CHAPTER 9. 11/1/44 TO 1/23/45 SCOTLAND TRIP & 2ND CHRISTMAS
1 November ‘44 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . The Col. told me I was going on a trip with him up Scotland way tomorrow night, so I spent time this afternoon arranging orders, etc. We will leave tomorrow night and get back early Saturday morning. . .
2 November ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . The car came for me at eight; it was a long affair that looked like it could hold six or seven passengers. We went by for a major and then the Colonel and finally arrived at the station. Russ had arranged for first class sleepers for us, which is a break, but the major and I don’t have them returning.
. . . . . The Colonel gathered a crowd of six in his room and the major’s, which adjoined, and we spent the rest of the evening talking and drinking. There were three British Brigadiers and the three of us. . .
3 November ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
Boy, oh boy, it was a job getting on this train, but I’m finally on, and in a first class sleeper so far. The train hasn’t started yet, so I may get kicked off any minute, although I guess that I won’t. It all came about ‘cause we couldn’t get first class reservations on the way back, so this morning I stopped in at the RTO and asked him to see what he could do for us. (RTO is Rail Transport Office.) When we got to the station tonight our RTO office was closed, so we went to the ticket office to see what they had for us, which was third class sleepers, so we picked those up and went on to supper. When we got back we went to the RTO and found they had gotten us first class reservations, but without canceling the third. We went to the ticket office again, but they didn’t want to exchange the tickets, especially since I’m a capt. and the sleepers go according to rank. The fellow with me is a major, so he was just at the bottom edge. We had to wait til 15 minutes before the train left in case some “higher ranking” officers came and wanted a sleeper. They didn’t, so here I am. The E.M. at the RTO I talked to this morning helped me a lot by putting me down as Maj. Burke, which undoubtedly got me my berth, but also complicated matters a little. Anyway I hope to get a good night’s sleep out of it.
The problems of traveling in England; it wouldn’t be so bad if the third class sleepers were any good, but they are in sense and substance just a seat you can lay out on and a blanket to cover you, and the first class sleepers are on a par with our roomettes in the States.
Getting back to “my day”, I was awakened at 5:30 with tea and a biscuit. I wrote a little more on your last night’s letter, and then got up and shaved, quite a trick on a moving train, and dressed. We went to the (Glasgow) station hotel for breakfast, and then caught another train (to an ICI Chemicals test facility south of Glasgow. The demonstration was the firing of a recoilless cannon). We spent all day at the demonstration, and it was cold as hell. I wore my GI shoes and field coat, and class “A”, but I should have had on long woolen underwear too, and didn’t.
We had a lunch that warmed me up plenty; sitting on the table was a pinch bottle of Haig & Haig scotch and I had a couple of good shots of that, and then a bottle of beer, and afterwards a glass of port. Can’t remember what I ate, and can you blame me? We came back to Glasgow late this afternoon and after checking my musette bag, went off to supper. There were five of us; two brigadiers, a lt. col., the major, and me. We had a very good supper; scotch first, oysters on the half shell, scallops, and dessert, with lager during the meal. After eating we went back to the station and I finally got on the train.
Slight interruption there; the Col. got on at a later station and I went down and talked with him for a few minutes. Now I’m back and in bed and it is a little cool in here. What I need is you to keep me warm; what I need is you, period! . . .
I enjoyed your description of what you have to go through to get the popular brands of cigarettes. It isn’t funny, but the way they keep them under the counter and you have to know the pass word is funny. Why don’t you have Mom send you a carton occasionally, she should be able to get them in the store. We still can get any brand we want here OK; guess that’s one thing they are shorting the States for to send over here. I love you too!! . . .
7 November ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
I just crawled into bed and brrrr, it is cold! I could use a hot water bottle, or you, at this point to keep me warm, and it’s no fun cuddling with a hot water bottle, so there wouldn’t be any choice there. . . . . It was very cold out today, winter has definitely set in here. . .
. . . . . After we ate supper, we caught a bus to the post theater. The play was “Skylark”, I think I have seen it as a movie. The actors were soldiers and Red Cross gals; it was a little amateurish, but on the whole very well put on, and free, so I should complain!. . .
How would you like to be the wife of a regular army officer, darling? I expect there’ll be an increase in the size of the army after the war, and I might be able to get in. I have to confess that at the time the thought of staying in the army doesn’t appeal to me very much, but it would probably be much better after the war. Moving around a lot doesn’t appeal to me, but there are advantages, security, and a lot of traveling. What do you think? . .
8 November ‘44 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . They broadcast the election returns over the PA system at the mess this morning, and even that early it was apparent that FDR was in again. There was considerable interest in the election shown in the papers and news broadcasts here, a lot more than would ever be shown in the States about an election here, I’m sure. Guess the election was about as important to England as it was to us, at that. The opinion here was unanimous for FDR, of course. . .
10 November ‘44 Friday My dearest;
. . . . . I got your swell letter of Sept. 30 today. It was kind of old, but it was such a nice letter that I didn’t care. Guess they must have known how nice it was, and then held it up that much longer. . . . . . . I worked along all morning, except when your letter came in, I read it and reread it. It sure made me feel good, you do something for me darling, even by your letters. Guess it’s ‘cause I love you, maybe it’s why I love you. Only I’d like to be with you and have you bolster up my feelings in person, but then they wouldn’t need bolstering!! . . .
12 November ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . After we ate we caught an underground to the football game. The game was between the army and the navy, the 8th Air Force supplying the army team. The game was at the White City Stadium, which is a pretty good sized place; it has a field large enough for a football field, and around that a regular 440 yard track, and outside that is a dog race track. The stands go all around the field and have a roof overhead, which probably is a necessity in England, came in handy today anyway. The crowd was big, mostly US but some British servicemen and civilians. Each side had a rooting section and band, with the army supplying the navy it’s band and most of it’s rooters as well. It was almost like a game back home, except for the weather; most of the time you couldn’t see all the way across the field from fog or mist, and of course nearly everyone was in uniform too.
It was a fairly evenly matched game, except that the army steamrolled over two touchdowns early in the game. The bands marched during the half, oh yes, each side had their mascot on the field; the navy had a billy goat, and the army had what looked like a burro. . .
18 November ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . We got down there at 11:40, which was 10 minutes late, and were told the demonstration was postponed til the afternoon, and would we please go back to the officers club. We did and had coffee and then spent from twelve til one drinking at the bar in the mess. There was a big crowd, and the popular metal there was brass, lots of big shots, or as one person put it, high priced help. We ate at one and then went on to the demonstration. That finished about five, and we piled into the cars and headed for home; I rode in the Colonel’s car. About half the way was driving in the blackout, and that is no picnic. . .
21 November ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . Looks like they’re slowly increasing the amount of light from the street lights around here. Tonight I noticed it was lighter around Grosvenor Square and down Bond Street. They don’t increase the light much, they call it “moonlighting”, but it is surprising how much difference even a little light can make in a blackout. . .
23 November ‘44 Thursday My dearest;
. . . . . Today was Thanksgiving Day here and in most of the States. It was a pretty nice day for me, except for two things; one is I didn’t get any mail from you, and the other is that you weren’t here!!. . . . . . . . . . . . At noon I went up to the mess and met Henry at the bar; we had a lager and then went downstairs to eat. It really was a good meal; they went all out to give us a real Thanksgiving meal. We had roast turkey, lots of it, and plenty of white meat, sweet potatoes, peas, pumpkin pie, orange, apple, candy, and celery, etc. I was filled up, but not uncomfortably so. After dinner I went back to the office and worked til 5:30; it was just a normal work day for us. . .
I walked on towards home through the newly lighted streets, stopped in at the Reindeer Red Cross club and had a coke. There was a dance in there and so I stayed til it ended at eleven; I danced with Mary and with several of the other girls there. Except the Red Cross gals all the gals were in formals, and they really looked good, it has been a long time since I’ve seen any formals, they don’t wear them much here. . .
24 November ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I went to lunch with the Col. and two British Cols. We ate at the Senior Officers Club and had a good meal, although it was pork. And free, too, the Col. paid for it, he has an expense account he can charge the total to whenever the party includes British. . .
25 November ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . About 5:20 Bill and I left to go to the mess. We ate right away and left at 5:45, we caught an underground and got to the Stoll Theater just as the play started at 6:15. When we went to the ticket agency they didn’t have any seats for the play, but they did have a box, so we took it, and saw the play in style! And the funny part about it was that it was cheaper that way than sitting in the “stalls”, or downstairs. We got the box for 36 shillings and 4 of us sat in it, so it was 9 shillings each, where the stalls would have cost 13 shillings. Russ and another fellow from N. Carolina sat with us. It was a musical, “The Lisbon Story”, and was a pretty good play, good singing, very nice costumes, and not a bad story.
After the play we caught the underground back to the nurses club and had some waffles and hot chocolate, and a dish of ice cream. They recently lifted the ban on making ice cream. Gosh, with the blackout relaxed, and making Ice cream again, the war must be nearly over! Don’t I wish!. . . .
26 November ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . Most of the fellows were in the office this afternoon, including Marty, who just got back from a trip to France. He brought back the news that the Saint and George had both been promoted to captains. I was glad to hear that, George had been in grade two years, and not ‘cause he wasn’t a good man, but just because of the setup he was under. Guess I told you before that Gordie French also got his captaincy a month or so ago, I just recently heard about it. . .
27 November ‘44 Monday My darling wife;
I got two letters today, yours of Nov. 2, and one from (my brother) Ray, written Nov. 13, just after he had visited you. It’s swell he got to see you, I wish he could get to this part of the world as long as he is doing this globe trotting, but he said he didn’t think there was a chance that he would. . .
. . . . . Russ and I went to see “Happy & Glorious”, a revue at the Palladium, the same place where “This is the Army” played. The big star of the show was Tommie Trinder, who is the big shot comedian around here, and confidentially, he stinks. For a man who is supposed to be a top flight comedian, he used the oldest gags, and not very good ones at that. The rest of the show was good tho, nice costumes and good singing and dancing. There was a negress who had a very good voice, and then a little redhead who could both sing and dance. The chorus, like all I’ve seen here wasn’t too good; judging from their legs they would have made a good football team. The sets were outstanding, with revolving stages, and all. . .
28 November ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . It is just two years since I pinned on my gold bars and grabbed a train to meet you. That was a happy day, and there have been a lot more since then, but not lately! . . .
It was still dark out as I walked up to the mess, not really dark, but sort of first light and dark enough to make me feel that much sleepier. There is a powerful psychological effect about getting up when it is still dark.
I had a leisurely breakfast of powdered eggs and potatoes, cereal, prunes, toast, and coffee. They dropped the price of breakfast to one shilling from 1/6, so now the cost of the days meals total 4 shillings, or 80 cents, instead of the previous 5/6, or $1.10; this is the lowest they have ever been since I’ve been here. . .
