06 January, 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 527 % Postmaster, N.Y.

England

January 6, 1944    1415

Dearest darling Wilma –

Unlike some days, when I actually don’t know what to write about, today I just don’t know where to begin. When I got through writing you yesterday, darling, I received about eleven letters in a bunch – easily more than any other officer. Six of them were from you, two from my father, one from my brother-in-law, one from Lillian Z. in Salem, and one from Dr. C. and wife in Salem. And think of it, dear – your last letter was dated December 27 – which is amazing in itself! That’s the best service I’ve had yet – 9 days. Your other letters were for the days preceding the 27th and I’m now missing several letters from the middle of the month. There doesn’t seem to be much doubt that Air-mail is coming thru way ahead of regular mail and at least equal to V-mail. Getting a letter from you only 9 days after you wrote it is wonderful and I hope my mail to you is beginning to be as good. Incidentally Lillian Z. wrote that everyone that had met you that night in Salem had liked you and that if I were going to marry you it would be very nice and they were all anxious to know you better when we got to Salem. You remember I had written some of the people we had met in Salem and had told them about us.

There are several items in your recent letters I want to write about but I want to tell you about the 2nd day I spent in London. I will say this, though, sweetheart, your letters are wonderful tonic to me and if they could be any sweeter, I don’t know how. You are, in your letters, everything a fellow away from his sweetheart wants, and I don’t know how I can ever make up to you, darling, for the love and faithfulness which you portray in your writing to me. I just want you to know how much I appreciate each and every one of them.

Our second day in London was Tuesday, January 4th. We got up about 0845 and ate breakfast at our own hotel. All hotel room charges, by the way, include the next morning’s meal. We got into a cab and headed for Buckingham Palace. We were fortunate to arrive there in time for the changing of the guard – which occurs at 1030. It was very impressive. We could see the part of the Palace that had been bombed. The place is immense and has 4 main wings – in a rectangular form, connected, with a large square court in between. There was no chance of seeing the King since we learned he was at his country home in Sandringham.

We then walked across the Mall towards Big Ben. We heard it chime at noon hour. It’s tremendous and beautiful – if you can use two such adverbs together. We followed the Thames and came to the Houses of Parliament. I was anxious to see it the way it’s shown in the movies – the side overlooking the river. The buildings are very stately and dignified and carry an air of age. At one side is a statue of Richard the Lionhearted, at another – one of Oliver Cromwell.

From there we proceeded up the street – all this is in easy walking distance – to Westminster Abbey and that, darling, was thrilling. The building is enormous and much like a cathedral. Inside are very ornate pieces of Statue, marble plaques and tombs. You walk along the floor and come to a plaque in the floor that says Charles Darwin etc. and that means he is buried underneath. I had no idea how many of the people or figures important in molding past history – were English and were all entombed at Westminster Abbey. We saw the tombs of so many I can hardly remember them, but some are Sir Isaac Newton, Chaucer, One of the wives of Henry VIII, all the Kings and Queens of the past, Mary Queen of Scotland, Gladstone, Disraeli, Livingstone, Robert Browning, Kelley, Gray – etc. etc. It was really impressive, dear and well worth visiting.

When we left there we walked some more and came to Whitehall – which is a group of Government buildings. We walked up Downing St. to see No. 10 and just missed seeing Gen. Montgomery who had just left. By this time – we were really hungry – so we got a cab to the Cumberland Hotel and had a fairly decent lunch. None of the menus include anything like steak or red meat and you’re lucky to get fowl.

After lunch we visited two more spots of interest, the Tower of London and St. Paul’s Cathedral. The former, you know, is the place where political prisoners were formerly taken, when Princes were beheaded, etc. The guard has not missed changing every night at 2200 for 600 years; we also saw London Bridge; the Cathedral was beautiful, although at one spot it had received a direct hit thru the roof. That too was the largest Cathedral or church I had ever been in and certainly very impressive.

It was now mid-afternoon and we made our way up Oxford St. to Bond St., Trafalgar Square and to the shopping district – but the stores close at 1600 and we couldn’t look around. You can’t buy anything, anyway – without ration coupons, which aren’t available to us.

In the evening – we went to the Piccadilly Hotel and had roast pheasant, which was pretty good, and a couple of brandies. We got a good night’s sleep this time and left for camp. I neglected to mention that I was also in Cambridge, but didn’t get a chance to see much of its universities – of which it has 18.

So there you have it, sweetheart, an account in detail of my trip. It was better than I expected it to be and I’m glad I visited London. I didn’t get a chance to see the Wax Museum, which is famous, but maybe I’ll see it next time I go.

Darling, that’s all for this sitting, which I hope you didn’t find too tiring; it’s just that I want you to live with me – at least by letters – every minute of every day and this is the only way we can do it now. I hope everything is well at home now and the epidemic gone. My best regards to your family and Mary and for now, dearest, you have all of my love –

Greg

P.S. I now have a picture of you – but not the one you sent me. It’s a clipping from the Traveler which my father cut out for me.

* TIDBIT *

about the Bombings of Buckingham Palace


Damage by Buckingham Palace, 18 September, 1940

Greg mentioned seeing the damage to Buckingham Palace. He didn't know then that the damage was not yet finished. In fact, the Palace was to be bombed again in just a few weeks. The web site "West End at War," which was part of a project put together to mark the 70th anniversary of the Blitz in this part of London, describes the many bombings. Here is what Amy Heaney has to say:

During the Blitz, Buckingham Palace was the target of German air raids on nine occasions, including over half a dozen separate incidents. The building and grounds were subjected to incendiary, high explosive and delayed-action bombs designed to penetrate several stories of the structure before detonation. Despite this, the overall campaign against Buckingham Palace resulted in only limited success: property damage was light and there were no mass casualties.

The Palace was first struck on 9 September 1940. A delayed-action bomb dropped by a Dornier Do17 aircraft fell close to a swimming pool at the north western part of the Palace. It was roped off and later detonated, carving out a large crater, destroying much of the swimming pool, seriously damaging the North Wing of the Palace and blowing out many Palace windows.

The Palace was hit again on 13 September at around 11am, during the second of three daylight raids that day. A single German raider specifically targeted the Palace, hitting the internal quadrangle with two high explosive bombs and dropping a third delayed-action device on the forecourt roadway. The high explosive ordinance ruptured a water main in the courtyard, blew out most of the windows on the southern and western sides of the quadrangle, and caused extensive damage to the Palace’s Royal Chapel. Four workers were injured; one later died. The Chapel interior was badly damaged. Several portraits were damaged in the Palace corridors and the red carpets were lightly covered by dust.

