bulled for a while. That was quite a ways from my billet and it was dark and I didn’t know the way, and Steve had a nice soft double bed, so I stayed with him. . .
14 May ‘44 Sunday My darling;
. . . . . Jean was still asleep when we got to his place, so we woke him up and then went to breakfast. After breakfast we found a ping pong table and Steve and I played a few games. I played one game with Jean, too, and then it was time for us to leave. We met a British friend of Jean’s and talked for a while, and later had dinner at a hotel. We were near Bath, and Jean’s friend had to go there on business, so he drove us there.
We wanted to see the ruins of the old Roman baths, but they were closed when we arrived. We had a couple of hours to kill before catching a train, so we found a grassy spot and relaxed. About an hour before train time we went back to the baths, and they were open, so we got to see them after all. The main point of interest to me was the very good heating and water systems the Romans had. It was a sort of central heating system, and that is more than is in present English houses. We had to leave to catch our train, so we didn’t spend as much time there as I would have liked. Maybe I’ll get a chance later on to visit it again. . .
. . . . . We got to London at 9:30 and we hadn’t eaten since noon, so we took a subway to the Nurses Club for some food. We had some good “pigs-in-blanket” and baked potato, and a real coke, the fountain kind that is made in those coke machines. It sure tasted good. I noticed also that they have a “waffle bar” now where you can get waffles almost any time of the day or night; I’ll have to go down there sometime soon and have one. I hadn’t been there for quite a while and didn’t know of the changes that have been made.
We dropped by the office, and I was sure there would be some letters from you, but I was disappointed. There was a package from Mom tho, full of candy and gum. I came on home, took a bath, and climbed into bed to start this letter. It was an interesting day, but you know the way I want to spend my Sundays. I miss you so darn much all the time darling, and only want to be with you Sunday, and all the rest of the days of the week too. ‘Bye for now my darling wife, I love you!!! All my love and kisses, Glenn
19 May 44 Friday My darling wife;
I was sure glad to get your May 9 & 11 letters this afternoon. It always makes my days so much more complete when I get letters from you. Now all I need is to be back with you to make my days (and nights) really complete! I’m at the office tonight and it is almost eleven. I haven’t been working much of the evening, so I’m not as industrious as that may sound. I’ll get around to that later tho. Now I might as well go back and start at the beginning of the day.
I went right to sleep after I added the last note to your letter, if I wasn’t asleep already. I got up when the alarm went off; I didn’t have a bit of a “head”, so it must have been good liquor! It tasted good anyway; it was Seagrams VO Canadian rye, some that I had gotten from the Col. back before Easter, and was just waiting for an excuse to drink it. Well we did, and now my liquor supply is nil. . .
After supper the three of us went down to the hospital to see Goss. He really is having a good rest; he gets ice cream twice a day and has good food and a soft bed and nothing to do but take it easy. That sure sounds good to me about now, guess I’ll have to develop a little temperature so they’ll intern me! He isn’t feeling bad at all, and his throat is almost well, so he’ll probably be back at work soon, if they don’t decide to take his tonsils out. . .
I’ve been listening to Jean’s radio some while I’ve been writing; there aren’t many good programs on tho. Out of about four stations that I can get 3 are in German or French, and only one in English. It is a kick listening, the three foreign stations are being jammed, so most all you get is a lot of squealing. The American broadcasting station seems to be getting special attention in that matter. I don’t know whether the others are the Germans jamming the English broadcasts, or vice versa. I’m glad Jean left the radio with me; I suppose he is in the States by now, lucky fellow. Sure wish I could fly home for a visit with you, even if it were for a short while!
I’d better make up my cot now and get some sleep. I’ll see if there is anything in your letters to answer or comment on first tho. It is nice that you are getting along better with Nancy now; I don’t think that I ever met her - I probably did, but I don’t remember her at all. Have you gotten anything for Alice for her graduation? I don’t think I’ll send anything from here ‘cause it is so hard to find anything appropriate; be sure and get her something pretty nice. It is too bad that Hank had to leave just before the baby came; how does Meg feel about motherhood now, I’ll bet she has changed her recommendation by this time. It’s too bad about (my sister) Dorothy getting the measles; when she wrote to me her kids were having them, guess I’ll have to try and answer her letter this weekend.
I can’t think of anything I need or want for my birthday, unless you could manage to send me you! You are all I need, and I need you so very much darling, I miss you every minute. I often wish I had encouraged you to take that job over here, but it means more to me to know that you are well taken care of at home. So I guess things are best the way they are now, but I still miss you and hate every day that we have to be apart. Now it is almost midnight and I have to get some sleep. Goodnight my darling wife, please come to me in my dreams tonight, I love you with all my heart and soul. All my love and kisses, Glenn
(Dorothy and Alice were my sisters. Nancy and Meg were friends of Betty , and Hank was Meg’s husband.
The Army, in that time and place was a fairly hard drinking crowd, as was the British Army. Colonel Reed had a liquor ration through the Embassy, where tax free Seagrams rye and bourbon, gin, and some very good Portuguese wine was available inexpensively. He shared the ration with his men.
Jean had just gone back to the States, but he returned soon after the buzz bomb attack began. I spent some nights with him down on the Dover coast observing antiaircraft artillery shooting at them, using shells with proximity fuses.)
23 May ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
I’m getting an early start on your letter tonight, honey, here it is only seven, and I’m already home and in my bathrobe in front of my fire. So we ought to be able to have a long visit tonight, for a change. I got three swell letters from you today, so you can hold up your end of the conversation !!! .
. . . . . After lunch I worked for an hour or so and then went to the barber shop for a haircut and shampoo. When the barber gave me my change it was short 6d, so I asked him what went on. He muttered something about special shampoo, but it wasn’t on his price list, so I made him give me the 6d back, and then didn’t give him a tip. It made me sore ‘cause several times I’ve caught taxi drivers, theater cashiers, etc, trying to short change me, and I don’t like that practice at all. . .
I wish I could be with you for our anniversary, but that would be asking for too much. I want you to do a little more shopping for me, besides your present, buy me an orchid corsage like the one you wore the day we were married, and wear it that day. Maybe you could take the folks or some of the gals to El Rancho for dinner, too. And have a few drinks with me ‘cause I’ll be toasting you here! It’s not pleasant, planning what we’ll do on our anniversary, with 6,000 miles between us, is it? At least we did get to spend our first one together, and that is more than a lot of the fellows had. Darling, it means so much to me that you are my wife, and to know that someday in the not too far future we’ll be able to take up where we left off living, a little over ten months ago. It’ll be even better then ‘cause it will be harder to take for granted all those little things that we miss so much now. . .
It has been nice spending my evening writing to you; it is next best to spending it with you, but second place isn’t so good in that league! Goodnight my darling wife. I love you with all my heart and soul, with all of me. I love you!! All my love and kisses, Glenn
2 June ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . Lucile’s wedding was at noon; we got to the church just in time to go in the door before the bride. It was a good sized church, and the place was packed. It was a very beautiful ceremony, but long; it took nearly an hour. I liked our ceremony much better. After the wedding there was a reception in the ballroom at one of the larger hotels; lots of good liquor and food. I hate to think what that wedding cost her folks, it must have been plenty!. . . . . . The gang at the office all went together to buy Lucile a present, a hand crocheted table cloth. . .
3 June ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . About 4:30 a Lt. Col. I know called me up and invited me to a garden party he was giving. I hadn’t been able to go the last time he invited me, so I thought I’d better go this time. It started at 5:30, so I went right there after work. It was a nice party, and he served some Seagrams bourbon. It was a small party, some officers, some American girls who work here, and some British. . .
5 June ‘44 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . After supper I went home and gathered my tennis shoes, some O.D. pants, a T shirt, and my field jacket and put them in my musette bag and took them to the office. I worked for an hour and then changed into my “baseball” clothes and went over to the park with Tom. A bunch of us from the office got together enough for a team. We played the Ordnance team; most of us on my side were officers, and most on the other side were enlisted men, so needless to say we took a shellacking! About 20 - 1, I think. I was pretty bad, missed flies and anything else that came my way, and made three outs in as many times at bat. We had a good time, tho, but my arm is sore from throwing the ball and I can see I’m going to have a fine time saluting tomorrow! . . .
6 June ‘44 Tuesday, D Day My darling wife;
. . . . . Today was exciting, with the news of the invasion breaking and all. . . . . . After lunch we went back to the office and listened to the news broadcast. I’ll bet that today you couldn’t get anything else on the radio but news and commentators, but here it was the regular news broadcast, only a little longer and with sidelights thrown in by various correspondents’ views from airdromes, ships, and even a talk recorded from a plane flying over the invasion area. . .