The Col. went along too. We had a Ford 6 today, and it felt good to ride in it. We saw the demonstration, and I got soaked on my legs below my field coat from the rain, kept warm with the long woolens on tho. We had lunch at a local pub, and then headed back to town. We stopped at Southend and I tried to get some oysters, but the shop was closed for lunch so I didn’t get any.
. . . . . I wrapped up some perfume to send to you and will mail it tomorrow. It is some I had the Prof get for me since I don’t seem to make much progress in getting my trip to France; he sent it back by Marty. Hope it gets through the mail undamaged; it should since I wrapped it pretty good. Let me know when, and in what condition, it arrives.
Bill heard from his youngest brother, he had arrived in England, so he tried to call him tonight. Got his outfit, he is a private in a hospital, but his brother wasn't in. . .
. . . . . I soaked in a hot tub and then read one of the books I bought. This one is called “London West” and gives sketches and narrative on the “social” life of west London before the war. It is interesting to me ‘cause I’ve seen most of the places it mentions, and know the districts, and what they are like now, and have been to some of the restaurants mentioned. I thought you’d be interested too. . .
I’ve been getting to bed at a somewhat decent hour lately, but the last couple of nights I haven't gone right to sleep when I turn off the light; I just lay there and toss and think of you and miss you an awful lot darling. I love you and want to be with you, and instead there is a vacant place in my bed and a vacant or lost feeling in my heart. Goodnight my darling wife, please come to me in my dreams. I love you with all of me, I love you.
All my love and kisses, Glenn
30 November ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . I met my car outside the mess at eight. I had a nice ride, getting there about eleven. We went by Stonehenge on the way, so we stopped and went in and looked it over, very interesting. I took some pictures and will send them along soon if they come out OK. . .
1 December ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . About six Russ came over and we left the office. We caught a taxi to the Overseas Club, where we’d been invited for dinner. It was an Anglo-American dinner in the India Hall of the Overseas league, a very nice affair. Before dinner we drank scotch and soda, and they were free. I was informed so many bottles of scotch had been rationed for the affair, so I felt no compunction about asking for refills. We had a very good chicken dinner. There were quite a variety of officers present, including US Army, Australian Air Force, British Army, Navy, & Royal Air Force. While we were eating, we drank beer, and any time the glass would tend to get empty a lackey would fill it up. When I was in the middle of my dessert a US Officer at the speakers table (they always get served first) arose and said in a loud voice “Gentlemen”, everyone arose, and then he said “the King”, and we drank a toast to the King. We had almost gotten seated again when a British officer toasted the President, so that meant arising again.
When we had finished eating, the toastmaster introduced the speaker after telling a couple of funny stories. The toastmaster was a British Navy joe, and he had a very expressive face, something like the fellow in the movies that played the part of Lincoln. The speaker was a US Captain who gave a very good talk; he was a former Olympic swimmer, who I had met before. He had a marvelous physique, like a tarzan. Afterwards we gathered around the bar again and drank beer and swapped stories with a couple of English RAF officers. . .
. . . . . . . You were right about the Reindeer Red Cross Club being right across the street. It is number nine and I am at 15 Clifford Street, flat one.
10 December ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I got here in Malvern about three, in a pouring rain and no taxis at the railroad station, so I walked up to the hotel. It was OK tho ‘cause I had my field coat on, and I didn’t get wet. After I unloaded my stuff in my room I went downstairs to the lounge. I had some “tea” there to hold me over til supper time. This place is really an example of a quiet English hotel. Malvern is one of those “resorts” where old people come to spend their declining years, and some of those I saw in the lounge look like a page out of an old fashioned novel; an old lady with long black dress and white hair piled up on top of her head and the little black ribbon around her neck. . .
12 December ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . The fellow I was “visiting” yesterday came by for me in his car, he was coming to London and offered me a lift, so I took it. It was a dark damp day, not much rain, but the streets were wet, so the windshield (windscreen) got muddy whenever we were behind another car. We were rolling along very nicely when he grazed the hub of a cart that was standing at the side of the road. It didn’t hurt the cart much, but it put a pleat in the front and rear fenders (wings here), and disrupted my confidence in the driver a lot so that I wasn’t too at ease the rest of the way. We made it without further incident however.
We went out of our way to go through Oxford, so I could have a glance at the town. The main road bypasses the town, so even tho I’ve been by there many times, I hadn’t seen it. Looks interesting, I’ll have to go there some weekend and really see it. I rode to Uxbridge in the car, that was as far as he was going, and took the underground on in. . .
13 December ‘44 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I finally got dressed and walked up to the mess, got there about 8:20, and as I walked in the door was greeted by a notice that after this week, breakfast will only be served until 8:15 on weekdays. Guess I’ll have to get up earlier, or do without breakfast, or find some other place to eat. I ate and got to the office about 8:45; the Col. was in the room when I came in, and he said that he saw where there was a conspiracy to get me to work on time! He said it jokingly tho, and then he said we didn’t have to pay attention to the regular hours since we are always in here so much at night, and put in so much extra time. That was the way I felt about it.
. . . . . Bill and I went over to the Embassy and paid our money for the Xmas party that is this Sunday. From there I went to the AG office and signed out and in for the trip I took last weekend; I never seem to remember to sign out until I get back. Then I went to the Finance office and collected for my hotel and food for my trip before returning to the office. . .
Later. After I signed off above I gathered my pictures and coat and walked home. A Navy officer stopped me on the way, he was lost in the fog; I got him straightened out and got home myself without too much trouble. We had a nasty fog most of the day, not a real pea-souper, but pretty bad. When it is foggy even the rooms inside get that yellowish smokey haze. . .
14 December ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . About 5:45 Bill and I left and caught a bus down to Charing Cross and then walked up to the New Theater to see Peer Gynt. We got in and seated just as the lights went down and the show started at 6:15. It was really a good show, the best acting I’ve ever seen here. Ralph Richardson, who played the part of Peer, was especially good. The music was pretty well done too. It was a fantastic thing in spots, but they really handled it right. The Old Vic Company who put it on has three plays going now, and each one is on about once a week. I’ll have to try and see the others ‘cause the same people are in them, so the acting should be good. The theater is fairly small, but has three balconies, the top one up in the rafters about like that theater we went to once in S.F. to see “Claudia”, remember? After the show we caught a subway back to the Nurses Club for a snack and some ice cream. . .
15 December ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
Here I am again, and with your swell letters of Nov. 20, 21, & 22 to keep me company. I can’t exactly take a letter in my arms and kiss it, but next to being with you, a letter is best. I hope your sore back is all well now, and if it came from too heavy work, you should be paddled. Don’t attempt any sort of heavy lifting darling, please. . .
I spent most of the afternoon writing up my trip to Malvern. Trips are nice, but writing reports on them isn’t so nice. I don’t have to write up all of them tho, thank goodness. . .
I went to another play tonight; Lucile invited me to go with them. They had invited another fellow, but he couldn’t make it, and then she asked me. I thought it was nice of her. About six her husband came by, he is an American captain, and we left for the show. We tried to get a cab, but soon gave that up and caught a bus to the theater. We met Lucile’s father and mother there and went in together. I don’t care too much for Lucile personally, but her parents sure are swell people, and probably spoiled their only child. Her father is a representative here for a US optical company.
The play was “No Medals” and was about wartime England, mostly the troubles experienced by housewives. It was very interesting, and had some good acting. Between the acts we went up to the bar and had a drink. We caught a subway back; they invited me along to have some supper, but I refused ‘cause I wanted to get to bed somewhat early tonight. . .
17 December ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
Happy Birthday darling! Now you’re as old as I am again, aren’t you. How does it feel to be an old woman of 24, and still look like you’re 18?. . .
It was close to the time I was to meet Lucile and Mrs. Finney and the kids, so I caught a taxi up to the Baker Street tube station. I waited there and soon they all arrived, Lucile and Jim, her husband, Mrs. Finney, and the two boys. We walked down to Seymour Hall where the party was being held. There was a gang of kids and adults there; I would guess there was a total of six or seven hundred. They had a bunch of Mickey Mouse cartoons, a Punch & Judy show, and then a magician. After that they had “tea”; I was surprised to see all those kids, some only three or so, drinking tea, and I guess it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
After tea they distributed the presents to the kids; had a big tree and Father Christmas, not Santa, and all. The presents took a long time ‘cause they had them all made up in advance, with the kids’ name on them, and called them up a few at a time. That made it slower, but better since they could arrange the presents by the child’s age and sex. They all got candy and an orange too.
Bill brought an English captain and his wife and child, and another little boy. The two little boys, about four, were sure cute. I saw the Col. there too, he had a little girl and her mother with him. I think that all the kids had a good time, and I think it was worth the pound I had to pay just to watch them. . .
About eight thirty I went over to the Reindeer where there was a dance going on. Unusually enough there weren’t many fellows there, in fact there were more girls than officers, so I danced quite a few dances. There was a girl that I know, she is an American, and works at the Embassy, and goes with a fellow I know. He wasn’t there, so I had several dances with her and then escorted her and her roommate home after the dance. . .
Goodnight my darling wife. I miss you so darn much, I want to kiss you, and go for a walk with you, and lie in bed late with you on Sundays, and just generally be with you all the time, and especially have your head on my shoulder and you cuddled close to me when I go to sleep. . .
18 December ‘44 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . . About 5:30 I went to the mess with Bill; we had a lager and then ate. There was a major at our table that had just come back from the front, and he had some interesting tales to tell. The counter attack by the Germans is a nasty bit of news, isn’t it? But then maybe the Germans don’t believe all our commentators say about them being defeated already. One thing tho, when it is beaten off, in the long run it should help to shorten the war ‘cause it takes a lot of men and ammunition to carry out a large scale offensive, and I don’t think they can well afford it! Now look who is trying to be an arm chair strategist, how did I get on this vein?
To get back to my day, we went back to the office after supper, but I didn’t stay long. I picked up some food the secretary got me on my ration card and carted it home, got here about eight. I was feeling restless then so I went out for a walk. It was a nice night and the search lights were making pretty patterns in the sky practicing tracking airplanes which moved like bright stars across the sky, held in the vertex of the cones of light. . .