The King and Queen were in residence at the time of the bombing - taking tea - but escaped unscathed. Congratulations on their safety poured in from around the Empire and beyond. After this attack, the Queen was prompted to express her solidarity with fellow Londoners, remarking: "I am glad we have been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face".

The incident did not end until 8:40 the following morning, when the delayed-action bomb - which had landed just outside the forecourt gates in front of the Victoria Memorial - finally detonated. Although rescue squads had been given ample time to build six foot-high sandbag walls around the bomb, the explosion destroyed much of the forecourt fencing around the south gate and left a crater 30’ by 20’ and 10’ deep.

On 15 September, German aircraft dropped several delayed-action bombs on the Palace, hitting the lawns and the Regency Bathroom facing the West Terrace. On 15 September 2010, at a ceremony at St Paul's Cathedral, marking the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and the start of the Blitz, HRH Prince Charles told the press that his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, recalled how a single bomb was carried out of the Palace on a stretcher.

Two days later, on 17 September, a bomb landed shortly before 11am, just inside the Buckingham Garden Gate near the Royal Apartments, smashing a crater in the ground but not detonating upon impact. Investigators quickly confirmed the presence of a delayed-action UXB. Left where it was, the damage was minimal. When it finally detonated around 7pm, this consisted mostly of broken glass littering nearby Grosvenor Place. The Palace faced no further direct attack during the rest of 1940 although in November the adjacent Royal Mews was damaged.

On 8 March 1941, a Luftwaffe bomber flew over the Palace and dropped a single high explosive bomb which hit the North Lodge and demolished it. One policeman was killed. Only a few hours later, another wave of German aircraft again hit the Palace, dropping high explosive bombs over the forecourt. Despite initial confusion as to how many had hit, the second raid was unsuccessful; no harm was inflicted on the structure, utility mains, or residents.

In 1944, the Palace grounds were again damaged, this time by a falling V1 flying bomb.

Because of its symbolic value and the fact that the Royal Family publicly insisted on staying in residence, Buckingham Palace provided a seductive target for Luftwaffe attack during the Blitz. But their efforts did not succeed. Despite the significant number of attempts made on it, the Palace emerged from the Second World War with relatively slight damage.

05 January, 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 527 % Postmaster, N.Y.

England

January 5, 1944   1530

Dearest sweetheart -

Well here I am back at APO 527 after having spent the past 2 days in London. First I want to tell you that I was unable to write those 2 days – i.e. I could have written but I couldn’t mail my letters except at an Army Post Office – so I decided to wait until I got back here, dear. I hated to break my continuity of writing, darling, and these past two days are the only ones I’ve missed since the day I arrived in this country. I know you’ll excuse me.

In one of your letters, Sweetheart, you wrote that you wanted me to tell you just what I was doing, where I was going, what I was seeing etc. Well – as you know by now – that’s just what I have been doing – even to the point of apologizing in one of my letters for the possibility of boring you with details. But since you want to know, dear, I’ll write about everything I do – just as I have.

My visit to London was better than I expected. As a matter of fact, it was quite thrilling. I’ve heard of London, read of it and seen it in the movies and actually to visit it, walk its streets, see its buildings etc. – was something to remember. I’ll start at the beginning.

Four of us, Pete, Bruce S., Johnny P. and myself got into King’s Cross Station at 1700 or a little earlier. Incidentally, London has 4 big railroad stations as compared with New York’s two. We queued up for a taxi – everybody queues up or lines up for everything in these cities, getting into a restaurant etc. We had tentative reservations at a hotel – made by an officer who had been in a week before. He said it was not a 1st class hotel but the only thing he could get. We decided to try the first class ones first and fall back on the other one if necessary. One of the best hotels in London is the Dorchester (I have a Martini glass from there, darling). We went there and it was impossible to get anything. We then tried the Park Lane, the Savoy, the Grosvenor House and the Cumberland and no soap. So we went to our place – the Orchard and it wasn’t bad at all – although no bar. After checking in – we went back to the above mentioned hotels – it was now about 1900 and meekly asked for a Martini at 4 of them and darned if they didn’t have them. But they get 4 and six ie – 4 shillings six pence which equals 90 cents in our money! That’s for one (1) drink, too, dear.

Well by that time we were quite hungry and we were advised not to eat at a hotel but to go to the Red Cross Officers’ Club – called the Reindeer Club. The Hotels by the way were all quite swank, reserved and ornate; much like our Copley Plaza – but more so. We had a fair meal at the Reindeer Club and then wandered around the dark streets. It was fascinating to be in a city that was once the world’s largest and have it completely blacked out. In our stumbling around we got to Berkeley Square, then Bond Street and finally to the Piccadilly Circus and Piccadilly Hotel. The word Circus, dear, refers only to Circle. They merely use the Latin word. At the Hotel there was another nice bar and we had a few more. I sure would have liked to have you meet me, dear – because somehow I can’t get to like this stag affair. Nevertheless – stag I remain!) We would have had some fun.

Since the bars close at 2300 in London and since we don’t plan to come here very often, we decided to look for excitement, or some place that does stay open. In coming out of the Hotel – a young fellow approached us in the dark and asked us if we were looking for a place to get a drink; if so – for the price of 10 shillings each he could get us into a spot that was on the speakeasy side. We were looking for adventure and so off we went. We finally got to a back alley and after a few knocks were admitted, went down some stairs and were greeted by a woman. We had to sign our names (I used the old standby – Cooke) – paid our 10 shillings and then the boy asked us for his cut for bringing us there. We knew then that this was a racket – but there was no turning back now – so we gave him 5 s. each and went in. All it was – was a large room with chairs and table and a man playing an accordion. A waitress came over and said we could buy a bottle of gin – only – and she would have to get it. We said ‘yes’ and waited. In about 15 min (it was now about 0030) she returned with a bottle of gin and a bottle of some foul tasting orange mix. For that, darling, she calmly asked £4, 3s; 4 pounds and 3 shillings, dear – or $16.60!! I almost fell out of my chair. Well – we knew we were getting taken – and there was no way out – so pay it we did and drink it we did too. It was terrible. I think the 15 minutes she took in getting it must have been spent in manufacturing it. At about 0230 we had had enough of that and we walked home – no taxis being available, and the subways stop running at 2300.