13 June ‘44 Tuesday My darling;
This is one letter that I am really getting an early start on; it is only eight A.M. and since I have to hang around here in the office (as night ARP duty officer) til 8:30 I thought I’d make use of the time to start a letter to you. I was rudely interrupted early this morning by the sirens and had hardly gotten dressed before the “all clear” was given. So I undressed and went back to bed and was about ready to doze off again when the sirens went again. This time it was a little longer before the all clear was given, but I didn’t hear any noise at all. I went back to sleep after the second “all clear” and that was the last of my disturbances for the night. . .
. . . . . At 5:45 I slipped away to the theater with Tom; we saw the operetta “The Lilac Domino”. It was pretty good, except I didn’t like their choice for the leading man; he looked sort of fat and fifty-ish, and couldn’t sing worth a damn. The leading lady was very good tho, in fact she held the show together. . .
(This was about the time that the first buzz bombs were launched toward London. The letters and my memory don’t give me the exact date that I first heard and saw one streaking across the London sky. The buzz bombs were misnamed, there was no buzz, they roared . We used to joke that we should open the windows so they could fly through, the sound was so intense it seemed to be in the room with us.)
16 June ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I walked down to the mess, ate breakfast, and got to the office about 8:15; that is the earliest I’ve gotten there in a long time. I had plenty of work to do today, but was so busy running around most of the time that I didn’t get much of it done. I did reduce the height of the stack of papers in my basket quite a bit before the day was over. I’ve taken on a lot of extra work lately in addition to my other duties, and haven’t been able to catch up with all of it yet. (Time out while I search for a cigarette - found.) It is all interesting, and the best part is that I’m pretty much my own boss, which only means that I have to work all the harder to be sure everything I do is right, rather than depend on the Col. to make the decisions for me. End of trying to impress you with my importance, lets get back to the day’s activity.
I went out for a short ride with Marty and Prof. Woodruff in the middle of the morning. We didn’t get back til well after one, so Marty and I ate together at the mess, after a short beer. We had tomato and lettuce salad, which tasted pretty darn good. After lunch I spent most of the afternoon working at my desk. I got a letter from you this afternoon, too. It was your June 5 letter and I was very happy to get it. I’m sure sorry you weren’t getting my letters then; surely you must be getting them by now!
I also got the church bulletin your mother sent; I looked through it, but I don’t know anyone mentioned, except the Rev. of course. She wanted to know if I didn’t want her to get you an orchid or something for July 4th, and I do, as I said in one of my earlier letters. Guess it would have been nicer to have her get it for you as a surprise, but it doesn’t make any difference, does it? What I wouldn’t give to be there with you on that day!! We’ll make a date for next year, shall we? . . .
23 June ‘44 Friday My darling;
I’m getting an early start on my letter this evening, but I’m on a train, so you may have a little trouble reading my writing - not that it could be much worse than normal. This must be an old car we are in, we have a sort of parlor compartment, with seats at either end and a couple of chairs on each side. The chairs are loose and I’ve got mine turned around so I’m facing toward the window. Guess who is with me - Jean! He just blew in this afternoon looking fat and happy after a month visit at home, and who wouldn’t!! That is the reason I’m on a trip now. I’ve been sitting in that damn office too long and have been looking for a good excuse to get out, so when Jean wanted to go on this trip I arranged to go along. . .
. . . . . We caught the train OK, and had good first class seats. It was a nice ride; we spent our time talking over what had happened while he was gone, and just watching the sights that passed by our window (or vice versa). We had to make a couple of changes, and at one there was a 20 minute wait, so we went into the room marked “refreshments” at the station and had a beer. We arrived Ok and at the station had a jeep waiting for us that took us to the camp we were visiting. There we found a good poker game underway, but were wise enough to stay out of it. We talked with some of the fellows and drank light ale and then finally went up to bed. . .
24 June ‘44 Saturday Night My dearest Betty;
. . . . . It is now Saturday and I am in the office as duty officer. It wasn’t my night normally, but I traded with one of the fellows in the office who wanted to go out tonight. It was really quite a mix up ‘cause during the week I told one of the fellows I’d take his duty Friday night, and then when I wanted to go on my trip last night I had to get another fellow to take the Friday night duty and I took his Saturday night duty and then the first fellow is taking my Monday night duty. Complicated, isn’t it; it’s not so complicated, but it is hard to explain. In the bargain the fellow who had Sunday duty tomorrow wanted to go off somewhere, so I’m taking that duty also. I had planned to work tomorrow anyway, and maybe by time my regular Sunday comes around I’ll be able to take the day off.
. . . . . I awoke at 7:20 and had to dress in a hurry to get down to breakfast at 7:30. The mess there only had a dozen or so officers, so we had to eat all at one time or not eat at all. . .
During the morning we had some more talks with the fellows there, and then went for a short walk through the town. It was a nice day and it felt good to be out of London for a while. We got back just in time for dinner and had steak; it was good in spite of being well done as it is in all Army messes; they had some especially good cold chocolate. After dinner we sat around and read magazines until it was time to go catch our train. . .
. . . . . I’ll have to look for another place to live soon ‘cause the people we are renting our flat (at 65 George Street) from have their lease expiring, and aren’t going to renew it. . .
AMERICAN EMBASSY
OFFICE OF THE MILITARY ATTACHE
1. GROSVENOR SQUARE
LONDON ENGLAND
1 July ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
How do you like the fancy stationery? I stole some of it today, it is good stuff, don’t you think?
I’m pretty well tired out tonight; after I finished your letter last night I walked on home. It was then twelve, and I was busy packing up my stuff until about two. I went to sleep, and the next thing I knew it was eight thirty and Bill (Lake) was awakening me. I got up and shaved and dressed, and then finished my packing. I got to the office about ten and worked until 11:30, when I went out to look at more apartments. I didn’t see a darn thing that looked half decent, so it was just time wasted. The prices they ask for some holes-in-the-wall is outrageous, one I saw was five and a half guineas ($23.20) a week for a one room apartment, and it didn’t look at all nice. So I’m still looking for a place to live!
My apartment hunting took me until 12:30 or so, and then I caught a bus back to the mess. Since I had missed breakfast I was getting pretty hungry by that time. I had a coke and then ate with some fellows I met there that I know. I went back to the office and made one more call about an apartment; they wanted eight pounds a week, which is more than I can get reimbursed for, so that was no deal.
I gave up for the time being and went upstairs and got Tom’s keys, and then moved my stuff down to his place (at 15 Clifford Street). I had a couple of EMs with a truck to help me move. I think I can move in with a fellow upstairs there in a few days. After I moved I took my overcoat to the cleaners (in the Reindeer Red Cross Officers Club across the street) and left it to be cleaned; it isn’t cold enough now to need it. . .
. . . . . I went for a short walk and then came to Tom’s place, “home”, at least for a while. Tom had gotten here before me and we talked for a while, and then I started this letter and have been listening to Tom’s radio as I write. The news is about over now, and I think we’ll go across the street for a short beer pretty soon before going to bed. ‘Bye for now darling, I’ll finish this later, I miss you every minute, I love you!!
Later. We went out and had our beer, ran into Durrenberger at the “club” and played a game of darts. Now I am in bed, and have just had a hot bath, I feel a lot better after the bath too. I miss you so darn much darling and only hope I’ll be back with you where I belong before too long. I want to kiss you and hold you close to me and feel your warmth beside me in bed, I want you!! Goodnight my darling wife, I love you!!
All my love and kisses, Glenn
2 July ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I slept til 11; Henry, Tom’s roommate, woke me up then and told me there was a cup of coffee ready for me if I wanted it. I got up and drank it and also ate a couple of toll house cookies that had been set out for me. Both Henry and Tom were gone when I got up, they are good boys and go to church, like I should, but don’t. Tom is a staunch catholic and gets up early in the mornings so he can stop by the church for a few minutes on his way to the mess. . .
We worked til about five, then a whole bunch of us went to the mess and stopped by the bar. That was my mistake of the day, and the reason this letter is a day late. I was having a pre-anniversary celebration, and after mixing a little scotch, gin, and wine before supper, my stomach began to feel a little funny. I ate supper, then left the others, came home and went to bed. After I got the bed under control so it wasn‘t spinning, I went to sleep. . .
3 July ‘44 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . I’m writing at a little table in the “living” room and not in bed as I usually do, ‘cause Henry is asleep in the bedroom I sleep in, and he might not like it if I’d go in and turn on the light to write in bed. As it is, there is only a curtain between this room and the one he is in, so I’m probably keeping him awake anyway. He is in a room on my left and it is one of the two bedrooms in the flat, and has two twin beds in it. I sleep in the one he isn’t in. There is an archway between that room and this one that has the aforementioned curtain drawn across it. In this little room there is a table and 3 chairs and a divan, if you can call it that. On my right is a hallway leading to Tom’s room, with the door to the bathroom in-between. . .