Well my dearest it is time for your husband to hit the hay. Sure hope you come to me in my dreams tonight, I’d like to have you in my arms for a while even if only in a dream. It would be like a dream, a heavenly dream, to be with you again and have your warmth cuddled close beside me, and yes, your cold feet on my legs too. So, til that dream comes true, and may God grant that it be soon, I’ll just have to say goodnight my darling wife, I love you and want you and miss you every minute. It’s no fun living without a heart, and mine is with you. Goodnight sweet, I love you, I love you!! All my love and kisses, Glenn
20 December ‘44 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . Bill, Marty, and I stumbled through the fog to Claridges Hotel where the Military Attaché’s cocktail party was being held. That’s one of the super exclusive, or rather expensive, places. It was a good party, lots of good Manhattans and Seagrams whisky. The crowd was very cosmopolitan too, besides lots of American and British, there were Russians, Chinese,
Turkish, Argentine, Mexican, Poles, Danes, Norwegian, and about every nationality imaginable. All of the allies were in uniform, and there sure was a variety of them. The neutrals of course were in civies. We drank from six to about nine, and as usual I got too much. I staggered home and after getting rid of the excess liquor I went to bed and to sleep. . .
23 December ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . The Prof. had just gotten in from Paris; I talked with him for a while, and at eight went downstairs to the party. The party was given by the office that has the floor under us; they had fixed up a room on the ground floor, and had really fixed it up nice too. They had a Christmas tree all decorated, and holly and mistletoe strewn all over, and had gotten a phonograph and records from Special Services. They had food galore and beer, but no liquor. People didn’t start to arrive until about eight thirty. Bill, Russ, Fred, and Marty were there, and Marks and about three secretaries from the other office, and then about eight other fellows and some more girls.
It was a swell party, darling, I had a lot of fun, danced with every girl there, I think, and everyone seemed to enter into the spirit. The party broke up about 12:30, but one of the secretaries and the gal who came with her didn’t get ready to leave until it was too late to catch the last train home. The next hour and a half was spent trying to get them fixed up for the night, Marks tried the WAC billet and the Red Cross and several other places, but no luck. We finally fixed them a couple of cots in their office, guess they’ll get some sleep there. . .
24 December ‘44 Sunday Christmas Eve My darling wife;
. . . . . I walked to Bill and Russ’s apartment. This was about 3:30. There were a few people there, Marks, Mackay, Marty, and another fellow, besides Bill and Russ. We drank champagne Russ brought back from Paris and sang carols and then any songs we could remember. I stayed there til about eight thirty; towards the end we had some toast and coffee, which served to awaken me a little, I was getting pretty sleepy.
At eight thirty I went on to Lucile’s cocktail party, just caught the end of that and didn’t stay long. Then I caught an underground home, got here about 9:30.
Henry was having a party, I thought it was going to be just a few people, but when I arrived the place was packed, all the people from his office were here. I joined in, I couldn’t have gone to bed anyway, it was piled with about three layers of coats. They all left to go to midnight mass about 11:30, so I came on to bed. I would have gone too, but my cold was acting up, and I didn’t feel too good, so I went to sleep. . .
It doesn’t seem like Christmas darling, and probably won’t unless I can spend it at home with you. I miss you so very very much, every minute of the day. ‘Bye for now my darling wife, I hope you are having a “Merry Christmas”. I love you darling, I love you. All my love and kisses, Glenn
25 December ‘44 Monday Christmas My darling wife;
. . . . . Then Henry and I got dressed and walked up to the mess about 1:30, we almost had a white Christmas, but from frost and fog, not snow. We met a friend of Henry’s and ate Christmas dinner; we had roast turkey and all the trimmings, but I didn’t feel too in the mood for a heavy dinner. I did pretty good tho, considering I wasn’t very hungry. . .
I went up to the mess to meet Russ and Marks, they were going to the party with me. They came about 5:10 and we went out in the fog to try and get some transportation. The underground went on strike today, just a one day affair, I think, but we knew of a train we could take, it is about ten miles out of town where we wanted to go. Our problem came in trying to get to the station. The busses weren’t running, all except a few stop around four on Sundays and holidays, and taxis just weren’t to be had. After a half hour of freezing waiting for a taxi or bus or whatever we could get, we gave up and went back to the mess. It would have been the same when we got back to the station, and we would have had to walk from there, so we called the people and said so sorry, we can’t make it.
For a city that is supposed to be cosmopolitan, this joint sure rolls up it’s sidewalks early. Even on ordinary days it is almost impossible to get transportation of any kind after 11:30 when the underground stops running, and the busses stop much earlier. Or have I sung this song before. Anyway, I think we missed a good party. It was given by the family of a secretary in Marks’s office; they have a large home in the country. . .
. . . . . It didn’t seem at all like Christmas today, except for the dinner, more like a Sunday. I surely hope I’ll be back with you next Christmas; I was so darn sure I’d be there this year when I wrote the same thing last year, but I’m not a very good guesser! But I do love you so very much darling and want to spend every day and night with you. Guess I should be thankful that all I have to worry about is - no, I won’t say it - I am thankful that I’m not up in the front lines, but that doesn’t stop me from missing you every minute. I love you darling, more than I can ever say, please come to me in my dreams tonight. I want to hold you close and to kiss you, goodnight my darling wife, I love you with all my heart and soul. I love you!!
All my love and kisses, Glenn
(My only worry, which I wouldn’t say, probably was the V2 rockets, which started right after the buzz bombs were practically stopped. The rockets weren’t the psychological problem the buzz bombs were; there was little or no warning, just the boom of their 2000 pound bomb, and if you heard the boom, you were probably OK. So we went about our normal activities and trusted to probability we wouldn’t be hit, but they were in the back of our minds through March)
28 December ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . I walked to the party with Bill and Lucile; it was another Military Attaché affair, and all the officers and American secretaries were there, and a few of the British secretaries. It was held at a colonel’s flat, which was very spacious . There was good liquor, I concentrated on manhattans, which were made with good old Seagrams bourbon; I watched my consumption better than last Wednesday, and didn’t have too much.
After the party ended at eight I took one of the girls to supper. She is a British secretary, works for a colonel that I work with a lot. She is a quiet and pleasant type, small and dark hair. We went by the Junior Officers Club, but they had stopped serving, so we went on to Prunier's for supper. Had some very good oysters on the half shell, chicken, and ice cream for dessert. I forgot to mention that I wrapped up the books and they are all ready to send to you now. “London West” has a description of Prunier's, and a sketch of the bar, we were in the room beyond, which is described in the book. Russ and a gal came in as we were starting to eat and joined us at our table.
After supper we walked to Picadilly and had a scotch and soda at the bar of the Berkeley Hotel (I tried to spell it Barkley like it is pronounced). From there we walked to the English Speaking Union where she was staying for the night, and then I came on home. . .
(Betty was very upset, and let me know it, about my ”dating” . This letter, and the day before letter were recovered from a mail carrying airplane that was in an accident. The letters were slightly burned, and were forwarded in another envelope postmarked Jan. 29th by the postmaster.)
29 December ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
Come along and join me in my snack sweetheart, I have tea and toast and Wisconsin cheese to offer you. The fire is nice and warm, and when we have eaten the bed would be comfortable! Oh well, it’s fun dreaming, but one of these days I’ll be back with you; there won’t be any need for dreaming then, for all my dreams will come true!
I went to a show tonight instead of eating supper, and that’s the reason for the snack now. I’m settled in a chair in front of the fire, I have on my pajamas, the blue ones, remember, and my robe, and it is nice and warm in here for a welcome change.
The tea is good, even if I do say so myself, and if I don’t say so, who will? Not that I’m getting expert at brewing the stuff, heaven forbid, but it is just as I like it, not very strong, sweet, and hot. The cheese is some your folks had sent, and it is excellent! Sure you wouldn’t like to take me up on my offer, and join me? You could sit on my lap in place of this portfolio and paper, and our visit would be infinitely better if I could just hold you in my arms and kiss you and tell you I love you. I do, you know, and I miss you too, every minute.
Henry came in at that point and we had some tea and have been talking. He is going to a dance at the mess New Years Eve, and wants me to go along. How about it, you want to go? I’m sure we could have a lot of fun; don’t I wish it? I do!
I just read a copy of Time. It was fairly old, Dec. 4, but new for over here. Although the news is old it helps a lot to get the news and opinions as expressed in the U.S., and not by the British press. There is a difference, you know. . .
. . . . . Bill and I decided we wanted to see a show, so instead of eating supper we caught a bus down to Leicester Square and saw “Kismet”, with Ronald Colman. It is another of those Arabian Nights type of stories, done beautifully in technicolor. Ronald Colman has always been a favorite actor of mine, and he is as good as ever in that. Good show! . . .
30 December ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . After lunch I went to pick up my coat at the cloak room at the mess, and there I ran into John Minech, a fellow from (my high school) Redondo. He is in the Ninth Air Force and is back here for a rest. I had seen him before in London, back about last May before the invasion. He came to the office with me, and we spent an hour talking, mostly “remember so and so, what’s he doing now?”. . .
We stopped by the Embassy to see a friend of Bill’s; in his office we met Richard Greene, a movie actor. I also looked through Arno’s cartoon book “Man in the Shower”, which is darn good. You remember that one in Life about a man swimming in the shower and pointing to the door knob, it had that one and a lot of other good ones. . . .
. . . . . From the office I went up to Bill’s apt. and had a couple of drinks of rye while he was getting cleaned up and dressed. (Slight pause while Henry brought me a cup of tea, we are out of coffee, and some melba toast in bed. That’s real service, isn’t it?). Bill finally got ready, and we left his place about eight; we caught a tube and went quite a way out south to the party. It was given by a gal Bill knows, she is Scotch, and it was her New Years party. The Scots don’t have Christmas day a holiday, but do have New Years, which the English don’t. The gal’s apartment was one of those two by four places, and it was jammed with people. Part of the time we went to the local pub and had some drinks, and the rest of the time we were in the apartment, eating and drinking. I didn’t feel in such a good mood, mostly tired and sleepy, so I didn’t drink much, sort of nursed one beer along all evening. We left there about 11:30 and I got off the tube at Leicester Square and walked the rest of the way home. I was real sleepy and went right to bed and to sleep. . .
31 December ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I don’t feel much like celebrating tonight; maybe this new year will see me back with you, and that’s worth drinking a toast to. . . . . . . . I went upstairs to the landlady’s apartment where the party was supposed to be, and no one was there (that was about 9:30), so I came on back here and went to bed and asleep. About eleven they came down and pulled me out of bed, so I dressed and went upstairs again. There was quite a crowd there, most, or maybe all of the occupants of the building are American officers. They had gotten hold of some oranges and limes and made a very good rum fruit punch. We sang and danced and drank til about three, when the party broke up; it was a lot of fun! The family up there aren’t exactly the landlord, but they take care of the building and make the beds, etc. Mr. Mac is quite a character and affects a cockney accent. I went to several parties there with Tom, even before I lived here. . .