So much for that evening, darling. Rather than making this too detailed, I’ll not attempt to write you all in this letter. The next day, Tuesday – the 4th was far more interesting to me – and I’ll write you about it tomorrow.

There has been no mail the past two days, but I’m hoping for some tonight. I’m fairly tired after walking so much the past 2 days and tonite I’m getting to bed early, dear.

Nothing new has materialized here since I was away, and again it’s the same routine. I have had more work though here – last Sunday I had a fellow with a broken arm which I had to set and then apply a cast. Tomorrow I’m going to do a circumcision on one of our boys.

I have a couple of more Martini glasses for our collection, dear, – one from the Dorchester with a D on it, one from the Grosvenor House – with nothing on it, and a few pieces of cutlery from the Cumberland Hotel, Piccadilly Hotel and the Cross Hotel. We’ll really have some odd pieces dear. I bought all these pieces and items, of course.

That’s all for now, darling, except to say that no matter where I go, you are never out of my mind and I always wish you were around with me. Is that love? I’m sure it is. Is it you I love? Well – naturally, darling. Well that suits me fine and with that I’ll say ‘so long’ for now, sweetheart. Maybe we’ll both get to London some day – who knows? For now, dear –

All my love

Greg

* TIDBIT *

Here are the hotels Greg tried to get into, and the one he got into, as they look today. Click on a name to go to a hotel's website. Click on a photo to make it larger. Back arrow brings you back.

The Dorchester and The Promenade Bar


The Park Lane and its Bar


The Savoy and The Savoy American Bar


The Grosvenor House and The Red Bar


The Cumberland and its Bar


The Orchard Hotel... had no bar... still doesn't...

04 January, 1944

No letter today. Just this:

* TIDBIT *

about the Plea of the Archbishop of Canterbury
and the 1943 Bermuda Conference

In his 1943 Christmas Day letter, Greg mentioned hearing England's Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, Germany's Dr. Goebbels and America's President Roosevelt delivering propaganda messages over the radio, and called it all "bunk" that doesn't make anyone feel better. Perhaps part of that cynicism came from knowing what the Archbishop of Canterbury had said before the House of Lords the previous March, and what had become of his words a month later, in April of 1943, at the Bermuda Conference. Here are copies of what the Archbishop presented followed by the outcome of the Bermuda Conference.

According to America and the Holocaust, from "American Experience" on PBS, the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, stood before the House of Lords on March 23rd, 1943 and pleaded with the British government to help the Jews of Europe. Ever since news of Hitler's plan to annihilate the Jews of Europe reached the public in late 1942, British church leaders and members of Parliament had been agitating for something to be done. Temple's plea, below, marked the culmination of the clamoring. As copied from Hansard, HL Deb 23 March 1943 vol 126 cc811-60, the Official Reports of debates in the UK Parliament, here are his words:

(23 March, 1943)
THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
had the following Resolution on the Paper:

To move to resolve, That, in view of the massacres and starvation of Jews and others in enemy and enemy-occupied countries, this House desires to assure His Majesty's Government of its fullest support for immediate measures, on the largest and most generous scale compatible with the requirements of military operations and security, for providing help and temporary asylum to persons in danger of massacre who are able to leave enemy and enemy-occupied countries.

The most reverend Primate said: My Lords, I beg leave to move the Resolution standing in my name on the Order Paper. We are confronted, as all your Lordships know, with an evil the magnitude and horror of which it is impossible to describe in words. There has, I suppose, never been so great a manifestation of the power of sheer cruelty and of the determination to wreak upon a helpless people what is not vengeance, for there is no offence, but the satisfaction of a mere delight in power such as is to be witnessed on the continent of Europe at the present time. We are wisely advised not to limit our attention in this connexion to the sufferers of any one race, and we must remember that there are citizens of many countries who are subject to just the same kind of monstrous persecution, and even massacre. None the less, there has been a concentration of this fury against the Jews, and it is inevitable that we should give special attention to what is being carried through, and still further plotted against them.

We know that Hitler near the beginning of the war declared that this war must lead to the extermination of either the Jewish or the German people, and it should not be the Germans. He is now putting that threat into effect, and no doubt we are to a very large extent at present powerless to stop him. We are told that the only real solution is rapid victory. No doubt it is true that if we could win the war in the course of a few weeks we could still deliver multitudes of those who are now doomed to death. But we dare not look for such a result, and we know that what we can do will be but little in comparison with the need. My whole plea on behalf of those for whom I am speaking is that whether what we do be large or little it should at least be all we can do.

I do not think I need try to kindle your Lordships' imaginations afresh with a picture of what is going on, but perhaps it is worth while to recall some of the more recent reports that have reached us. Many of us heard the announcement from the B.B.C. a little while ago in the News that a decree has now been published in the Czech provinces of Bohemia and Moravia which has the effect of sentencing all the Jews there to death by starvation. Their ration cards are to be taken from them, and they are forbidden to buy unrationed food. The Nazis have ordered that all Jews must be cleared out of Moravia by the end of next month, and by the same date there must be none in Berlin. The deportation of Jews from Germany is going on at an increasing rate, and most of them die in concentration camps and ghettos.

These reports have just reached the World Jewish Congress regarding Poland: In one district alone 6,000 are being killed daily. Before they die they are stripped of their clothes which are gent back to Germany. Not a single Jew is left in the great Ghetto of Warsaw where, before the mass murders began there were 430,000. We cannot say that all these have certainly been killed. Some may be employed on forced labour behind the Eastern German front, but most of them are probably, by now, dead. Again: All the Jews now remaining in Bulgaria are living in daily dread of being sent to Poland, a fear which has been accentuated by the pronouncement of a member of the Commissariat for Jewish Affairs that it was eventually intended to outlaw every Jew in the country.

