R.A.F. Station
(Censored) Scotland

Feb. 24, 1942
 

Dear Mom, Dad and All:-

     I'll start right in where I left off in my tale of adventure I began in my last letter and try to get up to date now that I'm situated where I'm better able to write more frequently, not having to spend twelve hours a day studying.
     I returned to Cranwell after my week-end in Manchester and was rather sleepy all day as a result of traveling all night on the train and bus and arriving back just in time to have breakfast and go to class.  However, I made up for it that night.
     Our promised 48 hour week-end previously set for the 22nd of Jan. was set ahead to the 16th (Friday) beginning after duty.  George Boone and I had planned on going to London to spend it, but both of us were short of funds, me, because of the Manchester trip so we didn't know whether to go or not.  One of the fellows told me he would lend me the money if I wanted it, so we finally decided to go, I fixed it up with my practical instructor to skip class Friday evening and so did Boone, with the result that at two o'clock Friday afternoon we were starting for London.  We arrived around seven and after booking rooms at the Eagle Club we had supper and went out to look over the town. We visited the New Zealand Club and some of the pubs around Leicester Square and Picadily Circus, but as things were rather dull, went out to the dorm about 10:30 and hit the hay.
     The next morning I went down to the American Embassy to see how I stood now that the U.S. was in the war.  They sent me over to see Major Leannard, the Military Attachee.  He told me I would not be ordered to active duty while over here, at least for the present, and advised me to get all the correspondence relative to that from home and answer it from here asking that I be ordered to duty from St. Paul at a date sixty to ninety days from the date of issuance of the order.  I would have to present these orders to the Headquarters here and the British government would then release me from my contract and return me home so I could carry out the active duty orders.  So send me all the mail you have received relating to my transfer to Signal Corps and active duty, especially the form AG0063 Physical Examination Blank if they sent one.  I will do the rest from here, if I can pass the physical examination.
     After seeing him I went and did some shopping, getting among other things a developing tank and printing box so I could really do a job of printing and developing my own pictures.  The prices here for such work are mighty expensive, a dollar a roll for printing and developing.
     We had dinner at the Eagle Club and received 200 South American cigarettes free.  After dinner we went up to the lounge for Americans Only and read some of the New York papers.  We had been given tickets to a BBC broadcast so about 4:30 we were seated in one of the large theaters watching them set up the equipment.  The broadcast was for Australia and lasted an hour.  It was very good and we were rather glad we got to see it.  After we got out it was getting dark and we decided we wanted a real supper.  We went into a pub on Piccadily Street and had a drink and inquired for a really fine place to eat.  One of the patrons obliged with the required information, so following the directions he gave us we set out to find Princes Restaurant.  We were hardly prepared for what we saw when we got there.  A page boy in a fancy uniform opened the second door for us and the head waiter in full formal attire met us inside.  The place was not extremely large, but was really swanky.  He informed us that everything was reserved in advance and he was very sorry and all that sort of thing.  We could see a beautiful dinner slipping from our grasp so we told him we had heard how wonderful the food was there, we'd only be in town that night, and so on, and finally broke down his resistance.  He told us if we would step into the bar room adjoining he would see what he could do for us.  We went in and had a whiskey high-ball and awaited results.  It was all officers and women in formal dress and our uniforms looked rather out of place.  Pretty soon though the headwaiter was back to say he had set up another table and our dinner awaited us.  We followed him in quite happily and seated ourselves.  The table was on the edge of the small dance floor, in the center and directly across from the orchestra, which was just beginning to play.  Our table waiter brought on the Hor's D' Oeuvres and I asked him if we might have some wine.  That being out of his departmant he called the head waiter over and I told him what we wanted.  When he asked me what kind I told him a nice dry wine and I would leave the choice to him.  He bustled off and soon returned with two tall wide lipped glasses and the wine.  "Now I won't show you the label until you've tasted a bit of it", he said and poured a small bit into each glass.  I tasted mine and it really was tops and I told him so.  He was to no end pleased and explained he always tasted his own wine.  The particular bottle was an Austrian wine of 1933 vintage and really smooth.  The soup course followed the first one and was just as good.  Then came the main course of prime roast beef, roast potatoes, peas, carrots, cauliflower, and rolls.  Boy was that a treat after camp grub.  In the meantime the orchestra had begun to play led by a distinguished looking fellow with a van dyke beard who played the violin.  The music was mostly Russian at the start and that fellow was really marvelous on the fiddle.  He could go on the concert stage anytime. I called him over and asked him if he could play "Dark Eyes".  He said, "I will play it as you have never heard it before", and he sure did.  We applauded his efforts and when he came over to ask if it were satisfactory I assured him it was most certainly so, and asked him to try Grigg's 'Norwegian Dance'.  He did that, too.  Just as well and from then on we could have had anything we wanted.  We finished the dessert course consisting of a chocolate cake and once again called the head waiter into conference on a good sweet wine to finish off the meal.  He told us he had some very excellent sweet wine, the finest in the world, but expensive.  We had fully decided beforehand we were going to shoot the works on this dinner so we told him to bring it on.  As he poured the wine into those large globular glasses and set the bottle on the table he said, "There are not more than six bottles of that wine in all of England now.  That was probably blarney, but the wine lived up to the reputation he claimed for it, being a Hungarian Tokay, Vintage 1921.  By now the violinist had bowed out and the orchestra was playing dance music and the crowd began dancing.  A group of officers and nurses of commissioned rank had come in and taken a large table in back of the room and, there being several more woman than men among them, I called our friend the headwaiter over and asked him if it was quite proper to ask the ladies to dance.  He assured me it was, so when the next number, a Strauss waltz, started I went over and asked for a dance, several others of the party having already moved to the dance floor, and got it with a nurse with the rank of Captain.  