1 January ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . Guess I’ll turn off the light soon and get some sleep. It is only ten now, which is darn early for me. I wish you were here beside me, my darling, it would be heaven to have you cuddled close to me again, and to kiss you, and to have your arms around me, and mine around you. I’ve practically looked the swimsuit off of this enlargement of you I made; and I want to be back there beside you, rubbing sun tan lotion on your back, and going for walks with you, or maybe a drive, just anything as long as I am with you! I miss you just a little, just every minute of every day and night! Whenever I go to a show, or play, or party, and get to enjoying myself, I think how much more fun it would be if only you were with me, and then I feel alone, and lonely. You are so much a part of me, God grant that we can be together soon, and start living again. Goodnight my darling wife, I love you with all of me. I love you! All my love and kisses, Glenn
2 January ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I didn’t get ready fast enough to go to the mess, so I had breakfast at the Reindeer. The breakfasts there are OK, except the toast is usually cold, the butter tastes like lard, the coffee must be warmed over from the night before, and the powdered milk is too diluted. Anyway it is something to eat, and it gives me the personal satisfaction of eating when I want to. . .
. . . . . Around four a British officer came in and I spent the rest of the afternoon talking with him; he had recently returned from two months in the U.S., so I got all the latest dope on what was going on there. I took him to supper at the Junior Officers Club after six; there was a big crowd waiting to eat, so it was after seven before we got into the dining room, meanwhile we had had three scotches each while we were waiting. . .
3 January ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . We met at the Dorchester Hotel and had a drink. There was Bill and Pat, and I took Madge, a former secretary of a colonel I know. Pat’s dad is Lord Leverholm, and has plenty of rocks, I understand; she is in the WREN, British Waves. Madge is very nice, well educated, and a good dancer. We went to the Mirabell Restaurant on Curzon Street; it is a restaurant-night club, at least it is a restaurant with dancing. It is a pretty good place, modern, with lots of mirrors and rich looking red window drapes. They had a small orchestra and a 2X4 dance floor. We had lobster dinner, which was good, and danced and drank the rest of the evening. The dance floor was so packed that it was almost impossible to dance. That was my first experience with London night clubs, and they aren’t too bad. It closed at 11:30, and from there we went to my apartment and had tea and grilled cheese on toast. Poor Henry was just going to sleep, and we kept him awake with our noise, I bet. We took the gals home at 12:30 and then I came home and went to bed. .
4 January ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
Happy anniversary, sweetheart! It’s just 2 1/2 years now, 30 months, since we were married. The only trouble is that too big a portion, 3/5ths, we’ve been apart, and I only wish we could start balancing the ledger the other way, but quick! I miss you so darn much, maybe if we hadn’t gotten married and had that year together, I wouldn’t know so well what we are missing, but the only regret I have is that we didn’t get married earlier. Oh well, one day, soon I hope, we’ll be together again, and this time apart will seem just like a bad dream, except maybe we won’t take as much for granted and will appreciate more being together. Might as well try to find some good out of our being apart, tho it is darn hard to convince myself there could be any good in such an arrangement. . .
. . . . . I stayed in the office til 10:30, and then walked home. There was some snow on the ground tonight, very thin, but it looked nice. . .
(In order for Betty to send packages from the States to me overseas, I had to request the items. The following letter requesting coffee was stamped by the Post Office when the coffee was sent.)
7 January ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . We are still out of coffee and I hate to buy any of this British stuff, it is half chicory. Why don’t you send me over a can. Is it still rationed, ot can you get all you want? . . .
. . . . . A felloow from the Reindeer Club came over wanting Henry, seems he told Mary he would send some packages home for her when she left for France. But he had never gotten around to doing it, and the packages were still sitting over there. So after I dressed I went over and sent them for her. . .
9 January ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . It had snowed during the night and everything was all white, tho it was so dark you couldn’t tell; but you could tell that the sidewalks and streets were slippery. I half walked and half slid up to the mess and had a good breakfast. I met the Navy joes there I was going with; they were three Commanders. Our car came about eight, and we left.
It was pretty slippery going for a while, so we took it easy, but arrived at our destination right on time. The countryside was beautiful with the snow; it was sticky and all the trees and bushes were coated and looked like white painted Christmas trees, and with a white carpet covering the ground; the sun came out and made it even better.
We saw the tests and then had dinner with the Brigadier out there; he shoved two shots of gin down us, and then we ate a pretty good meal. The Brigadier is quite a fellow, loves to cuss out the Americans for corrupting their language, or for any other reason he can think of. He has always been very nice to me on my visits tho. (This was Brigadier Lickman at Shoeburyness). . .
Guess I’ll see if I can answer your yesterday’s letters. My status here hasn’t been cleared up as yet, but I think it is pretty certain that we’ll be put on official status at the embassy. So far we have been assigned to the theater HQ and charged to their strength, but here on detached service. I think everyone has approved our change, but as usual we probably won’t know til the paperwork goes through, which should take some time. If something falls through, the chances are I’ll go on over to Paris, to another desk. It doesn’t bother me any, guess I’ve been in the army too long, I’d like to stay here, and I’d like to see some of the continent. It really doesn’t matter at all where I am, ‘cause the only place I want to be is back with you!! Glad you liked the perfume, “promotion fluid”, as I’ve heard the WACs call it here. . . (“Pretty certain” never happened. I was assigned elsewhere, and on detached service at the embassy for my entire stay in London. The only advantage of “official” status would have been an expense account for when we hosted British officers and we finally got that several months later.)
11 January ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . We had more snow yesterday that turned to slush today and generally made walking about disagreeable. We get a kick out of the charwomen during the snow or rain. It doesn’t matter what the weather is, it may be raining, or there may be two inches of dirt and slush mixed on the sidewalk, but they get down on their knees and scrub the front doorstep. . .
12 January ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I was in the General’s office for 45 minutes “briefing” him on the work I’ve been doing. He is really a nice guy, and we had a good chat. When I was leaving and started to put on my coat, he picked it up and held it for me, some service!! But it was embarrassing to me for some reason or other, guess I’ll have to read up on my military courtesy, ‘cause it seems like I should have saluted and walked out instead of having him help me into my coat!. . .
. . . . . I worked til about six, and then went to a show with Bill. We saw “Henry V”, which is a British production of Shakespeare’s play, done in technicolor. I thought it was very well done too, be sure and see it if it comes over there. I don’t think they handle the technical end as well as Hollywood does, but the acting is tops. Lawrence Olivier plays the lead, and he is really good. He is in that theatrical company that is putting on Peer Gynt, Richard lll, and Arms and the Man. They put each play on one day each week. Olivier takes the main part in Richard lll, but in Peer Gynt he has only a very small part; even there it was easy to see that he was a good actor. In Henry V they don’t present it just as a story, but start out at the Globe Theater and show the crowd coming in, and show some of the scenes as they were presented back then. Anyway it was really good.
After the show we went to Prunier's for supper, had oysters on the half shell, scallops, and a pretty good manhattan. I think I like that place best of the restaurants I’ve been to here. For one thing it is French cooking, and for another it is a very pleasant place, modernistic decorations, and fixed up nice. And you don’t have to bother reserving tables for after a show either, in fact they don’t take reservations for after eight, but there has always been plenty of room when I’ve gone there, all three or four times.
The show Henry V is put on just like a play, that is there is only one performance in the evening, and you had to reserve (book) seats, so that’s why we didn’t eat at the mess. . .
17 January ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
I was happy to get your Dec. 28 & 29 letters today. That was the big event of the day; the next was that Russ’s (Goss) promotion to chief warrant officer (CWO) came through, and we have just been celebrating it at the Junior Officer’s Mess. . .
. . . . .I walked up to the mess and had breakfast of fresh egg, cold cereal, etc, and still got to the office before 8:30. We had a meeting then, one of our regular affairs where we corral some poor unsuspecting visitor and make him talk to the group, telling us all he knows about his particular specialty.
I liked your joke; I heard a good one today too: concerns a marine named Goldstein. Seems Goldie wasn’t much of a soldier at training at Quantico, always gold bricking and getting into trouble. He was finally sent out to the Pacific; his instructor followed soon after. There he saw a bulletin board announcing the award of the Silver Star to Goldstein, killed 40 Japs. Next day he noticed another award to Goldie, an oak leaf cluster, killed 50 Japs. The instructor couldn’t figure it out, so he went to see Goldie’s Company Commander. After making sure it was the same guy, he asked what had produced the change. The Co. Commander replied that at first Goldstein had caused a lot of trouble, but then he took him aside and put a rifle on his shoulder, a couple bandoliers of ammo over his shoulders, a pistol and some grenades in his belt, a knife in his boot, and then said “Goldstein, now you’re in business for yourself!”. . .
20 January ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
Come on and climb in bed with me here, I think that my feet are cold enough now to get even with you a little, but then you’d probably put your colder feet on my legs, wouldn’t you! I could stand that tho, cause it wouldn’t be long before we would both be nice and warm, and I’d be happy. As it is I guess my feet will have to just get warm by themselves. I’m warm enough otherwise, but walking through the snow cooled off my pedal extremities.
. . . . . One of your letters had a picture of you and your Mom in it, sure wish that was my arm around your waist darling, you sure look good to me, I like your hair that way, and you’re so slim and lovable, and I do love you, with all of me. It was lucky Freer and Norene came up for that game, and I didn’t have a date, and you didn’t either, I wonder if we would have met someplace else tho. I like to think we would have. Anyway we did meet, and that’s what matters, and I’m glad we did and I’m glad we’re married. You mean everything to me, everything I love and live for is connected with you. Guess that’s why I miss you so much now.
Don’t know why my pen gets so tongue tied when I try to tell you how much I love you, but it does. It must not be something that can be rationalized enough to be put into words. Bet if you were here I could tell you a little better anyway. Guess I’ll go to sleep on that now and try to dream of you and finish this letter in the morning. Now if only you could snuggle close to me so I could feel the soft yet firm curves of your body pressed against me, I probably wouldn’t want to go to sleep then, tho! Goodnight my darling wife, I love you!!! . . .
22 January ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
I am in a strange room tonight, a very nice room tho, it is a hotel in Derby, the LMS Hotel, to be exact, the LMS standing for London, Midlands, and Scottish, which is a railroad, and this is a hotel run by the railroad. . . . . . . . . . I came up with a British major and a civilian. . .
23 January ‘45 Tuesday . . . . . We waited in the lounge til a car came to take us out to the plant. We met the president of the company, and he showed us through the plant himself. It was very interesting to me. We had lunch in the cafeteria, and then saw some more. About three we went back to the hotel and had a hurried “tea” before we caught the train back. . .
(After more than 60 years, the ink on the letters has in some cases almost faded away. How much it has faded seems to depend on the paper. Where the ink has faded, it is usually possible to read the letters only by scanning them, enhancing the brightness and contrast, and enlarging them.)
. . . . . The Col. told me I was going on a trip with him up Scotland way tomorrow night, so I spent time this afternoon arranging orders, etc. We will leave tomorrow night and get back early Saturday morning. . .