I have myself lately received this information through the Board of Deputies of British Jews: A message has been received from a Jewish member of the National Council of Poland who writes: 'Yesterday I received via Istanbul news from responsible sources about the situation of the Jews in Poland. The news relates to the beginning of February. The informants say—the information comes straight from Poland—that during January a new slaughter of Jews in Warsaw took place. The Jews defended themselves actively; over fifty Germans were killed. After this heroic defence a new slaughter of Jews followed. Over 5,000 were immediately deported. The complete extermination of the ghettos in Poland is going on. In accordance with this information only about one-quarter million Jews remain in Poland.' And this comes from Stockholm: The Rumanian Government has agreed with the Germans to send 20,000 Jews from Bucharest and 40,000 Jews from other towns to Poland in the spring. There is a report—this is probably not quite so reliable—from Zurich as follows: Four concentration camps have been set up in Bulgaria for 'unreliable Jews,' according to an announcement in the Bulgarian Parliament by the Minister of the Interior, quoted by the German radio. The 'worst Jews,' the Minister added, 'will probably be sent to ghettos in Poland. This cable has just been received by the World Jewish Congress in this country: During the 26th February and 2nd March, 15,000 Jews of Berlin were detained and in day-time sent away in lorries to camps. S.S. officers, who are the initiators of this detention, have determined to make Berlin free of Jews by the 15th March. Rabbi Bach, the President of the Reichsverband Deutscher Juden, has been deported to Terezin. In January deportations from Holland reached the number of 17,000. The extermination action is reaching its peak. I am sure there can be no need for me to continue the description of the horror. I believe that part of our difficulty in arousing ourselves and our fellow-countrymen to the degree of indignation that it would seem to merit is the fact that the imagination recoils before it. It is impossible to hold such things at all before the mind. But we are all agreed in this House on the main purpose of this Motion, to offer our utmost support to the Government in all they can do; but with all sympathy for members of His Majesty's Government, I am sure they will forgive some of us who wonder whether quite everything possible has really already been done. We remember the solemn statement of the United Nations made public on December 17, and it is inevitable that we should contrast the solemnity of the words then used, and the reception accorded to them, with the very meagre action that has actually followed. Of course, the difficulties are extremely great. We ought, in any words of criticism that we utter, to have the utmost sympathy for the Government in their task of administration, but we wish to offer our support not merely to show that it may be relied upon—for the Government I am sure know that—but also as a spur to greater rapidity to action if it may be possible. It is the delays in the whole matter while these horrors go on daily that make some of us wonder whether it may not be possible to speed things up a little.

One must admit that some of the arguments hitherto advanced as justifying the comparative inaction seem quite disproportionate to the scale of the evil confronting us. They are real in themselves, but they are the kind of thing that many of us feel should really be brushed aside if only we have before our minds the situation with which we are trying to deal. If I may allude to an event which took place before the German occupation of Vichy France, some of us went to see the Home Secretary with reference to the deliverance from France of those Jews destined for deportation to Germany. Obviously the urgency of the problem then was rather less acute than it has become since, and it did seem to many of us at that time it was hardly possible that anyone who had before his mind the facts with which we were dealing, would have thought it appropriate to give as reasons for no further action the kind of facts that were then set before us. We were given, for example, a very full statement of the great part that has been taken by this country and other countries of the British Empire in the relief of refugees and the reception of them into our country. That, of course, would be relevant if the people in the other lands were suffering great discomfort or great privation, but when what you are confronted with is wholesale massacre, it seemed to most of us not only irrelevant, but grotesquely irrelevant.

We come to the question: Is there anything that can in fact be done? We were much encouraged by the promise that was given by His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies on February 3 with regard to the admission of Jews, both children and adults, to Palestine. Your Lordships will remember that he said that Bulgaria has agreed to let go, and Palestine to admit, 4,000 Jewish children and 500 accompanying adults, also that up to 500 children from Hungary and Rumania would be admitted and that the 270 previously arranged for were already on their way. Further admissions to Palestine would take place later up to the permitted maximum of 29,000 available out of the four years immigration quota for Palestine. That was on February 3. On February 24 he was obliged to say that no movement of these persons had yet taken place. That was three weeks later. Once again we know there are great difficulties about shipping and the like, and we quite recognize that some delay is inevitable; but three weeks struck some of us as a long time in which nothing at all should take place, and we are most anxious to hear to-day whether anything has taken place since then.

So, first, I would put the plea that action should be taken as promptly as possible to carry out the promise given by the Colonial Secretary. Secondly, I would urge that we should revise the scheme of visas for entry into this country. Surely we might at least agree to admit to this country all those who are able to get here—they would not be very many—who have husbands, wives or sons already here, and especially those who have sons actually serving in our Forces. The probability of their being dangerous or unreliable is so slight that we may surely neglect it. But there have been cases where precisely that kind of applicant has been refused. I have instances here of some of these, as it seems to us, unduly hard cases. A Jewish couple, who escaped into Spain and were interned, have four sons in our Armed Forces, able and anxious to maintain them. Visas were refused them. The case was strongly pressed by the refugee organization concerned. There are several similar cases with one or more sons or brothers in the British Forces. The sons were recently told that they might shortly be sent overseas, and they longed to know that their parents were safe from a possible German invasion of Spain. Again a high official in the French Fighting Forces applied for visas for a Jewish family who had escaped from France into Portugal. Visas were granted for the two sons to join the French Forces but refused for their parents, though the French officials strongly pressed for them.

Again, a Counsellor in the Polish Government applied three months ago for a visa for a Polish Jew in a concentration camp in Spain, and, though the case apparently comes strictly within the regulations for visas, received a discouraging reply. The man is of military age and a qualified doctor of medicine who had previously applied to join the Forces in France. His aged parents and sister in this country were able to guarantee maintenance. Consideration of this was promised, but it is now many weeks since the promise was made and there is still no reply.

One more of the cases from enemy-occupied territory: A Czech Jewess, in hiding in Hungary, has her husband, son and daughter all in England; also a nephew and a friend in an influential position in Switzerland. The daughter in England was told by her Swiss friends that the Swiss authorities would give entry if a United Kingdom visa was obtained and notified to the British Consul at Zurich. The whereabouts of the woman in Hungary were known to these friends who believed they could make contact with her if visas for another country were secured. The British visa was refused late in 1942. I have other instances here, but it would perhaps be wearying your Lordships to go on describing them. I do not know what are the grounds given for the refusal in most of these cases, except that they do not fall for the most part within certain categories which have been drawn up to regulate the administration of German refugees. But these categories are not like the categories in Kant's Critique of Pure Reason a necessity of human thought, and it is quite possible to revise them; it would seem to many of us that in face of the evil now confronting us it is most urgently necessary that they should be revised.