. . . . . A British navy commander came in about 11:30 to see Jean, and at noon I had lunch with the two of them and Miss Devine at the Junior Officers’ Club. It was a pretty good meal and it felt good to have table service again instead of eating cafeteria style. The big drawback about it is that it costs twice as much, but then it is the only place we can take guests. . .
. . . . . I went up to the mess and found the fellows at the bar. I waited while they had their drinks, I wasn’t having any tonight, thank you, and then ate supper with them. . .
4 July ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
Happy anniversary darling! As happy as it can be with us apart, anyway. You made me a mighty happy man on that other July 4th two years ago. I loved you then, and still do, only more so. I’m afraid, tho, that I toasted you a few too many times on the occasion last night, and when I got home I went right to sleep, and that is why I am writing this on a Wednesday night instead of Tuesday.
So now lets see what I did on one July 4, 1944. I got up at the usual time (no such thing as a holiday here), and after shaving and dressing I went to the mess for breakfast. I got to work on time, and the day was just a normal work day. You’d never think there was any paper shortage if you saw my desk! I am literally snowed under with it! I managed to get some of it transferred from the “in” to the “out” basket, but still didn’t seem to stem the rising pile that is left over when the day is done.
. . . . . At 5:30 Bill, Goss, Jean, and I went to the Junior Officers Club to celebrate our anniversary. I think they were celebrating the 4th, but they were kind enough to drink a toast to you. We ran into another major and a Lt. from the office there, and they joined up with us for a while. After a couple of drinks at the bar we went on to a club Stringer (the Lt.) belongs to. It was a nice place and had American flags all over in honor of the day; guess they know who buys their liquor! After a drink there we went to the Nurses Club and had a waffle and a cup of coffee. From there we went up to Jean’s room and had a shot from a bottle of scotch he had brought with him from the States. Taking the bottle with us, we went to a bar and had another drink. By that time we had lost the major and the Lt., they wandered off with a couple of Red Cross gals. From the bar we went to Tom’s place; he wasn’t there, his brother was in town for the day, and Tom was out with him. We left the bottle there and went on to Bill’s club. There we drank beer and played darts til it closed at eleven, and then went back to the Nurses Club for another bite to eat. Jean and I went on to Tom’s from there and found him and his brother in. I was still feeling good at that point but was so darn sleepy I couldn’t keep my eyes open, so I went to bed while Henry, Jean, Tom, and Tom’s brother finished off Jean’s bottle.
What a night, I know now that I would rather have just stayed home and written to you, but at the time it seemed like a good idea to go on a binge. At least for a while I was happy, but I missed you so darn much, and no matter how much I had to drink it didn’t help that any! What were we doing last year at this time darling, we were in Chicago, or did we go see Don and Sharky on the fourth? Whatever we did, we were together, and that is the important point. So I hope and pray we will be together for our next anniversary, and long before that, too! I love you darling, and all I want is to be with you once again. So long for now, I love you, goodnight.
All my love and kisses, Glenn
5 July ‘44 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I moved again tonight, from Tom’s to just upstairs over him, and it looks like a nice place. It is just like the description I gave of Tom’s place the other night, except the furniture is nicer. I have a room to myself, it is even larger than the last place I had. It has a soft easy chair, two tables, a chest of drawers, a fireplace, and a small closet, and a bed of course. The bed is twin-bed size, but seems to be comfortable, and even tho it is smaller, there is plenty of room for you darling. . .
7 July ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I walked through Picadilly Circus on the way tonight, and managed to avoid the “commandos”, and there are plenty of them there. Every once in a while some gal will greet you with “hello, darling” as you are walking along, nice place! Picadilly is the entertainment center of London, aside from the commandos, all the first run theaters are around there and Leicester Square which is just a block away, and the plays are around that district too. Lots of restaurants, etc., and the place is always crowded. . .
8 July ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . I worked til ten, got quite a lot done, too. I was feeling restless then, so I went for a long walk, and I mean a long one. I was walking steadily (or do I mean steady) from ten til I got home just a few minutes before twelve. It was beautiful out tonight, and about ten the sun was just setting and the whole sky seemed afire with the sunset. I went down by Buckingham
Palace and Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, and then south along the bank of the Thames to Vauxhall bridge, across the bridge and then further south along the river. It was getting dark, and I wasn’t too sure of my way down there, so I finally turned around and retraced my steps. It did me good to get out and walk and see some of the sights. It is so easy to just slip into the routine of sleep, eat, and work and not get out and see any of the famous places. That walk down by the Abbey is one of my favorites, as maybe you have guessed by the number of times I go that way. . .
16 July ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
I’m finally in bed and ready to start my visit with you. It is just midnight now and it has been a long hard day for me. Didn’t seem much like Sunday, tho, but then no Sunday has been like Sunday since I’ve been spending them away from you! I got up at eight this morning, on Sunday morning, can you imagine! I got to bed fairly early last night, and since I was going away this afternoon I wanted to get some work done. I threw a toothbrush and towel and a few other odds and ends into my musette bag and then took off for the office. The streets were really deserted at that time on Sunday morning, hardly a soul up and about.
I stopped by the office to drop off my bag and mail your letter, and then went on to the mess for breakfast. First time I’ve had breakfast on Sunday for a long time; I had mush, hot cakes, toast, bacon, and coffee. I got back to the office about 9:30, and after making sure that no mail had come in, I got to work. I checked the mail an hour later, and this time was rewarded with your July 2 letter; after reading that I went back to work. The Col. came in a little later and distracted me somewhat, but I still managed to get quite a lot done. At noon I went up to the mess with Bill and Tom; we met Russ (Goss) there. We had a pretty good chicken dinner.
After lunch I went back to the office, and soon afterwards the car came to take me on my trip. Originally my Col. and another Col. were going, and I persuaded them to take me with them, and then this morning both of them decided they couldn’t go, and another Col. and I went. Anyway we went off together, me and a Col., and had a very pleasant ride through the English countryside. It was a section of the country I hadn’t seen before, so I enjoyed it thoroughly. We got down here around 4:30 and went right out to the British place we were visiting, and stayed there til eight. We were getting pretty hungry by then so we came to the hotel, and after dropping our musette bags in our rooms, went to the dining room for supper.
After supper the Col., our driver (some kind of a British women’s auxiliary), and I went for a long walk along the esplanade. This town (Eastbourne, on the south east coast) must have been another beach resort during peace times, and is very nice. The water looked almost good enough to go swimming in, but I’ll bet it was cold! After we had walked for a while we came back to the hotel and met the officer we had come to visit, and went with him and his wife to a pub and had a few drinks.
We came back to the hotel and I undressed and climbed into bed. I tried to find something to back up my paper while I write, and the only thing I could find was a bible. So now, on a stack of bibles, I’ll say I love you; believe me? I miss you darling, every minute of the day, but especially miss not having you cuddled beside me when sleep time comes. Come to me in my dreams, won’t you darling. Goodnight my darling wife, I love you!!
All my love and kisses, Glenn
25 July ‘44 Tuesday Folkstone My darling wife;
. . . . . I’m enjoying my “vacation” a lot, running around in field clothes and roughing it a little. My field clothes are just a little dressy tho ‘cause my O.D.s were at the cleaners so I had to wear my green pants and shirt, but I have on my G.I. shoes and leggings and field jacket.
. . . . . I had powdered eggs and bacon and coffee; I must have been hungry ‘cause even the powdered eggs tasted good; more likely it was because a G.I. cook prepared them rather than a civilian as in my regular mess hall. . .
I made a couple of phone calls, and then went off in a jeep to visit another battalion. I talked with them for a while and ate lunch with them. After lunch I came back here, and am now in my so-called room. No word from Jean yet. . .
The boys here all trained out in California for a year or so, and most of them are enthusiastic about our state, for which you can’t blame them, can you? I am taking it easy today; I hate to think of the work that is piling up at the office; oh well, let it pile up, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, which won’t be for a couple more days as things look now. . .
Later - Wed. noon. I’ll see if I can’t finish this before lunch. Jean called from the station last night just before supper, so I hopped in a jeep and went to pick him up. We came back in time for a late supper, and he was telling me all about his experiences on the continent.
After supper we talked with the officers here at HQ for a while and then went out to a battery and stayed there until after midnight. About eleven we went to the kitchen and had a cup of coffee; the cook was baking a cake, and we got some of it right after it came out of the oven, it really hit the spot! I think I could go for a little more of this field life in this kind of mild weather. I suppose it would get boring after too long, but it is just like a camping trip or a vacation to get away from the office. . .