2 November ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . The car came for me at eight; it was a long affair that looked like it could hold six or seven passengers. We went by for a major and then the Colonel and finally arrived at the station. Russ had arranged for first class sleepers for us, which is a break, but the major and I don’t have them returning.
. . . . . The Colonel gathered a crowd of six in his room and the major’s, which adjoined, and we spent the rest of the evening talking and drinking. There were three British Brigadiers and the three of us. . .
3 November ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
Boy, oh boy, it was a job getting on this train, but I’m finally on, and in a first class sleeper so far. The train hasn’t started yet, so I may get kicked off any minute, although I guess that I won’t. It all came about ‘cause we couldn’t get first class reservations on the way back, so this morning I stopped in at the RTO and asked him to see what he could do for us. (RTO is Rail Transport Office.) When we got to the station tonight our RTO office was closed, so we went to the ticket office to see what they had for us, which was third class sleepers, so we picked those up and went on to supper. When we got back we went to the RTO and found they had gotten us first class reservations, but without canceling the third. We went to the ticket office again, but they didn’t want to exchange the tickets, especially since I’m a capt. and the sleepers go according to rank. The fellow with me is a major, so he was just at the bottom edge. We had to wait til 15 minutes before the train left in case some “higher ranking” officers came and wanted a sleeper. They didn’t, so here I am. The E.M. at the RTO I talked to this morning helped me a lot by putting me down as Maj. Burke, which undoubtedly got me my berth, but also complicated matters a little. Anyway I hope to get a good night’s sleep out of it.
The problems of traveling in England; it wouldn’t be so bad if the third class sleepers were any good, but they are in sense and substance just a seat you can lay out on and a blanket to cover you, and the first class sleepers are on a par with our roomettes in the States.
Getting back to “my day”, I was awakened at 5:30 with tea and a biscuit. I wrote a little more on your last night’s letter, and then got up and shaved, quite a trick on a moving train, and dressed. We went to the (Glasgow) station hotel for breakfast, and then caught another train (to an ICI Chemicals test facility south of Glasgow. The demonstration was the firing of a recoilless cannon). We spent all day at the demonstration, and it was cold as hell. I wore my GI shoes and field coat, and class “A”, but I should have had on long woolen underwear too, and didn’t.
We had a lunch that warmed me up plenty; sitting on the table was a pinch bottle of Haig & Haig scotch and I had a couple of good shots of that, and then a bottle of beer, and afterwards a glass of port. Can’t remember what I ate, and can you blame me? We came back to Glasgow late this afternoon and after checking my musette bag, went off to supper. There were five of us; two brigadiers, a lt. col., the major, and me. We had a very good supper; scotch first, oysters on the half shell, scallops, and dessert, with lager during the meal. After eating we went back to the station and I finally got on the train.
Slight interruption there; the Col. got on at a later station and I went down and talked with him for a few minutes. Now I’m back and in bed and it is a little cool in here. What I need is you to keep me warm; what I need is you, period! . . .
I enjoyed your description of what you have to go through to get the popular brands of cigarettes. It isn’t funny, but the way they keep them under the counter and you have to know the pass word is funny. Why don’t you have Mom send you a carton occasionally, she should be able to get them in the store. We still can get any brand we want here OK; guess that’s one thing they are shorting the States for to send over here. I love you too!! . . .
7 November ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
I just crawled into bed and brrrr, it is cold! I could use a hot water bottle, or you, at this point to keep me warm, and it’s no fun cuddling with a hot water bottle, so there wouldn’t be any choice there. . . . . It was very cold out today, winter has definitely set in here. . .
. . . . . After we ate supper, we caught a bus to the post theater. The play was “Skylark”, I think I have seen it as a movie. The actors were soldiers and Red Cross gals; it was a little amateurish, but on the whole very well put on, and free, so I should complain!. . .
How would you like to be the wife of a regular army officer, darling? I expect there’ll be an increase in the size of the army after the war, and I might be able to get in. I have to confess that at the time the thought of staying in the army doesn’t appeal to me very much, but it would probably be much better after the war. Moving around a lot doesn’t appeal to me, but there are advantages, security, and a lot of traveling. What do you think? . .
8 November ‘44 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . They broadcast the election returns over the PA system at the mess this morning, and even that early it was apparent that FDR was in again. There was considerable interest in the election shown in the papers and news broadcasts here, a lot more than would ever be shown in the States about an election here, I’m sure. Guess the election was about as important to England as it was to us, at that. The opinion here was unanimous for FDR, of course. . .
10 November ‘44 Friday My dearest;
. . . . . I got your swell letter of Sept. 30 today. It was kind of old, but it was such a nice letter that I didn’t care. Guess they must have known how nice it was, and then held it up that much longer. . . . . . . I worked along all morning, except when your letter came in, I read it and reread it. It sure made me feel good, you do something for me darling, even by your letters. Guess it’s ‘cause I love you, maybe it’s why I love you. Only I’d like to be with you and have you bolster up my feelings in person, but then they wouldn’t need bolstering!! . . .
12 November ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . After we ate we caught an underground to the football game. The game was between the army and the navy, the 8th Air Force supplying the army team. The game was at the White City Stadium, which is a pretty good sized place; it has a field large enough for a football field, and around that a regular 440 yard track, and outside that is a dog race track. The stands go all around the field and have a roof overhead, which probably is a necessity in England, came in handy today anyway. The crowd was big, mostly US but some British servicemen and civilians. Each side had a rooting section and band, with the army supplying the navy it’s band and most of it’s rooters as well. It was almost like a game back home, except for the weather; most of the time you couldn’t see all the way across the field from fog or mist, and of course nearly everyone was in uniform too.
It was a fairly evenly matched game, except that the army steamrolled over two touchdowns early in the game. The bands marched during the half, oh yes, each side had their mascot on the field; the navy had a billy goat, and the army had what looked like a burro. . .
18 November ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . We got down there at 11:40, which was 10 minutes late, and were told the demonstration was postponed til the afternoon, and would we please go back to the officers club. We did and had coffee and then spent from twelve til one drinking at the bar in the mess. There was a big crowd, and the popular metal there was brass, lots of big shots, or as one person put it, high priced help. We ate at one and then went on to the demonstration. That finished about five, and we piled into the cars and headed for home; I rode in the Colonel’s car. About half the way was driving in the blackout, and that is no picnic. . .
21 November ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . Looks like they’re slowly increasing the amount of light from the street lights around here. Tonight I noticed it was lighter around Grosvenor Square and down Bond Street. They don’t increase the light much, they call it “moonlighting”, but it is surprising how much difference even a little light can make in a blackout. . .
23 November ‘44 Thursday My dearest;
. . . . . Today was Thanksgiving Day here and in most of the States. It was a pretty nice day for me, except for two things; one is I didn’t get any mail from you, and the other is that you weren’t here!!. . . . . . . . . . . . At noon I went up to the mess and met Henry at the bar; we had a lager and then went downstairs to eat. It really was a good meal; they went all out to give us a real Thanksgiving meal. We had roast turkey, lots of it, and plenty of white meat, sweet potatoes, peas, pumpkin pie, orange, apple, candy, and celery, etc. I was filled up, but not uncomfortably so. After dinner I went back to the office and worked til 5:30; it was just a normal work day for us. . .
I walked on towards home through the newly lighted streets, stopped in at the Reindeer Red Cross club and had a coke. There was a dance in there and so I stayed til it ended at eleven; I danced with Mary and with several of the other girls there. Except the Red Cross gals all the gals were in formals, and they really looked good, it has been a long time since I’ve seen any formals, they don’t wear them much here. . .
24 November ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I went to lunch with the Col. and two British Cols. We ate at the Senior Officers Club and had a good meal, although it was pork. And free, too, the Col. paid for it, he has an expense account he can charge the total to whenever the party includes British. . .
25 November ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . About 5:20 Bill and I left to go to the mess. We ate right away and left at 5:45, we caught an underground and got to the Stoll Theater just as the play started at 6:15. When we went to the ticket agency they didn’t have any seats for the play, but they did have a box, so we took it, and saw the play in style! And the funny part about it was that it was cheaper that way than sitting in the “stalls”, or downstairs. We got the box for 36 shillings and 4 of us sat in it, so it was 9 shillings each, where the stalls would have cost 13 shillings. Russ and another fellow from N. Carolina sat with us. It was a musical, “The Lisbon Story”, and was a pretty good play, good singing, very nice costumes, and not a bad story.
After the play we caught the underground back to the nurses club and had some waffles and hot chocolate, and a dish of ice cream. They recently lifted the ban on making ice cream. Gosh, with the blackout relaxed, and making Ice cream again, the war must be nearly over! Don’t I wish!. . . .
26 November ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . Most of the fellows were in the office this afternoon, including Marty, who just got back from a trip to France. He brought back the news that the Saint and George had both been promoted to captains. I was glad to hear that, George had been in grade two years, and not ‘cause he wasn’t a good man, but just because of the setup he was under. Guess I told you before that Gordie French also got his captaincy a month or so ago, I just recently heard about it. . .
27 November ‘44 Monday My darling wife;
I got two letters today, yours of Nov. 2, and one from (my brother) Ray, written Nov. 13, just after he had visited you. It’s swell he got to see you, I wish he could get to this part of the world as long as he is doing this globe trotting, but he said he didn’t think there was a chance that he would. . .
. . . . . Russ and I went to see “Happy & Glorious”, a revue at the Palladium, the same place where “This is the Army” played. The big star of the show was Tommie Trinder, who is the big shot comedian around here, and confidentially, he stinks. For a man who is supposed to be a top flight comedian, he used the oldest gags, and not very good ones at that. The rest of the show was good tho, nice costumes and good singing and dancing. There was a negress who had a very good voice, and then a little redhead who could both sing and dance. The chorus, like all I’ve seen here wasn’t too good; judging from their legs they would have made a good football team. The sets were outstanding, with revolving stages, and all. . .
28 November ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . It is just two years since I pinned on my gold bars and grabbed a train to meet you. That was a happy day, and there have been a lot more since then, but not lately! . . .
It was still dark out as I walked up to the mess, not really dark, but sort of first light and dark enough to make me feel that much sleepier. There is a powerful psychological effect about getting up when it is still dark.
I had a leisurely breakfast of powdered eggs and potatoes, cereal, prunes, toast, and coffee. They dropped the price of breakfast to one shilling from 1/6, so now the cost of the days meals total 4 shillings, or 80 cents, instead of the previous 5/6, or $1.10; this is the lowest they have ever been since I’ve been here. . .
The Col. went along too. We had a Ford 6 today, and it felt good to ride in it. We saw the demonstration, and I got soaked on my legs below my field coat from the rain, kept warm with the long woolens on tho. We had lunch at a local pub, and then headed back to town. We stopped at Southend and I tried to get some oysters, but the shop was closed for lunch so I didn’t get any.