But it is very doubtful whether more than a trifle could be done, except the avoidance of causing fearful pain to persons already in very bitter distress, so long as the administration from this country is limited to the handling of individuals. And so we want to suggest the granting of blocks of visas to the Consuls in Spain and Portugal and perhaps in Turkey to be used at their discretion. We know of course that the German Government will not give exit permits. What matters is that we should open our doors irrespective of the question whether the German door is open or shut, so that all who can may come. If nothing results then at least we shall not be to blame. We can trust the discretion of our own agents in these neutral countries to allow only those who could safely be permitted to pass through to our own shores to do so, and it is of the greatest importance to give relief to those neutral countries because there is at present a steady stream, or perhaps more accurately a steady trickle of refugees from France both into Spain and into Switzerland. The numbers that those countries, already suffering a good deal in shortage of food and with their standard of life so far below our own, will be able to receive are of course limited. If we can open the door at the other side and bring away from Spain and Portugal and (if the transport is available but probably it would not be) from Switzerland and also from Turkey those who are able to make their escape there, we shall render it far more probable that the channels through which that trickle percolates will not be blocked.

If I understand the matter rightly, the main roads and the railways are closed, but the paths of the hills in the Pyrenees are not; therefore this trickle goes steadily on, the Spanish authorities no doubt knowing of it but not thinking it sufficiently serious, or perhaps not having the desire to check it. Anyhow there it is. We can hardly expect it will last much longer unless we are willing that the door should be open at the other end and that some at least of those who go into the neutral countries and pass through them should come on to our own country, or to the territories of the British Empire or of the Allied Nations so far as they will agree. Then, once more, it is urged, that we should offer help to European neutrals, to encourage them to admit new refugees, in the form of guarantees from the United Nations, to relieve them of a stipulated proportion of refugees after victory, or, if possible, sooner; that we should offer gifts of or facilities for obtaining food, clothing, petrol, navicerts and the like for these neutral countries, and also that we should offer direct financial aid. I should like to ask if information can be given whether any of these States have indicated a willingness to receive more refugees if such help is available. These are some of the practical ways by which we urge that steps should really be taken at least to relieve this situation. It is fully understood that shipping difficulties are very great, but would it be possible perhaps to charter a few ships from neutral countries to act as ferry boats between ports of evacuation and ports of refuge? And could not ships that cross the Atlantic this way with troops, food, munitions and so forth, take back refugees to some ports on the American side within the British Empire or, if the United States would agree, also to their own ports?

There is one point I would raise more tentatively, but it has been responsibly put forward and I think it ought to be seriously considered, though I cannot urge it with the same confidence. It is that through some neutral Power an offer should directly be made to the German Government to receive Jews in territories of the British Empire and, so far as they agree, of the other Allied Nations on a scheme of so many each month. Very likely it would be refused, and then Hitler's guilt would stand out all the more evidently. If the offer were accepted there would of course be difficulties enough, but it would be the business of the Germans to overcome these so far as concerns the conveyance of the refugees to the ports, and efforts could be made to secure help from Sweden and other neutral countries for shipping from the ports. It would not relieve the German Government of any feeding problem, for Hitler is scarcely feeding the Jews now. It would do next to nothing in the way of benefiting him. Some of us have wondered how far the possibility has been considered of receiving any considerable number, particularly of children, in Eire and whether the Government of Eire have been consulted about this. I wish to repeat that I do not urge this proposal of a direct offer to the German Government with at all the same confidence I had in putting forward the other propositions. I can see general grounds on which it might be undesirable, and these must be very carefully watched, but I do think that it deserves very careful consideration and should not be turned down merely on the ground that we will have nothing to do with these barbarians.

It is said that there is danger of an Anti-Semitic feeling in this country. No doubt that feeling exists in some degree, and no doubt it could very easily be fanned into flame, but I am quite sure it exists at present only in comparatively small patches. It is very vocal when it exists at all, and therefore it receives a degree of attention beyond what it deserves. But if the Government were to decide that it was wise and practicable to put in action any of the proposals that I have laid before your Lordships, it would be very easy for the Government, by skillful use of the wireless, to win the sympathy and confidence of the people for their proposals, especially if a large number of those who were brought out were children and were being delivered from almost certain death. Then there is the question whether it would too seriously affect the feeding of our own people. I can only say that we are being at this time so wonderfully fed that we could well go without a little of our present convenience in that matter, and I believe the people would be most ready to do it if they knew it was required to free these people not from discomfort, not from any of the ordinary forms of persecution, but from massacre and the threat of it hanging over them during the few more weeks they might live.

The whole matter is so big and other claims are so urgent that we want further to make the proposition that there shall be appointed someone of high standing for whom this should be a primary responsibility. If we speak with impatience of what has been done or has not been done it is not, as I have tried already to show, from any lack of sympathy with the Government in the immense complexity of the tasks that they are carrying through, but just because of that complexity it seems to us more than can reasonably be asked of human beings that they should alongside of other responsibilities also undertake this on our behalf. For this reason I suggest appointing someone who should have real authority in the matter and should feel responsibility for this matter alone. So it is urged that there should be appointed someone of high standing, either within the Government or, if not that, from the Civil Service, to make it his first concern, and if the United Nations are ready to act together they should appoint a High Commissioner or else instruct the High Commissioner for Refugees, already active under the League of Nations, who has at present only limited authority in relation to the Jews for whom we are seeking relief at present.

My chief protest is against procrastination of any kind. It was three months ago that the solemn declaration of the United Nations was made and now we are confronted with a proposal for an exploratory Conference at Ottawa. That sounds as if it involves much more delay. It took five weeks from December 17 for our Government to approach the United States, and then six weeks for the Government of the United States to reply, and when they did reply they suggested a meeting of representatives of the Government for preliminary exploration. The Jews are being slaughtered at the rate of tens of thousands a day on many days, but there is a proposal for a preliminary exploration to be made with a view to referring the whole matter after that to the Inter-Governmental Committee on Refugees. My Lords, let us at least urge that when that Conference meets it should meet not only for exploration but for decision. We know that what we can do is small compared with the magnitude of the problem, but we cannot rest so long as there is any sense among us that we are not doing all that might be done. We have discussed the matter on the footing that we are not responsible for this great evil, that the burden lies on others, but it is always true that the obligations of decent men are decided for them by contingencies which they did not themselves create and very largely by the action of wicked men. The priest and the Levite in the parable were not in the least responsible for the traveler's wounds as he lay there by the roadside and no doubt they had many other pressing things to attend to, but they stand as the picture of those who are condemned for neglecting the opportunity of showing mercy. We at this moment have upon us a tremendous responsibility. We stand at the bar of history, of humanity and of God. I beg leave to move.