(This trip was to Folkstone, on the channel near Dover, to some US antiaircraft artillery which was defending London against the buzz bombs that were currently being launched from the French coast. The proximity fuse had been released for use here, and Jean was a specialist in these fuses. We were here to provide any knowledge we could to the users , and to learn what we could from their experiences shooting at the flying bombs. While I expressed enjoyment of the “camping” in the mild weather, I had no desire to leave my comfortable and interesting job in London for the hardships of the field. We stayed a couple more nights, sleeping in the open, or in a tent, with anti aircraft artillery batteries.)
26 July ‘44 Wednesday Folkstone My darling wife;
. . . . . Jean and I went for a long walk before breakfast. It was a beautiful morning and when we got back I had worked up a darn good appetite, and proceeded to stuff myself with hot cakes, bacon, prunes, and coffee. . . . . . We got a jeep and went out to a battery and spent the rest of the morning talking with them and looking around. . . . . . The afternoon we went out to more batteries and talked with the officers. . . . . . . . After supper we went up to the billet and took a nap. At nine we gathered our bedding rolls and went out to spend the night at one of the batteries; we just looked on there, and about two finally got to sleep. . .
27 July ‘44 Thursday Folkstone My darling wife;
. . . . . That ground must have been soft, or else I was sleepy, ‘cause I didn’t wake up til 10:15. It was much too late for breakfast, so we did without. We spent most of the day visiting around like we had been doing the last couple of days. It was nice out in the fresh air and sunshine (occasional), and I have somewhat lost my “office pallor”. . . . . . . We went back to the battery where we had stayed the night before. We slept in a tent so I didn’t have any place to write you, and besides I was busy looking around til I went to bed at two, and went right to sleep. I didn’t even bother to undress, my clothes were getting pretty wrinkled and dirty, so I climbed into my bed roll as I was. . .
28 July ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I woke up at 6:30, or to be more exact, I was awakened at 6:30. I got up out of the bed roll and put on my shoes and field jacket; I was already dressed. Jean and I went over to the cook tent and had what I think is the best breakfast I’ve had over here; we had hot cakes, nice and light and hot off the griddle, bacon, and two fresh eggs cooked just right. Along with coffee, and a pretty good appetite on my part, it really hit the spot.
After breakfast we gathered our stuff and went up to the headquarters. There I shaved and had a hot bath, the first in about four days, and got ready to come back to London. Joe Barkley’s car came for me and I left about 9:30. We picked up Barkley and the other captain and started back; it was a very nice day and I enjoyed the ride; they had a big seven passenger Chrysler and it had very comfortable seats. We went through Canterbury and stopped a while to look at the cathedral; it was a beautiful place, I got some pictures of it, inside and out. . .
We got here in time to have lunch at the mess. I had a funny experience at the mess today; I was at the bar with Joe Barkley, and an Ordnance captain he knew came up. Joe didn’t introduce me, but they were talking and he said he was on duty in London; I asked “where”, and he said the name of my building. I said I work there too, on the ground floor and he said “you aren’t Capt. Burke, are you”, and when I admitted it, he said “I’m your roommate”! Seems Tom knew of this fellow who was coming in, and since Bruder had left I would have had to give up my apartment unless I found someone to share it, I told Tom it would be OK if he moved in. He came and moved in while I was gone, but it was a funny way to meet him; his name is Lomax. . .
29 July ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . I’m on duty at the office tonight, so I’ve been catching up on my correspondence. I wrote a letter to my folks and since they are the only ones I seem to write to besides you I’m now pretty well caught up; except I owe letters to Merv, Freer & Norene, and Ray. . .
. . . . . It was sure swell that you were able to see (my brother) Ray before he left, did he have any idea where he was going next? Your description of the sleeping arrangements sure sounds like the folks’ place during summer, slightly crowded, wasn’t it! I still can’t picture (my brother) Dick as a family man, but I haven’t seen him in a couple of years, and a person can change a lot in that time, especially at his age. I thought the pictures of the family you sent were good; (my youngest sister) Alice gets better looking with every picture I see of her. It is hard for me to realize she is getting to be a grown woman now; how old is she, my guess is 17. .
. . . . . This job could be very nice if you were here to come home to at night and to share my free time. I may complain a lot about London, but there is something about the place that grows on you and I’m always wishing you could be here to see all the sights with me. I’d never want to live here, but it is an experience that I never would have had except for the war. Might as well try to see the bright side, but I miss you so much that it is a job to convince me there ever could be a bright side of being away from you. . .
30 July ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . After I finished your letter last night I got out the cot and unrolled my bedding roll. I was about to climb in when I noticed a bug; when I investigated a little farther I found the roll full of them, harmless looking little things, but not exactly what one would want for a bed mate. So I spent a half hour getting rid of them, and making a good inspection of the blankets to be sure no more remained. I must have picked them up when I was camping out last week; it’s a wonder I slept as well as I did down there. . .
1 August ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . Tom’s promotion to captain came through late in the afternoon. I was glad to see him get it, ‘cause he deserved it. His roommate, (Larry) Henry, got his captaincy on the same orders. So, as is customary under the circumstances, we all trooped to the bar at 5:30 to give Tom a chance to “wet ‘em down”. . .
5 August ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . After the show we caught a bus and went to a bar down near Picadilly Street. It was a pretty nice place and they seemed to have a good supply of good scotch, so we spent the rest of the evening there drinking scotch and soda. It was the last night that Tom was to be in town, so that was the reason, or excuse, for the celebration. . . . . . . . . . . . I hate to see Tom go (to France), we’ve been pretty darned good pals for the last year, and he really is a nice guy. I think that Lomax is moving soon too, so I’ll go in with Henry, or he’ll come upstairs into my apartment, one or the other. . .
. . . . . After supper we headed out in the (Hyde) park again. There is one corner of the park that is soap box lane; maybe I have mentioned it before, but anybody can talk on anything there, and they do, you hear speeches on everything from religion to communism. There is one fellow who usually has the biggest crowd, and he really puts on a show. He is a Negro, or an Indian, I don’t know which, and he is all rigged up in a very flashy and colorful costume, complete with about five large flags that he waves in the breeze. I don’t know what his subject is supposed to be, but he surely is an actor, and keeps the crowd in a good mood while practically cussing them up one side and down the other. We stayed and listened to him for quite a while.
After that we went to the free movie. It was Fred McMurry and Claudet Colbert in “No Time for Love” and was really funny, have you seen it? After the show we dropped by my place for a little while and I picked up my shaving stuff, etc. and we finished up the bottle of sherry that has been sitting on my dresser since Christmas. There was just a small glass each left in it. Then I came down to the office and Tom went home. He is going on a short trip tomorrow so I may have to pull his ARP duty tomorrow unless I can find someone to trade with him. . .
Now for the comments, answers, and questions department. I’m sure that the rumor that you heard about the mail was false, and silly besides. There are bound to be a lot of rumors going around now, and the best thing to do is ignore them all. That’s swell about the “Admiral”, did you choose the right color to knit for him, or did you have time for much knitting since you’ve been working? We are sure getting behind our friends, aren’t we, at this rate they will all have families before we get a chance to start. I thought you would like the “Mairzee Doats” cartoon, most of Wingart’s cartoons are very good. I think the prize cartoon tho, is the one I sent you showing the US airmen climbing out of their crashed plane in Berlin and shouting “taxi”. I love you too, darling!
I haven’t gotten very far toward getting (my sister) Alice a (high school) graduation present here. I may get her one of those scarfs like I sent you for your birthday, what do you think of that idea? Outside of that I don’t know what I could get her. Have you gotten a wedding present for (my brother) Dick and Arlena yet? Better do that before you have to get a present for their offspring. They didn’t waste any time, did they. . .
11 May ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . My driver and I climbed into the jeep, and we were off; we picked up Jean, and then headed out of town. The jeep didn’t have a top, so that made it a little windier than usual. The air was chilly this morning, so a top coat felt comfortable. We had to ride a couple of hours, and it was swell to get out into the country again. We stopped for a few minutes on the way and had a cup of coffee to warm us up.
After we finished our business we had lunch at a pub; it was a darn good meal, as English cooking goes, roast beef that was almost rare, with well seasoned gravy and two kinds of potatoes, and lots of them, peas, and then rhubarb and custard for dessert. I’ve eaten at that inn several times and have always had good meals. After dinner we headed back to London; it had warmed up a lot and was quite comfortable riding. With a combination of windburn and sunburn I picked up today my face feels slightly hamburgerish. I think my driver thought he was in the Air Force from the way he was piloting that jeep; we were flying dangerously low at times! . . .