. . . . . I wrapped up some perfume to send to you and will mail it tomorrow. It is some I had the Prof get for me since I don’t seem to make much progress in getting my trip to France; he sent it back by Marty. Hope it gets through the mail undamaged; it should since I wrapped it pretty good. Let me know when, and in what condition, it arrives.
Bill heard from his youngest brother, he had arrived in England, so he tried to call him tonight. Got his outfit, he is a private in a hospital, but his brother wasn't in. . .
. . . . . I soaked in a hot tub and then read one of the books I bought. This one is called “London West” and gives sketches and narrative on the “social” life of west London before the war. It is interesting to me ‘cause I’ve seen most of the places it mentions, and know the districts, and what they are like now, and have been to some of the restaurants mentioned. I thought you’d be interested too. . .
I’ve been getting to bed at a somewhat decent hour lately, but the last couple of nights I haven't gone right to sleep when I turn off the light; I just lay there and toss and think of you and miss you an awful lot darling. I love you and want to be with you, and instead there is a vacant place in my bed and a vacant or lost feeling in my heart. Goodnight my darling wife, please come to me in my dreams. I love you with all of me, I love you.
All my love and kisses, Glenn
30 November ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . I met my car outside the mess at eight. I had a nice ride, getting there about eleven. We went by Stonehenge on the way, so we stopped and went in and looked it over, very interesting. I took some pictures and will send them along soon if they come out OK. . .
1 December ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . About six Russ came over and we left the office. We caught a taxi to the Overseas Club, where we’d been invited for dinner. It was an Anglo-American dinner in the India Hall of the Overseas league, a very nice affair. Before dinner we drank scotch and soda, and they were free. I was informed so many bottles of scotch had been rationed for the affair, so I felt no compunction about asking for refills. We had a very good chicken dinner. There were quite a variety of officers present, including US Army, Australian Air Force, British Army, Navy, & Royal Air Force. While we were eating, we drank beer, and any time the glass would tend to get empty a lackey would fill it up. When I was in the middle of my dessert a US Officer at the speakers table (they always get served first) arose and said in a loud voice “Gentlemen”, everyone arose, and then he said “the King”, and we drank a toast to the King. We had almost gotten seated again when a British officer toasted the President, so that meant arising again.
When we had finished eating, the toastmaster introduced the speaker after telling a couple of funny stories. The toastmaster was a British Navy joe, and he had a very expressive face, something like the fellow in the movies that played the part of Lincoln. The speaker was a US Captain who gave a very good talk; he was a former Olympic swimmer, who I had met before. He had a marvelous physique, like a tarzan. Afterwards we gathered around the bar again and drank beer and swapped stories with a couple of English RAF officers. . .
. . . . . . . You were right about the Reindeer Red Cross Club being right across the street. It is number nine and I am at 15 Clifford Street, flat one.
10 December ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I got here in Malvern about three, in a pouring rain and no taxis at the railroad station, so I walked up to the hotel. It was OK tho ‘cause I had my field coat on, and I didn’t get wet. After I unloaded my stuff in my room I went downstairs to the lounge. I had some “tea” there to hold me over til supper time. This place is really an example of a quiet English hotel. Malvern is one of those “resorts” where old people come to spend their declining years, and some of those I saw in the lounge look like a page out of an old fashioned novel; an old lady with long black dress and white hair piled up on top of her head and the little black ribbon around her neck. . .
12 December ‘44 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . The fellow I was “visiting” yesterday came by for me in his car, he was coming to London and offered me a lift, so I took it. It was a dark damp day, not much rain, but the streets were wet, so the windshield (windscreen) got muddy whenever we were behind another car. We were rolling along very nicely when he grazed the hub of a cart that was standing at the side of the road. It didn’t hurt the cart much, but it put a pleat in the front and rear fenders (wings here), and disrupted my confidence in the driver a lot so that I wasn’t too at ease the rest of the way. We made it without further incident however.
We went out of our way to go through Oxford, so I could have a glance at the town. The main road bypasses the town, so even tho I’ve been by there many times, I hadn’t seen it. Looks interesting, I’ll have to go there some weekend and really see it. I rode to Uxbridge in the car, that was as far as he was going, and took the underground on in. . .
13 December ‘44 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I finally got dressed and walked up to the mess, got there about 8:20, and as I walked in the door was greeted by a notice that after this week, breakfast will only be served until 8:15 on weekdays. Guess I’ll have to get up earlier, or do without breakfast, or find some other place to eat. I ate and got to the office about 8:45; the Col. was in the room when I came in, and he said that he saw where there was a conspiracy to get me to work on time! He said it jokingly tho, and then he said we didn’t have to pay attention to the regular hours since we are always in here so much at night, and put in so much extra time. That was the way I felt about it.
. . . . . Bill and I went over to the Embassy and paid our money for the Xmas party that is this Sunday. From there I went to the AG office and signed out and in for the trip I took last weekend; I never seem to remember to sign out until I get back. Then I went to the Finance office and collected for my hotel and food for my trip before returning to the office. . .
Later. After I signed off above I gathered my pictures and coat and walked home. A Navy officer stopped me on the way, he was lost in the fog; I got him straightened out and got home myself without too much trouble. We had a nasty fog most of the day, not a real pea-souper, but pretty bad. When it is foggy even the rooms inside get that yellowish smokey haze. . .
14 December ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . About 5:45 Bill and I left and caught a bus down to Charing Cross and then walked up to the New Theater to see Peer Gynt. We got in and seated just as the lights went down and the show started at 6:15. It was really a good show, the best acting I’ve ever seen here. Ralph Richardson, who played the part of Peer, was especially good. The music was pretty well done too. It was a fantastic thing in spots, but they really handled it right. The Old Vic Company who put it on has three plays going now, and each one is on about once a week. I’ll have to try and see the others ‘cause the same people are in them, so the acting should be good. The theater is fairly small, but has three balconies, the top one up in the rafters about like that theater we went to once in S.F. to see “Claudia”, remember? After the show we caught a subway back to the Nurses Club for a snack and some ice cream. . .
15 December ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
Here I am again, and with your swell letters of Nov. 20, 21, & 22 to keep me company. I can’t exactly take a letter in my arms and kiss it, but next to being with you, a letter is best. I hope your sore back is all well now, and if it came from too heavy work, you should be paddled. Don’t attempt any sort of heavy lifting darling, please. . .
I spent most of the afternoon writing up my trip to Malvern. Trips are nice, but writing reports on them isn’t so nice. I don’t have to write up all of them tho, thank goodness. . .
I went to another play tonight; Lucile invited me to go with them. They had invited another fellow, but he couldn’t make it, and then she asked me. I thought it was nice of her. About six her husband came by, he is an American captain, and we left for the show. We tried to get a cab, but soon gave that up and caught a bus to the theater. We met Lucile’s father and mother there and went in together. I don’t care too much for Lucile personally, but her parents sure are swell people, and probably spoiled their only child. Her father is a representative here for a US optical company.
The play was “No Medals” and was about wartime England, mostly the troubles experienced by housewives. It was very interesting, and had some good acting. Between the acts we went up to the bar and had a drink. We caught a subway back; they invited me along to have some supper, but I refused ‘cause I wanted to get to bed somewhat early tonight. . .
17 December ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
Happy Birthday darling! Now you’re as old as I am again, aren’t you. How does it feel to be an old woman of 24, and still look like you’re 18?. . .
It was close to the time I was to meet Lucile and Mrs. Finney and the kids, so I caught a taxi up to the Baker Street tube station. I waited there and soon they all arrived, Lucile and Jim, her husband, Mrs. Finney, and the two boys. We walked down to Seymour Hall where the party was being held. There was a gang of kids and adults there; I would guess there was a total of six or seven hundred. They had a bunch of Mickey Mouse cartoons, a Punch & Judy show, and then a magician. After that they had “tea”; I was surprised to see all those kids, some only three or so, drinking tea, and I guess it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
After tea they distributed the presents to the kids; had a big tree and Father Christmas, not Santa, and all. The presents took a long time ‘cause they had them all made up in advance, with the kids’ name on them, and called them up a few at a time. That made it slower, but better since they could arrange the presents by the child’s age and sex. They all got candy and an orange too.
Bill brought an English captain and his wife and child, and another little boy. The two little boys, about four, were sure cute. I saw the Col. there too, he had a little girl and her mother with him. I think that all the kids had a good time, and I think it was worth the pound I had to pay just to watch them. . .
About eight thirty I went over to the Reindeer where there was a dance going on. Unusually enough there weren’t many fellows there, in fact there were more girls than officers, so I danced quite a few dances. There was a girl that I know, she is an American, and works at the Embassy, and goes with a fellow I know. He wasn’t there, so I had several dances with her and then escorted her and her roommate home after the dance. . .
Goodnight my darling wife. I miss you so darn much, I want to kiss you, and go for a walk with you, and lie in bed late with you on Sundays, and just generally be with you all the time, and especially have your head on my shoulder and you cuddled close to me when I go to sleep. . .
18 December ‘44 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . . About 5:30 I went to the mess with Bill; we had a lager and then ate. There was a major at our table that had just come back from the front, and he had some interesting tales to tell. The counter attack by the Germans is a nasty bit of news, isn’t it? But then maybe the Germans don’t believe all our commentators say about them being defeated already. One thing tho, when it is beaten off, in the long run it should help to shorten the war ‘cause it takes a lot of men and ammunition to carry out a large scale offensive, and I don’t think they can well afford it! Now look who is trying to be an arm chair strategist, how did I get on this vein?
To get back to my day, we went back to the office after supper, but I didn’t stay long. I picked up some food the secretary got me on my ration card and carted it home, got here about eight. I was feeling restless then so I went out for a walk. It was a nice night and the search lights were making pretty patterns in the sky practicing tracking airplanes which moved like bright stars across the sky, held in the vertex of the cones of light. . .
Well my dearest it is time for your husband to hit the hay. Sure hope you come to me in my dreams tonight, I’d like to have you in my arms for a while even if only in a dream. It would be like a dream, a heavenly dream, to be with you again and have your warmth cuddled close beside me, and yes, your cold feet on my legs too. So, til that dream comes true, and may God grant that it be soon, I’ll just have to say goodnight my darling wife, I love you and want you and miss you every minute. It’s no fun living without a heart, and mine is with you. Goodnight sweet, I love you, I love you!! All my love and kisses, Glenn
20 December ‘44 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . Bill, Marty, and I stumbled through the fog to Claridges Hotel where the Military Attaché’s cocktail party was being held. That’s one of the super exclusive, or rather expensive, places. It was a good party, lots of good Manhattans and Seagrams whisky. The crowd was very cosmopolitan too, besides lots of American and British, there were Russians, Chinese,
Turkish, Argentine, Mexican, Poles, Danes, Norwegian, and about every nationality imaginable. All of the allies were in uniform, and there sure was a variety of them. The neutrals of course were in civies. We drank from six to about nine, and as usual I got too much. I staggered home and after getting rid of the excess liquor I went to bed and to sleep. . .