Moved to resolve, That, in view of the massacres and starvation of Jews and others in enemy and enemy-occupied countries, this House desires to assure His Majesty's Government of its fullest sup-port for immediate measures, on the Largest and most generous scale compatible with the requirements of military operations and security, for providing help and temporary asylum to persons in danger of massacre who are able to leave enemy and enemy-occupied countries.—(The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.)

(April 19-29, 1943)
THE BERMUDA CONFERENCE

The British government responded by proposing to the U.S. State Department that the Allied countries hold a conference to discuss whether some of the refugees who had reached neutral countries could be evacuated to safe havens. But the Foreign Office had one fear: their plan to rescue Jews might be too successful. In a memo the Foreign Office pointed out there were some "complicating factors": "There is a possibility that the Germans or their satellites may change over from the policy of extermination to one of extrusion, and aim as they did before the war at embarrassing other countries by flooding them with alien immigrants."

The U.S. sat on the proposal for several weeks. It wasn't until Jewish leaders organized a mass demonstration in New York's Madison Square Garden that the State Department saw the public relations value of the conference. Bermuda was chosen as a location most likely because wartime regulations restricting access to the island would keep the deliberations out of the public eye. While some of the mainstream press bought the ploy --"U.S., Britain Map Plan to Save Jews" read a "New York Daily News" headline -- many concerned Americans began to wonder if the conference would achieve anything. A "New Republic" writer expressed some of their concerns: "No Jewish organizations are represented and the conference is purely exploratory, can make no decisions and must submit whatever recommendations it may have to the executive committee of the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees. Meanwhile the hourly slaughter of the Jews goes on."

Jewish leaders pressed to be allowed to send a small delegation to the Conference, but when the State Department rejected the idea they settled on sending a list of rescue proposals. Others also had suggestions for the delegates in Bermuda. Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle proposed establishing a temporary safe haven for up to 100,000 Jews in an area of Eastern Libya. The idea was already on the agenda for Bermuda, but it never came to anything. The President's Advisory Committee on Political Refugees also sent a list of proposals. These included using British Honduras as a sanctuary for Jews.

But the Bermuda Conference was organized in a way that prevented it from producing results. Both the British and American governments carefully restricted what their delegates could promise before the meeting even opened. The U.S. instructed its representatives not to make commitments on shipping, funds or new relief agencies. Additionally, the Roosevelt Administration warned that it had "no power to relax or rescind [the immigration] laws." The British government imposed the additional restriction that its policy on admitting refugees to Palestine could not be discussed.

When the Bermuda Conference finally wrapped up its 12 days of secret deliberations very little had been achieved. The delegates' list of proposals included: the decision "that no approach be made to Hitler for the release of potential refugees;" suggestions for helping refugees leave Spain; and a declaration on the postwar repatriation of refugees. Even though the conferees decided to keep their report secret, they did make it clear to the press that most of the proposals submitted to the conference had been rejected. As the delegates went home, newspaper headlines relayed the disappointing news to the public: "Scant Hope Seen For Axis Victims" read one, "Refugee Removal Called Impossible" reported another.

The Jews of America met the news from Bermuda with outrage. One Jewish organization took out a three-quarter page advertisement in "The New York Times" with the headline "To 5,000,000 Jews in the Nazi Death-Trap Bermuda Was a 'Cruel Mockery.'" Some congressmen expressed similar anger. One of them declared that Bermuda was nothing more than "diplomatic tight-rope walking." There is no way of measuring how many Jews died as a result of the procrastination at Bermuda. However, two days after the conference opened, the Allies received news that yet another tragedy was unfolding in Europe. The Jews of the Warsaw ghetto, who'd begun their uprising the day the conferees first met, flashed a four-sentence radio message to the West. It ended with the words "Save us."

03 January, 1944

No letter today.    Just this:

* TIDBIT *

Christmas Day Show
Armed Forces Radio Service
1943 Recording

In the letter dated 25 December, 1943, Greg described the Armed Forces Radio Service Christmas Day Show as not particularly funny but, next to a letter, "the best thing to cheer up a guy" because it was a piece of "home". It was recorded before a live audience on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California as part of the "Command Performance" series. These shows were not broadcast over domestic U.S. radio stations, but were sent directly overseas by shortwave. Some of the programming responded to requests from soldiers for particular performers or musicians.

The Christmas show recording below was opened and closed by Ken Carpenter (leftmost, below), and Bob Hope (rightmost, below) was the Master of Ceremonies. It includes a speech by then Secertary of War, Henry L. Stimpson, and a rendition of "Summertime" by Dinah Shore (two to the left of Bob Hope, below). Also on the recording are Kaye Keyser as well as Jack Benny with Fred Allen. It is not the recording heard by Greg, but one that was recorded the same day.  Likewise, the picture below is not from this show, but one imagined to be similar to this...

CLICK TO ENLARGE PICTURE

Command Performance c. 1944, CBS Studio, Hollywood
with the Armed Forces Radio Military Orchestra
conducted by Major Meredith Willson, on the podium

[*TIDBIT* within a *TIDBIT*: Major Meredith Willson, who conducted the Armed Forces Radio Military Orchestra, is best known for writing the book, lyrics and music for "The Music Man", 1958 Tony Award winner for Best Musical.]

Here is a recording of that Christmas Day Program on 25 December, 1943.

02 January, 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 527 % Postmaster N.Y.

England

Sunday, January 2, 1944  2100

Dearest sweetheart –

The mail is finally starting to approach something like what it should be, although it is still jumpy and difficult to figure out. Today, darling, I received two letters from you – one a V-mail dated Dec 13th and the other an Airmail dated Dec 20th. That would certainly make it look as if Airmail were preferable – but it’s not constant. At any rate, dear, I was tickled at hearing from you and to know that my letters were finally reaching you.

In that connection – I wonder whether you got the letters I mailed to Wilder. Some of them no doubt arrived after you left school, and I hope you arranged to have your mail forwarded to your home. Incidentally, in reference to your question about your mail being censored, to the best of my knowledge, it is not. By that I mean – no one I know or heard of has ever received a letter from the States that has been opened. They do censor outgoing mail – but as we understand it – only from civilian to civilian.