At four Jean and I went to the station to catch a train. We got there a little early, so we decided to have tea to tide us over til supper. We went into the lounge of the station hotel and had tea, cake, and sandwiches; we also got a couple of sandwiches to take with us. When we got back to the train it was almost full and there weren’t any first class seats left, so we had to take what we could. During the train ride I spent half the time looking out the window and the other half dozing. I can’t seem to get over how green this country is; very seldom do you see any other color, the yellowish green of the fields and then the darker green of the hedges and trees; only occasionally is a red roof or a white barn in sight.
We got here (Malvern, a favorite town of mine to visit) about eight thirty, and after checking into our hostel we cleaned up some and had a cold supper of sliced spam and a salad. Afterwards we wandered out for a walk. This is a beautiful place, a resort town of the quiet type, the kind you retire to, and not one you go to to spend a weekend. It is on the lower slope of a fairly high hill and there is a wonderful view of the (Severn River) valley. . .
12 May ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
(Still in Malvern). . . . . Last night as we were walking we saw a nice subject for a color picture, a house covered with ivy that had a blue flower, wisteria Jean called it. It was very pretty, so after breakfast we went there and took a picture. . . . . . . . . The hill behind here looks a lot like the hills behind Berkeley in that it goes almost straight up. We are about 1/3 the way up it, so we have a good view of the valley, and it is very beautiful, with small splotches of red marking the little villages, and the rest various shades of green. . .
(Our business here was at the British research facility that was working on the British version of the proximity fuse, among other things. They had not solved the design and manufacturing problems of the fuse, so all the ones used in the defense of London against the buzz bombs came from the USA)
. . . . . This evening, on the way back to the hostel (and it is hostel, not hotel) I stopped off at some gardens I had seen last night and took a walk through them; very nice, with well kept lawns and flower beds, and a small pool. I think they were originally part of the church grounds and were taken over by the town. . .
13 May ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . . .(Starts in Malvern) After Jean and I had breakfast, we carried on with the business of the day. That was over by noon, so we went back to the hostel for lunch, and then decided to climb the hill in back of the town. It goes up practically straight for about 800 feet, the climb is a lot like that going up to the big “C”. We puffed and wheezed our way up to the top. There was a wonderful view from up there, only it wasn’t clear enough so we could see very far. It was a lot easier coming down than going up!
A car picked us up at three and we were off to our next destination, a pretty ride of about fifty miles. As soon as we were set with billets for the night, I gave Saint a call; he and George were at their new office, so I went over to see them. We went to supper together (had steak) and then went out to their billet. Meanwhile Jean had wandered off to meet a British friend of his. George and Saint have a very nice place, a room with an English family. I took a bath there and put on clean clothes.
(The Enemy Ordnance Intelligence Group which had been with us in London moved to this base, near Bath, in anticipation of following the First Army in their invasion of the continent)
There was a dance at their mess that night and we were going to go to it. On the way back there we ran into Steve, and he came along. I couldn’t get into the dance ‘cause only members (without guests) were allowed. Saint had a date, so he went on to the dance, but George, Steve, and I went to a nearby pub and had a couple pints of beer. After that we went to Steve’s place and sat and bulled for a while. That was quite a ways from my billet and it was dark and I didn’t know the way, and Steve had a nice soft double bed, so I stayed with him. . .
14 May ‘44 Sunday My darling;
. . . . . Jean was still asleep when we got to his place, so we woke him up and then went to breakfast. After breakfast we found a ping pong table and Steve and I played a few games. I played one game with Jean, too, and then it was time for us to leave. We met a British friend of Jean’s and talked for a while, and later had dinner at a hotel. We were near Bath, and Jean’s friend had to go there on business, so he drove us there.
We wanted to see the ruins of the old Roman baths, but they were closed when we arrived. We had a couple of hours to kill before catching a train, so we found a grassy spot and relaxed. About an hour before train time we went back to the baths, and they were open, so we got to see them after all. The main point of interest to me was the very good heating and water systems the Romans had. It was a sort of central heating system, and that is more than is in present English houses. We had to leave to catch our train, so we didn’t spend as much time there as I would have liked. Maybe I’ll get a chance later on to visit it again. . .
. . . . . We got to London at 9:30 and we hadn’t eaten since noon, so we took a subway to the Nurses Club for some food. We had some good “pigs-in-blanket” and baked potato, and a real coke, the fountain kind that is made in those coke machines. It sure tasted good. I noticed also that they have a “waffle bar” now where you can get waffles almost any time of the day or night; I’ll have to go down there sometime soon and have one. I hadn’t been there for quite a while and didn’t know of the changes that have been made.
We dropped by the office, and I was sure there would be some letters from you, but I was disappointed. There was a package from Mom tho, full of candy and gum. I came on home, took a bath, and climbed into bed to start this letter. It was an interesting day, but you know the way I want to spend my Sundays. I miss you so darn much all the time darling, and only want to be with you Sunday, and all the rest of the days of the week too. ‘Bye for now my darling wife, I love you!!! All my love and kisses, Glenn
19 May 44 Friday My darling wife;
I was sure glad to get your May 9 & 11 letters this afternoon. It always makes my days so much more complete when I get letters from you. Now all I need is to be back with you to make my days (and nights) really complete! I’m at the office tonight and it is almost eleven. I haven’t been working much of the evening, so I’m not as industrious as that may sound. I’ll get around to that later tho. Now I might as well go back and start at the beginning of the day.
I went right to sleep after I added the last note to your letter, if I wasn’t asleep already. I got up when the alarm went off; I didn’t have a bit of a “head”, so it must have been good liquor! It tasted good anyway; it was Seagrams VO Canadian rye, some that I had gotten from the Col. back before Easter, and was just waiting for an excuse to drink it. Well we did, and now my liquor supply is nil. . .
After supper the three of us went down to the hospital to see Goss. He really is having a good rest; he gets ice cream twice a day and has good food and a soft bed and nothing to do but take it easy. That sure sounds good to me about now, guess I’ll have to develop a little temperature so they’ll intern me! He isn’t feeling bad at all, and his throat is almost well, so he’ll probably be back at work soon, if they don’t decide to take his tonsils out. . .
I’ve been listening to Jean’s radio some while I’ve been writing; there aren’t many good programs on tho. Out of about four stations that I can get 3 are in German or French, and only one in English. It is a kick listening, the three foreign stations are being jammed, so most all you get is a lot of squealing. The American broadcasting station seems to be getting special attention in that matter. I don’t know whether the others are the Germans jamming the English broadcasts, or vice versa. I’m glad Jean left the radio with me; I suppose he is in the States by now, lucky fellow. Sure wish I could fly home for a visit with you, even if it were for a short while!
I’d better make up my cot now and get some sleep. I’ll see if there is anything in your letters to answer or comment on first tho. It is nice that you are getting along better with Nancy now; I don’t think that I ever met her - I probably did, but I don’t remember her at all. Have you gotten anything for Alice for her graduation? I don’t think I’ll send anything from here ‘cause it is so hard to find anything appropriate; be sure and get her something pretty nice. It is too bad that Hank had to leave just before the baby came; how does Meg feel about motherhood now, I’ll bet she has changed her recommendation by this time. It’s too bad about (my sister) Dorothy getting the measles; when she wrote to me her kids were having them, guess I’ll have to try and answer her letter this weekend.
I can’t think of anything I need or want for my birthday, unless you could manage to send me you! You are all I need, and I need you so very much darling, I miss you every minute. I often wish I had encouraged you to take that job over here, but it means more to me to know that you are well taken care of at home. So I guess things are best the way they are now, but I still miss you and hate every day that we have to be apart. Now it is almost midnight and I have to get some sleep. Goodnight my darling wife, please come to me in my dreams tonight, I love you with all my heart and soul. All my love and kisses, Glenn
(Dorothy and Alice were my sisters. Nancy and Meg were friends of Betty , and Hank was Meg’s husband.
The Army, in that time and place was a fairly hard drinking crowd, as was the British Army. Colonel Reed had a liquor ration through the Embassy, where tax free Seagrams rye and bourbon, gin, and some very good Portuguese wine was available inexpensively. He shared the ration with his men.
Jean had just gone back to the States, but he returned soon after the buzz bomb attack began. I spent some nights with him down on the Dover coast observing antiaircraft artillery shooting at them, using shells with proximity fuses.)
23 May ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
I’m getting an early start on your letter tonight, honey, here it is only seven, and I’m already home and in my bathrobe in front of my fire. So we ought to be able to have a long visit tonight, for a change. I got three swell letters from you today, so you can hold up your end of the conversation !!! .
. . . . . After lunch I worked for an hour or so and then went to the barber shop for a haircut and shampoo. When the barber gave me my change it was short 6d, so I asked him what went on. He muttered something about special shampoo, but it wasn’t on his price list, so I made him give me the 6d back, and then didn’t give him a tip. It made me sore ‘cause several times I’ve caught taxi drivers, theater cashiers, etc, trying to short change me, and I don’t like that practice at all. . .