23 December ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . The Prof. had just gotten in from Paris; I talked with him for a while, and at eight went downstairs to the party. The party was given by the office that has the floor under us; they had fixed up a room on the ground floor, and had really fixed it up nice too. They had a Christmas tree all decorated, and holly and mistletoe strewn all over, and had gotten a phonograph and records from Special Services. They had food galore and beer, but no liquor. People didn’t start to arrive until about eight thirty. Bill, Russ, Fred, and Marty were there, and Marks and about three secretaries from the other office, and then about eight other fellows and some more girls.
It was a swell party, darling, I had a lot of fun, danced with every girl there, I think, and everyone seemed to enter into the spirit. The party broke up about 12:30, but one of the secretaries and the gal who came with her didn’t get ready to leave until it was too late to catch the last train home. The next hour and a half was spent trying to get them fixed up for the night, Marks tried the WAC billet and the Red Cross and several other places, but no luck. We finally fixed them a couple of cots in their office, guess they’ll get some sleep there. . .
24 December ‘44 Sunday Christmas Eve My darling wife;
. . . . . I walked to Bill and Russ’s apartment. This was about 3:30. There were a few people there, Marks, Mackay, Marty, and another fellow, besides Bill and Russ. We drank champagne Russ brought back from Paris and sang carols and then any songs we could remember. I stayed there til about eight thirty; towards the end we had some toast and coffee, which served to awaken me a little, I was getting pretty sleepy.
At eight thirty I went on to Lucile’s cocktail party, just caught the end of that and didn’t stay long. Then I caught an underground home, got here about 9:30.
Henry was having a party, I thought it was going to be just a few people, but when I arrived the place was packed, all the people from his office were here. I joined in, I couldn’t have gone to bed anyway, it was piled with about three layers of coats. They all left to go to midnight mass about 11:30, so I came on to bed. I would have gone too, but my cold was acting up, and I didn’t feel too good, so I went to sleep. . .
It doesn’t seem like Christmas darling, and probably won’t unless I can spend it at home with you. I miss you so very very much, every minute of the day. ‘Bye for now my darling wife, I hope you are having a “Merry Christmas”. I love you darling, I love you. All my love and kisses, Glenn
25 December ‘44 Monday Christmas My darling wife;
. . . . . Then Henry and I got dressed and walked up to the mess about 1:30, we almost had a white Christmas, but from frost and fog, not snow. We met a friend of Henry’s and ate Christmas dinner; we had roast turkey and all the trimmings, but I didn’t feel too in the mood for a heavy dinner. I did pretty good tho, considering I wasn’t very hungry. . .
I went up to the mess to meet Russ and Marks, they were going to the party with me. They came about 5:10 and we went out in the fog to try and get some transportation. The underground went on strike today, just a one day affair, I think, but we knew of a train we could take, it is about ten miles out of town where we wanted to go. Our problem came in trying to get to the station. The busses weren’t running, all except a few stop around four on Sundays and holidays, and taxis just weren’t to be had. After a half hour of freezing waiting for a taxi or bus or whatever we could get, we gave up and went back to the mess. It would have been the same when we got back to the station, and we would have had to walk from there, so we called the people and said so sorry, we can’t make it.
For a city that is supposed to be cosmopolitan, this joint sure rolls up it’s sidewalks early. Even on ordinary days it is almost impossible to get transportation of any kind after 11:30 when the underground stops running, and the busses stop much earlier. Or have I sung this song before. Anyway, I think we missed a good party. It was given by the family of a secretary in Marks’s office; they have a large home in the country. . .
. . . . . It didn’t seem at all like Christmas today, except for the dinner, more like a Sunday. I surely hope I’ll be back with you next Christmas; I was so darn sure I’d be there this year when I wrote the same thing last year, but I’m not a very good guesser! But I do love you so very much darling and want to spend every day and night with you. Guess I should be thankful that all I have to worry about is - no, I won’t say it - I am thankful that I’m not up in the front lines, but that doesn’t stop me from missing you every minute. I love you darling, more than I can ever say, please come to me in my dreams tonight. I want to hold you close and to kiss you, goodnight my darling wife, I love you with all my heart and soul. I love you!!
All my love and kisses, Glenn
(My only worry, which I wouldn’t say, probably was the V2 rockets, which started right after the buzz bombs were practically stopped. The rockets weren’t the psychological problem the buzz bombs were; there was little or no warning, just the boom of their 2000 pound bomb, and if you heard the boom, you were probably OK. So we went about our normal activities and trusted to probability we wouldn’t be hit, but they were in the back of our minds through March)
28 December ‘44 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . I walked to the party with Bill and Lucile; it was another Military Attaché affair, and all the officers and American secretaries were there, and a few of the British secretaries. It was held at a colonel’s flat, which was very spacious . There was good liquor, I concentrated on manhattans, which were made with good old Seagrams bourbon; I watched my consumption better than last Wednesday, and didn’t have too much.
After the party ended at eight I took one of the girls to supper. She is a British secretary, works for a colonel that I work with a lot. She is a quiet and pleasant type, small and dark hair. We went by the Junior Officers Club, but they had stopped serving, so we went on to Prunier's for supper. Had some very good oysters on the half shell, chicken, and ice cream for dessert. I forgot to mention that I wrapped up the books and they are all ready to send to you now. “London West” has a description of Prunier's, and a sketch of the bar, we were in the room beyond, which is described in the book. Russ and a gal came in as we were starting to eat and joined us at our table.
After supper we walked to Picadilly and had a scotch and soda at the bar of the Berkeley Hotel (I tried to spell it Barkley like it is pronounced). From there we walked to the English Speaking Union where she was staying for the night, and then I came on home. . .
(Betty was very upset, and let me know it, about my ”dating” . This letter, and the day before letter were recovered from a mail carrying airplane that was in an accident. The letters were slightly burned, and were forwarded in another envelope postmarked Jan. 29th by the postmaster.)
29 December ‘44 Friday My darling wife;
Come along and join me in my snack sweetheart, I have tea and toast and Wisconsin cheese to offer you. The fire is nice and warm, and when we have eaten the bed would be comfortable! Oh well, it’s fun dreaming, but one of these days I’ll be back with you; there won’t be any need for dreaming then, for all my dreams will come true!
I went to a show tonight instead of eating supper, and that’s the reason for the snack now. I’m settled in a chair in front of the fire, I have on my pajamas, the blue ones, remember, and my robe, and it is nice and warm in here for a welcome change.
The tea is good, even if I do say so myself, and if I don’t say so, who will? Not that I’m getting expert at brewing the stuff, heaven forbid, but it is just as I like it, not very strong, sweet, and hot. The cheese is some your folks had sent, and it is excellent! Sure you wouldn’t like to take me up on my offer, and join me? You could sit on my lap in place of this portfolio and paper, and our visit would be infinitely better if I could just hold you in my arms and kiss you and tell you I love you. I do, you know, and I miss you too, every minute.
Henry came in at that point and we had some tea and have been talking. He is going to a dance at the mess New Years Eve, and wants me to go along. How about it, you want to go? I’m sure we could have a lot of fun; don’t I wish it? I do!
I just read a copy of Time. It was fairly old, Dec. 4, but new for over here. Although the news is old it helps a lot to get the news and opinions as expressed in the U.S., and not by the British press. There is a difference, you know. . .
. . . . . Bill and I decided we wanted to see a show, so instead of eating supper we caught a bus down to Leicester Square and saw “Kismet”, with Ronald Colman. It is another of those Arabian Nights type of stories, done beautifully in technicolor. Ronald Colman has always been a favorite actor of mine, and he is as good as ever in that. Good show! . . .
30 December ‘44 Saturday My darling wife;
. . . . . After lunch I went to pick up my coat at the cloak room at the mess, and there I ran into John Minech, a fellow from (my high school) Redondo. He is in the Ninth Air Force and is back here for a rest. I had seen him before in London, back about last May before the invasion. He came to the office with me, and we spent an hour talking, mostly “remember so and so, what’s he doing now?”. . .
We stopped by the Embassy to see a friend of Bill’s; in his office we met Richard Greene, a movie actor. I also looked through Arno’s cartoon book “Man in the Shower”, which is darn good. You remember that one in Life about a man swimming in the shower and pointing to the door knob, it had that one and a lot of other good ones. . . .
. . . . . From the office I went up to Bill’s apt. and had a couple of drinks of rye while he was getting cleaned up and dressed. (Slight pause while Henry brought me a cup of tea, we are out of coffee, and some melba toast in bed. That’s real service, isn’t it?). Bill finally got ready, and we left his place about eight; we caught a tube and went quite a way out south to the party. It was given by a gal Bill knows, she is Scotch, and it was her New Years party. The Scots don’t have Christmas day a holiday, but do have New Years, which the English don’t. The gal’s apartment was one of those two by four places, and it was jammed with people. Part of the time we went to the local pub and had some drinks, and the rest of the time we were in the apartment, eating and drinking. I didn’t feel in such a good mood, mostly tired and sleepy, so I didn’t drink much, sort of nursed one beer along all evening. We left there about 11:30 and I got off the tube at Leicester Square and walked the rest of the way home. I was real sleepy and went right to bed and to sleep. . .
31 December ‘44 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . I don’t feel much like celebrating tonight; maybe this new year will see me back with you, and that’s worth drinking a toast to. . . . . . . . I went upstairs to the landlady’s apartment where the party was supposed to be, and no one was there (that was about 9:30), so I came on back here and went to bed and asleep. About eleven they came down and pulled me out of bed, so I dressed and went upstairs again. There was quite a crowd there, most, or maybe all of the occupants of the building are American officers. They had gotten hold of some oranges and limes and made a very good rum fruit punch. We sang and danced and drank til about three, when the party broke up; it was a lot of fun! The family up there aren’t exactly the landlord, but they take care of the building and make the beds, etc. Mr. Mac is quite a character and affects a cockney accent. I went to several parties there with Tom, even before I lived here. . .