One other thing, darling. In reference to receiving your mail, I’ve mentioned this before – the sequence may be all fouled up but every letter eventually gets to its destination, and if you see a change in APO numbers, don’t mind, dear – the change is taken care of at the base post office and all the old APO numbers are canceled.

I have not yet received your picture, sweetheart, and you can well imagine that I’m anxiously awaiting it. I can see it before me now, that is, I can visualize it – but I’d rather actually see it. It ought to arrive soon.

The gap in your mail, as it now exists, is that I lack the letters from the 7th to the 13th (Dec). I have the one of the 13th, am missing the 14th to the 19th and the very latest, dear, is the one of the 20th. In that one you don’t mention any of my letters, but I’m sure you must have received some after the V-mail of the 13th – even though they had to be forwarded.

On the 20th, darling, you were in bed with a cold, and it would have been nice taking care of you. By your statements – I gathered that your mother and grandmother were ill at the time of graduation and you’ll probably explain in your previous letters. I assume it was the “flu” and I can imagine how disappointed all of you were that your immediate family couldn’t attend your graduation. But you can’t fool around with the flu and you all showed good judgment.

By the way, darling, did you get my card to you from Carey’s on your graduation day, or the day before? I took care of that by telegram and I wonder if they got it straight.

I received one letter from Stan and have written him 2 or 3 V-mails. He wrote that he had seen you once and that you “mentioned” me quite a lot. That’s the spirit, darling! He tells me he thinks you’ll wait for me and that I’ll have a swell girl to marry. As if I didn’t know. He also stated that he was seeing Shirley about 3 times a week and that things are about the same. I wonder how things really are with them. As you know, despite some faults – and we all have them – I like Stan a heluva lot and I would like to see him happily married. He’s had a tough go of it and deserves some happiness. I hope he gets it.

As for you and me, sweetheart, I know we were meant for each other, and with every letter, both written and received, I am more sure of it. The fact that you re-iterate your love for me, the fact that a month or more after I last saw you, you still keep me foremost in your mind – is convincing me that you really will wait darling; not that I doubted your statements, but time is a peculiar thing and can cause strange reactions. Needless to say, dear, I’m pleased beyond words that you impress your folks with your love for me. Regardless of how skeptical they may have been in the beginning, they are bound to be impressed after a time.

I marvel at both of us at what we accomplished in relatively so short a time – and when you think of it, you can’t blame parents who are admittedly so fond of you – for not jumping at conclusions. I think you know, Sweetheart, that I like your folks very very much and I know I will love them as I do mine – and that’s a great deal. What I want to do is to have them love me as a son – and if I make you happy, they will. Making you happy, darling, will be a wonderful thing, and I know a hundred different ways of doing it too. I know that it’s easy to brag, dear, but I love you so much that I know I will devote myself to you and your happiness. You know me fairly well, Sweetheart, but you don’t know a lot about me. I can tell you this, though, – that my inherent nature is such that I love a home and what it stands for. I love to be in that home – with those I love and the outside world is entirely secondary. I never was one for much running around alone and you can be sure of this, wherever I go, you go. I think you’ll find I don’t drink very much or gamble and as for other women, darling – I’m a one woman man. A lot of promises I know – but I’m like my father in many respects – and he was always like that and I’ve admired him for it. It will always be – the Alexanders were here or there, not Dr. Alexander and that, darling, is the way it should be.

A lot of things about married life we never got to discuss – and that’s why I’m mentioning some of them now. We must not let the lapse of time catch us napping, darling. We must continue to get to know each other and each other’s ideas – so that when the day comes – the most natural thing in the world will be for us to become engaged and married without delay. Agreed?

Sweetheart, that’s all for this sitting. By the way – I’m at the hospital again – O.D. for the day and nite. Send my best regards to your family and Grandmothers, Phil, Bea, J and J – and I trust all are now well. And you can tell your folks, without doubt, that I was and am very much in love with you and that it was not just a summer Romance. Goodnite, Sweetheart – and

All my love

Greg

P.S. I like any kind of bed!

L,

G.

01 January, 1944

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 527 % Postmaster N.Y.

England

Saturday, January 1, 1944 1500

Wilma darling –

Here it is another year started and I’m not around to start it with you dear. Whenever I next see you again will be the real start of the year for me, I know.

I wrote you about how I celebrated New Year’s Eve last night. I guess it was the sanest, safest, soberest New Year’s I’ve spent since I was eleven years old. We broke up the “party” at 0030 or thereabouts and went to bed. We didn’t have to get up until 0800 as this is celebrated as a Holiday for American Soldiers. I don’t know if I mentioned it to you before, but the English people proper have no celebration that amounts to anything for New Year’s Eve – while in Scotland it’s practically a National Holiday.

After breakfast this a.m. I went to the hospital and saw a few cases, checked in at the Officers’ Club to pay my mess bill and Club dues and then came back here.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Officers' Mess Bill - AAF Station 595
December, 1943

We have just started our own Officers’ Mess in a separate area that we have for ourselves. There are 10 of us in our headquarters section and we have a building just for ourselves. At one end of it we have comfortable stuffed chairs, tables, places to write and a radio. I’m in that part of the room now. It’s quite comfortable, dear, and warm. But there’s nothing here for lonesomeness – except what I’m doing now – writing.

We ate at 1300 and had an enormous turkey – done beautifully, with cranberry sauce, potatoes, peas, candied parsnips, turnips, giblet gravy and pudding; coffee or tea, of course. Before dinner the Colonel opened a bottle of Canadian Club Whiskey and we all had a drink. It was really very nice.

This place is going to be very comfortable and I think we’ll end up using our own Club as much as the Regular Club. The rest of the day will be quietly spent. There’ll probably be a bridge game later and so another day, sweetheart.

I’m finally planning to go to London this Monday with Pete (who sends his regards, darling) and probably one other officer. We are allowed a 48 hour pass every now and then and we’re taking ours. One of our officers is there for the week-end and is going to try and reserve a room or two for us at some Hotel. Talk about your luck, by the way. The officer I just mentioned is married to a nurse who is in the Army. She was with a General Hospital and they came to England several months ago. When he arrived here he found out where she was. She’s only about an hour’s ride from us and he’s spending his pass with her in London. He hasn’t seen her for about 6 months. I wonder if they’ll see any of the sights. I’d love to spend 48 hours with you, darling – in London or anywhere else for that matter – but why don’t I stop dreaming?