I wish I could be with you for our anniversary, but that would be asking for too much. I want you to do a little more shopping for me, besides your present, buy me an orchid corsage like the one you wore the day we were married, and wear it that day. Maybe you could take the folks or some of the gals to El Rancho for dinner, too. And have a few drinks with me ‘cause I’ll be toasting you here! It’s not pleasant, planning what we’ll do on our anniversary, with 6,000 miles between us, is it? At least we did get to spend our first one together, and that is more than a lot of the fellows had. Darling, it means so much to me that you are my wife, and to know that someday in the not too far future we’ll be able to take up where we left off living, a little over ten months ago. It’ll be even better then ‘cause it will be harder to take for granted all those little things that we miss so much now. . .
It has been nice spending my evening writing to you; it is next best to spending it with you, but second place isn’t so good in that league! Goodnight my darling wife. I love you with all my heart and soul, with all of me. I love you!! All my love and kisses, Glenn
2 June ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . Lucile’s wedding was at noon; we got to the church just in time to go in the door before the bride. It was a good sized church, and the place was packed. It was a very beautiful ceremony, but long; it took nearly an hour. I liked our ceremony much better. After the wedding there was a reception in the ballroom at one of the larger hotels; lots of good liquor and food. I hate to think what that wedding cost her folks, it must have been plenty!. . . . . . The gang at the office all went together to buy Lucile a present, a hand crocheted table cloth. . .
3 June ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . About 4:30 a Lt. Col. I know called me up and invited me to a garden party he was giving. I hadn’t been able to go the last time he invited me, so I thought I’d better go this time. It started at 5:30, so I went right there after work. It was a nice party, and he served some Seagrams bourbon. It was a small party, some officers, some American girls who work here, and some British. . .
5 June ‘44 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . After supper I went home and gathered my tennis shoes, some O.D. pants, a T shirt, and my field jacket and put them in my musette bag and took them to the office. I worked for an hour and then changed into my “baseball” clothes and went over to the park with Tom. A bunch of us from the office got together enough for a team. We played the Ordnance team; most of us on my side were officers, and most on the other side were enlisted men, so needless to say we took a shellacking! About 20 - 1, I think. I was pretty bad, missed flies and anything else that came my way, and made three outs in as many times at bat. We had a good time, tho, but my arm is sore from throwing the ball and I can see I’m going to have a fine time saluting tomorrow! . . .
6 June ‘44 Tuesday, D Day My darling wife;
. . . . . Today was exciting, with the news of the invasion breaking and all. . . . . . After lunch we went back to the office and listened to the news broadcast. I’ll bet that today you couldn’t get anything else on the radio but news and commentators, but here it was the regular news broadcast, only a little longer and with sidelights thrown in by various correspondents’ views from airdromes, ships, and even a talk recorded from a plane flying over the invasion area. . .
13 June ‘44 Tuesday My darling;
This is one letter that I am really getting an early start on; it is only eight A.M. and since I have to hang around here in the office (as night ARP duty officer) til 8:30 I thought I’d make use of the time to start a letter to you. I was rudely interrupted early this morning by the sirens and had hardly gotten dressed before the “all clear” was given. So I undressed and went back to bed and was about ready to doze off again when the sirens went again. This time it was a little longer before the all clear was given, but I didn’t hear any noise at all. I went back to sleep after the second “all clear” and that was the last of my disturbances for the night. . .
. . . . . At 5:45 I slipped away to the theater with Tom; we saw the operetta “The Lilac Domino”. It was pretty good, except I didn’t like their choice for the leading man; he looked sort of fat and fifty-ish, and couldn’t sing worth a damn. The leading lady was very good tho, in fact she held the show together. . .
(This was about the time that the first buzz bombs were launched toward London. The letters and my memory don’t give me the exact date that I first heard and saw one streaking across the London sky. The buzz bombs were misnamed, there was no buzz, they roared . We used to joke that we should open the windows so they could fly through, the sound was so intense it seemed to be in the room with us.)
16 June ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I walked down to the mess, ate breakfast, and got to the office about 8:15; that is the earliest I’ve gotten there in a long time. I had plenty of work to do today, but was so busy running around most of the time that I didn’t get much of it done. I did reduce the height of the stack of papers in my basket quite a bit before the day was over. I’ve taken on a lot of extra work lately in addition to my other duties, and haven’t been able to catch up with all of it yet. (Time out while I search for a cigarette - found.) It is all interesting, and the best part is that I’m pretty much my own boss, which only means that I have to work all the harder to be sure everything I do is right, rather than depend on the Col. to make the decisions for me. End of trying to impress you with my importance, lets get back to the day’s activity.
I went out for a short ride with Marty and Prof. Woodruff in the middle of the morning. We didn’t get back til well after one, so Marty and I ate together at the mess, after a short beer. We had tomato and lettuce salad, which tasted pretty darn good. After lunch I spent most of the afternoon working at my desk. I got a letter from you this afternoon, too. It was your June 5 letter and I was very happy to get it. I’m sure sorry you weren’t getting my letters then; surely you must be getting them by now!
I also got the church bulletin your mother sent; I looked through it, but I don’t know anyone mentioned, except the Rev. of course. She wanted to know if I didn’t want her to get you an orchid or something for July 4th, and I do, as I said in one of my earlier letters. Guess it would have been nicer to have her get it for you as a surprise, but it doesn’t make any difference, does it? What I wouldn’t give to be there with you on that day!! We’ll make a date for next year, shall we? . . .
23 June ‘44 Friday My darling;
I’m getting an early start on my letter this evening, but I’m on a train, so you may have a little trouble reading my writing - not that it could be much worse than normal. This must be an old car we are in, we have a sort of parlor compartment, with seats at either end and a couple of chairs on each side. The chairs are loose and I’ve got mine turned around so I’m facing toward the window. Guess who is with me - Jean! He just blew in this afternoon looking fat and happy after a month visit at home, and who wouldn’t!! That is the reason I’m on a trip now. I’ve been sitting in that damn office too long and have been looking for a good excuse to get out, so when Jean wanted to go on this trip I arranged to go along. . .
. . . . . We caught the train OK, and had good first class seats. It was a nice ride; we spent our time talking over what had happened while he was gone, and just watching the sights that passed by our window (or vice versa). We had to make a couple of changes, and at one there was a 20 minute wait, so we went into the room marked “refreshments” at the station and had a beer. We arrived Ok and at the station had a jeep waiting for us that took us to the camp we were visiting. There we found a good poker game underway, but were wise enough to stay out of it. We talked with some of the fellows and drank light ale and then finally went up to bed. . .
24 June ‘44 Saturday Night My dearest Betty;
. . . . . It is now Saturday and I am in the office as duty officer. It wasn’t my night normally, but I traded with one of the fellows in the office who wanted to go out tonight. It was really quite a mix up ‘cause during the week I told one of the fellows I’d take his duty Friday night, and then when I wanted to go on my trip last night I had to get another fellow to take the Friday night duty and I took his Saturday night duty and then the first fellow is taking my Monday night duty. Complicated, isn’t it; it’s not so complicated, but it is hard to explain. In the bargain the fellow who had Sunday duty tomorrow wanted to go off somewhere, so I’m taking that duty also. I had planned to work tomorrow anyway, and maybe by time my regular Sunday comes around I’ll be able to take the day off.
. . . . . I awoke at 7:20 and had to dress in a hurry to get down to breakfast at 7:30. The mess there only had a dozen or so officers, so we had to eat all at one time or not eat at all. . .
During the morning we had some more talks with the fellows there, and then went for a short walk through the town. It was a nice day and it felt good to be out of London for a while. We got back just in time for dinner and had steak; it was good in spite of being well done as it is in all Army messes; they had some especially good cold chocolate. After dinner we sat around and read magazines until it was time to go catch our train. . .
. . . . . I’ll have to look for another place to live soon ‘cause the people we are renting our flat (at 65 George Street) from have their lease expiring, and aren’t going to renew it. . .
AMERICAN EMBASSY
OFFICE OF THE MILITARY ATTACHE
1. GROSVENOR SQUARE
LONDON ENGLAND
1 July ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
How do you like the fancy stationery? I stole some of it today, it is good stuff, don’t you think?
I’m pretty well tired out tonight; after I finished your letter last night I walked on home. It was then twelve, and I was busy packing up my stuff until about two. I went to sleep, and the next thing I knew it was eight thirty and Bill (Lake) was awakening me. I got up and shaved and dressed, and then finished my packing. I got to the office about ten and worked until 11:30, when I went out to look at more apartments. I didn’t see a darn thing that looked half decent, so it was just time wasted. The prices they ask for some holes-in-the-wall is outrageous, one I saw was five and a half guineas ($23.20) a week for a one room apartment, and it didn’t look at all nice. So I’m still looking for a place to live!