1 January ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
. . . . . Guess I’ll turn off the light soon and get some sleep. It is only ten now, which is darn early for me. I wish you were here beside me, my darling, it would be heaven to have you cuddled close to me again, and to kiss you, and to have your arms around me, and mine around you. I’ve practically looked the swimsuit off of this enlargement of you I made; and I want to be back there beside you, rubbing sun tan lotion on your back, and going for walks with you, or maybe a drive, just anything as long as I am with you! I miss you just a little, just every minute of every day and night! Whenever I go to a show, or play, or party, and get to enjoying myself, I think how much more fun it would be if only you were with me, and then I feel alone, and lonely. You are so much a part of me, God grant that we can be together soon, and start living again. Goodnight my darling wife, I love you with all of me. I love you! All my love and kisses, Glenn
2 January ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . I didn’t get ready fast enough to go to the mess, so I had breakfast at the Reindeer. The breakfasts there are OK, except the toast is usually cold, the butter tastes like lard, the coffee must be warmed over from the night before, and the powdered milk is too diluted. Anyway it is something to eat, and it gives me the personal satisfaction of eating when I want to. . .
. . . . . Around four a British officer came in and I spent the rest of the afternoon talking with him; he had recently returned from two months in the U.S., so I got all the latest dope on what was going on there. I took him to supper at the Junior Officers Club after six; there was a big crowd waiting to eat, so it was after seven before we got into the dining room, meanwhile we had had three scotches each while we were waiting. . .
3 January ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
. . . . . We met at the Dorchester Hotel and had a drink. There was Bill and Pat, and I took Madge, a former secretary of a colonel I know. Pat’s dad is Lord Leverholm, and has plenty of rocks, I understand; she is in the WREN, British Waves. Madge is very nice, well educated, and a good dancer. We went to the Mirabell Restaurant on Curzon Street; it is a restaurant-night club, at least it is a restaurant with dancing. It is a pretty good place, modern, with lots of mirrors and rich looking red window drapes. They had a small orchestra and a 2X4 dance floor. We had lobster dinner, which was good, and danced and drank the rest of the evening. The dance floor was so packed that it was almost impossible to dance. That was my first experience with London night clubs, and they aren’t too bad. It closed at 11:30, and from there we went to my apartment and had tea and grilled cheese on toast. Poor Henry was just going to sleep, and we kept him awake with our noise, I bet. We took the gals home at 12:30 and then I came home and went to bed. .
4 January ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
Happy anniversary, sweetheart! It’s just 2 1/2 years now, 30 months, since we were married. The only trouble is that too big a portion, 3/5ths, we’ve been apart, and I only wish we could start balancing the ledger the other way, but quick! I miss you so darn much, maybe if we hadn’t gotten married and had that year together, I wouldn’t know so well what we are missing, but the only regret I have is that we didn’t get married earlier. Oh well, one day, soon I hope, we’ll be together again, and this time apart will seem just like a bad dream, except maybe we won’t take as much for granted and will appreciate more being together. Might as well try to find some good out of our being apart, tho it is darn hard to convince myself there could be any good in such an arrangement. . .
. . . . . I stayed in the office til 10:30, and then walked home. There was some snow on the ground tonight, very thin, but it looked nice. . .
(In order for Betty to send packages from the States to me overseas, I had to request the items. The following letter requesting coffee was stamped by the Post Office when the coffee was sent.)
7 January ‘45 Sunday My darling wife;
. . . . . We are still out of coffee and I hate to buy any of this British stuff, it is half chicory. Why don’t you send me over a can. Is it still rationed, ot can you get all you want? . . .
. . . . . A felloow from the Reindeer Club came over wanting Henry, seems he told Mary he would send some packages home for her when she left for France. But he had never gotten around to doing it, and the packages were still sitting over there. So after I dressed I went over and sent them for her. . .
9 January ‘45 Tuesday My darling wife;
. . . . . It had snowed during the night and everything was all white, tho it was so dark you couldn’t tell; but you could tell that the sidewalks and streets were slippery. I half walked and half slid up to the mess and had a good breakfast. I met the Navy joes there I was going with; they were three Commanders. Our car came about eight, and we left.
It was pretty slippery going for a while, so we took it easy, but arrived at our destination right on time. The countryside was beautiful with the snow; it was sticky and all the trees and bushes were coated and looked like white painted Christmas trees, and with a white carpet covering the ground; the sun came out and made it even better.
We saw the tests and then had dinner with the Brigadier out there; he shoved two shots of gin down us, and then we ate a pretty good meal. The Brigadier is quite a fellow, loves to cuss out the Americans for corrupting their language, or for any other reason he can think of. He has always been very nice to me on my visits tho. (This was Brigadier Lickman at Shoeburyness). . .
Guess I’ll see if I can answer your yesterday’s letters. My status here hasn’t been cleared up as yet, but I think it is pretty certain that we’ll be put on official status at the embassy. So far we have been assigned to the theater HQ and charged to their strength, but here on detached service. I think everyone has approved our change, but as usual we probably won’t know til the paperwork goes through, which should take some time. If something falls through, the chances are I’ll go on over to Paris, to another desk. It doesn’t bother me any, guess I’ve been in the army too long, I’d like to stay here, and I’d like to see some of the continent. It really doesn’t matter at all where I am, ‘cause the only place I want to be is back with you!! Glad you liked the perfume, “promotion fluid”, as I’ve heard the WACs call it here. . . (“Pretty certain” never happened. I was assigned elsewhere, and on detached service at the embassy for my entire stay in London. The only advantage of “official” status would have been an expense account for when we hosted British officers and we finally got that several months later.)
11 January ‘45 Thursday My darling wife;
. . . . . We had more snow yesterday that turned to slush today and generally made walking about disagreeable. We get a kick out of the charwomen during the snow or rain. It doesn’t matter what the weather is, it may be raining, or there may be two inches of dirt and slush mixed on the sidewalk, but they get down on their knees and scrub the front doorstep. . .
12 January ‘45 Friday My darling wife;
. . . . . I was in the General’s office for 45 minutes “briefing” him on the work I’ve been doing. He is really a nice guy, and we had a good chat. When I was leaving and started to put on my coat, he picked it up and held it for me, some service!! But it was embarrassing to me for some reason or other, guess I’ll have to read up on my military courtesy, ‘cause it seems like I should have saluted and walked out instead of having him help me into my coat!. . .
. . . . . I worked til about six, and then went to a show with Bill. We saw “Henry V”, which is a British production of Shakespeare’s play, done in technicolor. I thought it was very well done too, be sure and see it if it comes over there. I don’t think they handle the technical end as well as Hollywood does, but the acting is tops. Lawrence Olivier plays the lead, and he is really good. He is in that theatrical company that is putting on Peer Gynt, Richard lll, and Arms and the Man. They put each play on one day each week. Olivier takes the main part in Richard lll, but in Peer Gynt he has only a very small part; even there it was easy to see that he was a good actor. In Henry V they don’t present it just as a story, but start out at the Globe Theater and show the crowd coming in, and show some of the scenes as they were presented back then. Anyway it was really good.
After the show we went to Prunier's for supper, had oysters on the half shell, scallops, and a pretty good manhattan. I think I like that place best of the restaurants I’ve been to here. For one thing it is French cooking, and for another it is a very pleasant place, modernistic decorations, and fixed up nice. And you don’t have to bother reserving tables for after a show either, in fact they don’t take reservations for after eight, but there has always been plenty of room when I’ve gone there, all three or four times.
The show Henry V is put on just like a play, that is there is only one performance in the evening, and you had to reserve (book) seats, so that’s why we didn’t eat at the mess. . .
17 January ‘45 Wednesday My darling wife;
I was happy to get your Dec. 28 & 29 letters today. That was the big event of the day; the next was that Russ’s (Goss) promotion to chief warrant officer (CWO) came through, and we have just been celebrating it at the Junior Officer’s Mess. . .
. . . . .I walked up to the mess and had breakfast of fresh egg, cold cereal, etc, and still got to the office before 8:30. We had a meeting then, one of our regular affairs where we corral some poor unsuspecting visitor and make him talk to the group, telling us all he knows about his particular specialty.
I liked your joke; I heard a good one today too: concerns a marine named Goldstein. Seems Goldie wasn’t much of a soldier at training at Quantico, always gold bricking and getting into trouble. He was finally sent out to the Pacific; his instructor followed soon after. There he saw a bulletin board announcing the award of the Silver Star to Goldstein, killed 40 Japs. Next day he noticed another award to Goldie, an oak leaf cluster, killed 50 Japs. The instructor couldn’t figure it out, so he went to see Goldie’s Company Commander. After making sure it was the same guy, he asked what had produced the change. The Co. Commander replied that at first Goldstein had caused a lot of trouble, but then he took him aside and put a rifle on his shoulder, a couple bandoliers of ammo over his shoulders, a pistol and some grenades in his belt, a knife in his boot, and then said “Goldstein, now you’re in business for yourself!”. . .
20 January ‘45 Saturday My darling wife;
Come on and climb in bed with me here, I think that my feet are cold enough now to get even with you a little, but then you’d probably put your colder feet on my legs, wouldn’t you! I could stand that tho, cause it wouldn’t be long before we would both be nice and warm, and I’d be happy. As it is I guess my feet will have to just get warm by themselves. I’m warm enough otherwise, but walking through the snow cooled off my pedal extremities.
. . . . . One of your letters had a picture of you and your Mom in it, sure wish that was my arm around your waist darling, you sure look good to me, I like your hair that way, and you’re so slim and lovable, and I do love you, with all of me. It was lucky Freer and Norene came up for that game, and I didn’t have a date, and you didn’t either, I wonder if we would have met someplace else tho. I like to think we would have. Anyway we did meet, and that’s what matters, and I’m glad we did and I’m glad we’re married. You mean everything to me, everything I love and live for is connected with you. Guess that’s why I miss you so much now.
Don’t know why my pen gets so tongue tied when I try to tell you how much I love you, but it does. It must not be something that can be rationalized enough to be put into words. Bet if you were here I could tell you a little better anyway. Guess I’ll go to sleep on that now and try to dream of you and finish this letter in the morning. Now if only you could snuggle close to me so I could feel the soft yet firm curves of your body pressed against me, I probably wouldn’t want to go to sleep then, tho! Goodnight my darling wife, I love you!!! . . .
22 January ‘45 Monday My darling wife;
I am in a strange room tonight, a very nice room tho, it is a hotel in Derby, the LMS Hotel, to be exact, the LMS standing for London, Midlands, and Scottish, which is a railroad, and this is a hotel run by the railroad. . . . . . . . . . I came up with a British major and a civilian. . .
23 January ‘45 Tuesday . . . . . We waited in the lounge til a car came to take us out to the plant. We met the president of the company, and he showed us through the plant himself. It was very interesting to me. We had lunch in the cafeteria, and then saw some more. About three we went back to the hotel and had a hurried “tea” before we caught the train back. . .
(After more than 60 years, the ink on the letters has in some cases almost faded away. How much it has faded seems to depend on the paper. Where the ink has faded, it is usually possible to read the letters only by scanning them, enhancing the brightness and contrast, and enlarging them.)
posted by Betty & Glenn Burke | 4:03 PM
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