I’ve got to run along now, sweetheart, to see a sick soldier in one of our batteries. One of my men has just come in and told me about him; it sounds as if I’ll have to send him to the hospital. Meanwhile, darling I love your patience and good hopes which you show in your letters. It’s a wonderful reaction to be able to read your letters and find that you’re not discouraged and still care for me. It helps tremendously, darling, and I love you for it. In this next year – I hope you keep it up and don’t get tired. Be well, dearest, and my love for you is returned in full measure. I’ll write tomorrow, dear. Until then – you have

All my love

Greg.

P.S. I usually forget to send my regards to some of your relatives that I’ve met. It’s not because I don’t think of them, dear. Please send my regards to all of them that I know.

L,

Greg.

31 December, 1943

438^th AAA AW BN

APO 527 % Postmaster, N.Y.

Thursday, Dec 31, 1943 2335

England

Dearest darling –

In a letter of yours which was written December 2, you end up in a dead heat as to whether or not it would have been wise to be engaged. As I look at it now, dear, I too sometimes wish I hadn’t been so sensible – and yet if I had tried to rush things, dear, your folks wouldn’t have liked it too much and would undoubtedly have thought less of me. I left nothing tangible to you, sweetheart, as a token of an engagement – and yet I consider myself engaged to you. All that is needed is a consummation of it the moment I return. I don’t want you to feel that you just know me very well, or are attached to me – or anything else like that, darling. You have me like no one you’ve ever had before and that’s the way I want it to be.

I got another letter from my father today, an earlier one than the one I mentioned yesterday. In it he mentioned that when my cablegram arrived at your house, your mother called to tell my folks. That was an awfully thoughtful and sweet gesture, sweetheart, and will you please thank your mother for it?

Last night we went to the club and saw “Mrs. Miniver” which I had missed in the States. It was really a well done movie and I’m glad I saw it. A few of the boys had seen it before and they said that somehow it seemed to ring more true – now that they were in England and had seen and met some of its people. Certain it is that I was really impressed with it, and it isn’t hard to look anywhere and not find evidence of all the hell these people took 3 or so years ago.

Today I had to run around a bit and finally ended up getting the month’s pay for the men. This evening I was blue, darling; the evening dragged, everyone felt just a trifle down. Three of us decided to go to the neighboring town. So we did, dear. We left at 2015 and returned at 2230 – which gives you an idea of what a night it was. We walked the streets looking for a place to get a drink. These towns are so damned dark – you just can’t find your way around. We never did find a pub. Everything was closed – so we got into the truck and came back. At our own Officers’ mess we have beer and I’m in the mess hall or 438th Officers’ Club now. There are 8 of us here – some playing cards, others writing. In 4 minutes, darling (Mido time) it is going to be 1944 and we’re going to get up and drink a toast – but right before that, my sweetheart – I want to wish you a Happy New Year, one which will bring you what you want in life and one which will bring us together, safe and sound and with our families to share in our happiness. I wish all this with everything that is in my power to wish, sweetheart. It is now exactly midnight, dearest, and in my mind and heart I am now holding you tightly and kissing you. --------------------------- We have just stood up, toasted each other, sipped some beer and sung Auld Lang Syne. Big Ben is beating out its chimes on the radio – and darling I miss you more than I can possibly describe to you at this moment. I feel cheated at not being with you now – but still – last year, sweetheart – I didn’t know you – and so last year when I wished for a Happy New Year – God was kind, He gave me you ----------------------

I’ll close darling – in the early minutes of 1944. I’ll be going to bed soon – with thoughts of you. I’ll write tomorrow – and until then – Good luck, dear, Happy New Year – and

All my love

Greg

P.S. The wishes are for your folks, too.

Love, G.

* TIDBIT *

about "Mrs. Miniver"


The trailer

Some Background "Mrs. Miniver" was produced by MGM and directed by William Wyler in 1942. The winner of 6 Academy awards, "Mrs. Miniver" was a war-time propaganda tear-jerker that Winston Churchill declared more influential in getting America involved in WWII than a fleet of destroyers. Director William Wyler, born in Germany, strongly believed that the US should enter the war and acknowledged that his concern about American isolationism was a primary motive for making the film. There was not a single battle scene in this war film, yet through its portrayal of the hardships suffered and overcome by a middle-class English family during the Blitz, Americans came to sympathize with what their British equivalents were undergoing at the time. Support for American involvement in the European war rose dramatically. When the movie was completed, Wyler joined the US Army. He was posted to the Signal Corps and was overseas on the night he won his first Oscar.

Short Summary This story of an English middle class family during the early years of World War II is about Clem Miniver, (Walter Pigdeon), a successful architect, and his beautiful wife Kay, (Greer Garson), who is the glue that holds the family together. Kay is busy with two young children at home in a quaint English village. She is well-liked by all she meets, even having had a new rose named after her by the station master. When their son, Vin, comes home from Oxford for the summer he falls quickly for the upper-class Carol Beldon (Theresa Wright), granddaughter of Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty). In September of 1939, England is forced to declare war on Germany, shattering their idyllic life. Vin joins the RAF and everyone has to put up with the hardship of war including blackouts and air raids. Mrs. Miniver deals with a downed German pilot, (Richard Ney), who makes his way to her home while Clem is helping to evacuate the trapped British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk. Vin and Carol get married in spite of differences in social strata, but their time together is to be short. Throughout it all, everyone displays strength of character in the face of tragedy and destruction.

Major Plot Factual Error In the movie, Mrs. Miniver finds a downed German pilot in her garden while her husband is away helping to evacuate British soldiers at Dunkirk. In fact, the action at Dunkirk occurred in late May and early June, 1940. The Germans did not begin flying bombing raids over Britain until July, 1940, so no German pilot could possibly have been shot down over England at the time of the Dunkirk operation.

Rousing Speech This clip of the speech made by the vicar, (Henry Wilcoxin), was worked and re-worked by the director and actor well into the night before the shooting, so they could impart as much impact as possible. The result was believed to be so inspiring that it was subsequently translated into various languages and air-dropped into German-occupied territory. By request of US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the speech was broadcast over the Voice of America. It was also reprinted in both "Time" and "Look" magazines.