My apartment hunting took me until 12:30 or so, and then I caught a bus back to the mess. Since I had missed breakfast I was getting pretty hungry by that time. I had a coke and then ate with some fellows I met there that I know. I went back to the office and made one more call about an apartment; they wanted eight pounds a week, which is more than I can get reimbursed for, so that was no deal.
I gave up for the time being and went upstairs and got Tom’s keys, and then moved my stuff down to his place (at 15 Clifford Street). I had a couple of EMs with a truck to help me move. I think I can move in with a fellow upstairs there in a few days. After I moved I took my overcoat to the cleaners (in the Reindeer Red Cross Officers Club across the street) and left it to be cleaned; it isn’t cold enough now to need it. . .
. . . . . I went for a short walk and then came to Tom’s place, “home”, at least for a while. Tom had gotten here before me and we talked for a while, and then I started this letter and have been listening to Tom’s radio as I write. The news is about over now, and I think we’ll go across the street for a short beer pretty soon before going to bed. ‘Bye for now darling, I’ll finish this later, I miss you every minute, I love you!!
Later. We went out and had our beer, ran into Durrenberger at the “club” and played a game of darts. Now I am in bed, and have just had a hot bath, I feel a lot better after the bath too. I miss you so darn much darling and only hope I’ll be back with you where I belong before too long. I want to kiss you and hold you close to me and feel your warmth beside me in bed, I want you!! Goodnight my darling wife, I love you!!
All my love and kisses, Glenn
2 July ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I slept til 11; Henry, Tom’s roommate, woke me up then and told me there was a cup of coffee ready for me if I wanted it. I got up and drank it and also ate a couple of toll house cookies that had been set out for me. Both Henry and Tom were gone when I got up, they are good boys and go to church, like I should, but don’t. Tom is a staunch catholic and gets up early in the mornings so he can stop by the church for a few minutes on his way to the mess. . .
We worked til about five, then a whole bunch of us went to the mess and stopped by the bar. That was my mistake of the day, and the reason this letter is a day late. I was having a pre-anniversary celebration, and after mixing a little scotch, gin, and wine before supper, my stomach began to feel a little funny. I ate supper, then left the others, came home and went to bed. After I got the bed under control so it wasn‘t spinning, I went to sleep. . .
3 July ‘44 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . I’m writing at a little table in the “living” room and not in bed as I usually do, ‘cause Henry is asleep in the bedroom I sleep in, and he might not like it if I’d go in and turn on the light to write in bed. As it is, there is only a curtain between this room and the one he is in, so I’m probably keeping him awake anyway. He is in a room on my left and it is one of the two bedrooms in the flat, and has two twin beds in it. I sleep in the one he isn’t in. There is an archway between that room and this one that has the aforementioned curtain drawn across it. In this little room there is a table and 3 chairs and a divan, if you can call it that. On my right is a hallway leading to Tom’s room, with the door to the bathroom in-between. . .
. . . . . A British navy commander came in about 11:30 to see Jean, and at noon I had lunch with the two of them and Miss Devine at the Junior Officers’ Club. It was a pretty good meal and it felt good to have table service again instead of eating cafeteria style. The big drawback about it is that it costs twice as much, but then it is the only place we can take guests. . .
. . . . . I went up to the mess and found the fellows at the bar. I waited while they had their drinks, I wasn’t having any tonight, thank you, and then ate supper with them. . .
4 July ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
Happy anniversary darling! As happy as it can be with us apart, anyway. You made me a mighty happy man on that other July 4th two years ago. I loved you then, and still do, only more so. I’m afraid, tho, that I toasted you a few too many times on the occasion last night, and when I got home I went right to sleep, and that is why I am writing this on a Wednesday night instead of Tuesday.
So now lets see what I did on one July 4, 1944. I got up at the usual time (no such thing as a holiday here), and after shaving and dressing I went to the mess for breakfast. I got to work on time, and the day was just a normal work day. You’d never think there was any paper shortage if you saw my desk! I am literally snowed under with it! I managed to get some of it transferred from the “in” to the “out” basket, but still didn’t seem to stem the rising pile that is left over when the day is done.
. . . . . At 5:30 Bill, Goss, Jean, and I went to the Junior Officers Club to celebrate our anniversary. I think they were celebrating the 4th, but they were kind enough to drink a toast to you. We ran into another major and a Lt. from the office there, and they joined up with us for a while. After a couple of drinks at the bar we went on to a club Stringer (the Lt.) belongs to. It was a nice place and had American flags all over in honor of the day; guess they know who buys their liquor! After a drink there we went to the Nurses Club and had a waffle and a cup of coffee. From there we went up to Jean’s room and had a shot from a bottle of scotch he had brought with him from the States. Taking the bottle with us, we went to a bar and had another drink. By that time we had lost the major and the Lt., they wandered off with a couple of Red Cross gals. From the bar we went to Tom’s place; he wasn’t there, his brother was in town for the day, and Tom was out with him. We left the bottle there and went on to Bill’s club. There we drank beer and played darts til it closed at eleven, and then went back to the Nurses Club for another bite to eat. Jean and I went on to Tom’s from there and found him and his brother in. I was still feeling good at that point but was so darn sleepy I couldn’t keep my eyes open, so I went to bed while Henry, Jean, Tom, and Tom’s brother finished off Jean’s bottle.
What a night, I know now that I would rather have just stayed home and written to you, but at the time it seemed like a good idea to go on a binge. At least for a while I was happy, but I missed you so darn much, and no matter how much I had to drink it didn’t help that any! What were we doing last year at this time darling, we were in Chicago, or did we go see Don and Sharky on the fourth? Whatever we did, we were together, and that is the important point. So I hope and pray we will be together for our next anniversary, and long before that, too! I love you darling, and all I want is to be with you once again. So long for now, I love you, goodnight.
All my love and kisses, Glenn
5 July ‘44 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I moved again tonight, from Tom’s to just upstairs over him, and it looks like a nice place. It is just like the description I gave of Tom’s place the other night, except the furniture is nicer. I have a room to myself, it is even larger than the last place I had. It has a soft easy chair, two tables, a chest of drawers, a fireplace, and a small closet, and a bed of course. The bed is twin-bed size, but seems to be comfortable, and even tho it is smaller, there is plenty of room for you darling. . .
7 July ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I walked through Picadilly Circus on the way tonight, and managed to avoid the “commandos”, and there are plenty of them there. Every once in a while some gal will greet you with “hello, darling” as you are walking along, nice place! Picadilly is the entertainment center of London, aside from the commandos, all the first run theaters are around there and Leicester Square which is just a block away, and the plays are around that district too. Lots of restaurants, etc., and the place is always crowded. . .
8 July ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . I worked til ten, got quite a lot done, too. I was feeling restless then, so I went for a long walk, and I mean a long one. I was walking steadily (or do I mean steady) from ten til I got home just a few minutes before twelve. It was beautiful out tonight, and about ten the sun was just setting and the whole sky seemed afire with the sunset. I went down by Buckingham
Palace and Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, and then south along the bank of the Thames to Vauxhall bridge, across the bridge and then further south along the river. It was getting dark, and I wasn’t too sure of my way down there, so I finally turned around and retraced my steps. It did me good to get out and walk and see some of the sights. It is so easy to just slip into the routine of sleep, eat, and work and not get out and see any of the famous places. That walk down by the Abbey is one of my favorites, as maybe you have guessed by the number of times I go that way. . .
16 July ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
I’m finally in bed and ready to start my visit with you. It is just midnight now and it has been a long hard day for me. Didn’t seem much like Sunday, tho, but then no Sunday has been like Sunday since I’ve been spending them away from you! I got up at eight this morning, on Sunday morning, can you imagine! I got to bed fairly early last night, and since I was going away this afternoon I wanted to get some work done. I threw a toothbrush and towel and a few other odds and ends into my musette bag and then took off for the office. The streets were really deserted at that time on Sunday morning, hardly a soul up and about.
I stopped by the office to drop off my bag and mail your letter, and then went on to the mess for breakfast. First time I’ve had breakfast on Sunday for a long time; I had mush, hot cakes, toast, bacon, and coffee. I got back to the office about 9:30, and after making sure that no mail had come in, I got to work. I checked the mail an hour later, and this time was rewarded with your July 2 letter; after reading that I went back to work. The Col. came in a little later and distracted me somewhat, but I still managed to get quite a lot done. At noon I went up to the mess with Bill and Tom; we met Russ (Goss) there. We had a pretty good chicken dinner.
After lunch I went back to the office, and soon afterwards the car came to take me on my trip. Originally my Col. and another Col. were going, and I persuaded them to take me with them, and then this morning both of them decided they couldn’t go, and another Col. and I went. Anyway we went off together, me and a Col., and had a very pleasant ride through the English countryside. It was a section of the country I hadn’t seen before, so I enjoyed it thoroughly. We got down here around 4:30 and went right out to the British place we were visiting, and stayed there til eight. We were getting pretty hungry by then so we came to the hotel, and after dropping our musette bags in our rooms, went to the dining room for supper.
After supper the Col., our driver (some kind of a British women’s auxiliary), and I went for a long walk along the esplanade. This town (Eastbourne, on the south east coast) must have been another beach resort during peace times, and is very nice. The water looked almost good enough to go swimming in, but I’ll bet it was cold! After we had walked for a while we came back to the hotel and met the officer we had come to visit, and went with him and his wife to a pub and had a few drinks.
We came back to the hotel and I undressed and climbed into bed. I tried to find something to back up my paper while I write, and the only thing I could find was a bible. So now, on a stack of bibles, I’ll say I love you; believe me? I miss you darling, every minute of the day, but especially miss not having you cuddled beside me when sleep time comes. Come to me in my dreams, won’t you darling. Goodnight my darling wife, I love you!!
All my love and kisses, Glenn
25 July ‘44 Tuesday Folkstone My darling wife;
. . . . . I’m enjoying my “vacation” a lot, running around in field clothes and roughing it a little. My field clothes are just a little dressy tho ‘cause my O.D.s were at the cleaners so I had to wear my green pants and shirt, but I have on my G.I. shoes and leggings and field jacket.
. . . . . I had powdered eggs and bacon and coffee; I must have been hungry ‘cause even the powdered eggs tasted good; more likely it was because a G.I. cook prepared them rather than a civilian as in my regular mess hall. . .
I made a couple of phone calls, and then went off in a jeep to visit another battalion. I talked with them for a while and ate lunch with them. After lunch I came back here, and am now in my so-called room. No word from Jean yet. . .
The boys here all trained out in California for a year or so, and most of them are enthusiastic about our state, for which you can’t blame them, can you? I am taking it easy today; I hate to think of the work that is piling up at the office; oh well, let it pile up, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, which won’t be for a couple more days as things look now. . .
Later - Wed. noon. I’ll see if I can’t finish this before lunch. Jean called from the station last night just before supper, so I hopped in a jeep and went to pick him up. We came back in time for a late supper, and he was telling me all about his experiences on the continent.
After supper we talked with the officers here at HQ for a while and then went out to a battery and stayed there until after midnight. About eleven we went to the kitchen and had a cup of coffee; the cook was baking a cake, and we got some of it right after it came out of the oven, it really hit the spot! I think I could go for a little more of this field life in this kind of mild weather. I suppose it would get boring after too long, but it is just like a camping trip or a vacation to get away from the office. . .
(This trip was to Folkstone, on the channel near Dover, to some US antiaircraft artillery which was defending London against the buzz bombs that were currently being launched from the French coast. The proximity fuse had been released for use here, and Jean was a specialist in these fuses. We were here to provide any knowledge we could to the users , and to learn what we could from their experiences shooting at the flying bombs. While I expressed enjoyment of the “camping” in the mild weather, I had no desire to leave my comfortable and interesting job in London for the hardships of the field. We stayed a couple more nights, sleeping in the open, or in a tent, with anti aircraft artillery batteries.)
26 July ‘44 Wednesday Folkstone My darling wife;
. . . . . Jean and I went for a long walk before breakfast. It was a beautiful morning and when we got back I had worked up a darn good appetite, and proceeded to stuff myself with hot cakes, bacon, prunes, and coffee. . . . . . We got a jeep and went out to a battery and spent the rest of the morning talking with them and looking around. . . . . . The afternoon we went out to more batteries and talked with the officers. . . . . . . . After supper we went up to the billet and took a nap. At nine we gathered our bedding rolls and went out to spend the night at one of the batteries; we just looked on there, and about two finally got to sleep. . .
27 July ‘44 Thursday Folkstone My darling wife;
. . . . . That ground must have been soft, or else I was sleepy, ‘cause I didn’t wake up til 10:15. It was much too late for breakfast, so we did without. We spent most of the day visiting around like we had been doing the last couple of days. It was nice out in the fresh air and sunshine (occasional), and I have somewhat lost my “office pallor”. . . . . . . We went back to the battery where we had stayed the night before. We slept in a tent so I didn’t have any place to write you, and besides I was busy looking around til I went to bed at two, and went right to sleep. I didn’t even bother to undress, my clothes were getting pretty wrinkled and dirty, so I climbed into my bed roll as I was. . .
28 July ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I woke up at 6:30, or to be more exact, I was awakened at 6:30. I got up out of the bed roll and put on my shoes and field jacket; I was already dressed. Jean and I went over to the cook tent and had what I think is the best breakfast I’ve had over here; we had hot cakes, nice and light and hot off the griddle, bacon, and two fresh eggs cooked just right. Along with coffee, and a pretty good appetite on my part, it really hit the spot.
After breakfast we gathered our stuff and went up to the headquarters. There I shaved and had a hot bath, the first in about four days, and got ready to come back to London. Joe Barkley’s car came for me and I left about 9:30. We picked up Barkley and the other captain and started back; it was a very nice day and I enjoyed the ride; they had a big seven passenger Chrysler and it had very comfortable seats. We went through Canterbury and stopped a while to look at the cathedral; it was a beautiful place, I got some pictures of it, inside and out. . .
We got here in time to have lunch at the mess. I had a funny experience at the mess today; I was at the bar with Joe Barkley, and an Ordnance captain he knew came up. Joe didn’t introduce me, but they were talking and he said he was on duty in London; I asked “where”, and he said the name of my building. I said I work there too, on the ground floor and he said “you aren’t Capt. Burke, are you”, and when I admitted it, he said “I’m your roommate”! Seems Tom knew of this fellow who was coming in, and since Bruder had left I would have had to give up my apartment unless I found someone to share it, I told Tom it would be OK if he moved in. He came and moved in while I was gone, but it was a funny way to meet him; his name is Lomax. . .
29 July ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . I’m on duty at the office tonight, so I’ve been catching up on my correspondence. I wrote a letter to my folks and since they are the only ones I seem to write to besides you I’m now pretty well caught up; except I owe letters to Merv, Freer & Norene, and Ray. . .
. . . . . It was sure swell that you were able to see (my brother) Ray before he left, did he have any idea where he was going next? Your description of the sleeping arrangements sure sounds like the folks’ place during summer, slightly crowded, wasn’t it! I still can’t picture (my brother) Dick as a family man, but I haven’t seen him in a couple of years, and a person can change a lot in that time, especially at his age. I thought the pictures of the family you sent were good; (my youngest sister) Alice gets better looking with every picture I see of her. It is hard for me to realize she is getting to be a grown woman now; how old is she, my guess is 17. .
. . . . . This job could be very nice if you were here to come home to at night and to share my free time. I may complain a lot about London, but there is something about the place that grows on you and I’m always wishing you could be here to see all the sights with me. I’d never want to live here, but it is an experience that I never would have had except for the war. Might as well try to see the bright side, but I miss you so much that it is a job to convince me there ever could be a bright side of being away from you. . .
30 July ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . After I finished your letter last night I got out the cot and unrolled my bedding roll. I was about to climb in when I noticed a bug; when I investigated a little farther I found the roll full of them, harmless looking little things, but not exactly what one would want for a bed mate. So I spent a half hour getting rid of them, and making a good inspection of the blankets to be sure no more remained. I must have picked them up when I was camping out last week; it’s a wonder I slept as well as I did down there. . .
1 August ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . Tom’s promotion to captain came through late in the afternoon. I was glad to see him get it, ‘cause he deserved it. His roommate, (Larry) Henry, got his captaincy on the same orders. So, as is customary under the circumstances, we all trooped to the bar at 5:30 to give Tom a chance to “wet ‘em down”. . .
5 August ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . After the show we caught a bus and went to a bar down near Picadilly Street. It was a pretty nice place and they seemed to have a good supply of good scotch, so we spent the rest of the evening there drinking scotch and soda. It was the last night that Tom was to be in town, so that was the reason, or excuse, for the celebration. . . . . . . . . . . . I hate to see Tom go (to France), we’ve been pretty darned good pals for the last year, and he really is a nice guy. I think that Lomax is moving soon too, so I’ll go in with Henry, or he’ll come upstairs into my apartment, one or the other. . .
posted by Betty & Glenn Burke | 8:58 PM
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