Evidently our wine bottles on the table gave us a certain amount of prestige.  The whole party was very cordial to us and we had several dances with the girls who were Australians.  All evening we had been noticing a very distinguished looking gentleman about forty years of age with a Van Dyke beard who was at the head of the table of a group of five.  He was dancing with his wife, as we discovered and we were both at our table as they finished a dance.  As they left the floor they came over to our table and asked us if we would care to join them, so we readily accepted their invitation.  It turned out that he was a high ranking officer of the free French Navy and they were giving a farewell party for his youngest son who was leaving for India next day as a private in the British Army.  Another elder son was a Leftenant in the Army also.  The commander was in evening dress, as was his wife, and they really were grand to us and we spent the remainder of the evening with them as their guests.  They were much interested in hearing about America's opinion of the war and how living in the U.S. compared with Europe and so on.  When the place closed at 1:00 AM we closed with it and headed back to the Eagle Club to bed.  It was all in all a marvelous evening and a great deal better than we had ever imagined it would be, even though it did cost us 4 (pounds).
     We had baked ham, toast and coffee, and corn flakes for breakfast next morning and I left Boone to his own resources while I went to eleven o'clock high Mass at one of the small churches near the Club.  I met him again after Mass and we had dinner at the Club for 1 shilling each, quite a comedown from the night before.  We spent the afternoon at the club seeing a free movie and hustling out to Kings Cross Station at 4:00 o'clock to catch the train back to camp.  We arrived there about eight and, after having a bit of supper at the Naafi and raving a bit to the rest of the boys about what a wonderful time we had, hit the hay.  I might add that whan I arrived George's letter he had written New Years Eve was lying on my bunk, having come in that morning and I was also told a package was waiting at the post office for me to claim.  This was the one you mailed November 24th (the present date being Jan. 16th).  And so back to routine again, but it was a rather exciting week for me anyway.
     On Wed. (Jan 19th) I got the box of candy from Florence and a Christmas card from the Hamiltons, and on the 24th Art's Christmas gift.  Thanks to all of them.  They can't realize just what it means to get something from way back home.  I spent the following weekend in camp much to the surprise of my fellow CTC members, but a big week was ahead.  We were to have our final examinations on Friday afternoon, Jan. 29th and the same evening were to have a class dance.  There were 84 in our class, 60 of whom were Canadians.  As I was on the committee it meant being on the go most of them time between trying to study the new theory still being given us, review the past nine weeks work, and help plan a dance.  Well as you know the examination was successful for me and so was the party for the whole group.  It was held In the station hall and attendence was by invitation only.  We had invited 60 WAAF's (some of the fellows had their own girls), the officer and NCO instructors, the C.O., and others of the school staff.  With these exceptions no one except members of our class were admitted.  It was an All American Party and a real success in every way.
     There were classes again Saturday and Monday and Tuesday of the next week, notwithstanding the fact that we had had our exam, we still had things to learn.  It wasn't until Tuesday afternoon that I knew definitely I was completely successful and where I was to be posted.  Six of the fellows were held for further training and one of them cancelled out entirely.  I was granted four days leave and transportation anywhere I wanted to go before having to report to my station.  Boone had the same leave so the two of us set out on Wednesday morning at ten o'clock, bag, baggage, and bicycle on the train to London to rest up after the strain of the past two weeks.  It would seem, as you read this that I did nothing but tear around the country, but believe me there was plenty of hard work in between times.
     We arrived in London about six o'clock and again headed for the Eagle Club and got beds at the dormitory.  After having a good supper at the club we drifted around to the usual haunts and, there being not much doing, went out and went to bed.
     The next day brought several pleasant surprises.  It was, if you followed my maze of words coherently, the fifth of February.  After breakfast at the dormitory we headed back down town to the club again (about eleven o'clock).  On arriving there I asked for the CTC mail and on going through it found there were three letters for me.  Amazing, but true.  Three guesses.  Wrong all around, I'll bet.  Jerry's two Chirstmas cards and the one from Dorothy Trottner.
     Well, Mutt, I must admit you're getting to be quite an artist.  Even though they were a bit delayed I appreciated them all the more.  Let's have some more samples of your work in the near future.
    Having recovered sufficiently from that unexpected bit of good fortune Boone and I headed up to the 4th floor to see if they had any free cigarattes.  They did, and we were presented with five packages of Luckies.  In this same office they handle the forwarding of all packages so without expecting anything good exactly I inquired if they had seen seen any for me lately.  "Oh yes", the girl said, "One just came in this morning, and she went and got it for me, it was the winter underwear and pajamas and they sure appeared at the opportune time, just when I was starting north.  I thanked her and gave her my new address and we departed.  Still ready to look a gift horse square in the mouth I said to Boone, "Let's go see if they have any complimentary tickets for a good show."  He agreed so we went down to the information desk and inquired.  Dame Fortune was still smiling and we were given a choice of several.  We chose "Other Peoples Houses" which had been enjoying a long run and good reviews and were given a card to exchange at the box office.  It was now already past dinner time and the show started at two thirty so we went up to the lounge for Americans Only adjoining, which they had just that morning opened, a new snack bar.  We went in and took a stool and asked what they had to offer, expecting the usual fare.  They practically had to pick us off the floor when the girl said, "Would you like a Hamburger?"  "Wow!"  The hamburger is an unknown quantity in England.  We replied most emphatically in the affirmative and were soon munching delightedly on one with onions and ketchup and drinking American Coffee.  Mmmmmmmm!  We then rushed off to find the Ambassador Theater, which we finally did with the aid of about three bobbies and a like number of pedestrians.  I stepped up with my card expecting to get about the 15th row in the gallery, but low and behold, she handed me two $2.20 Orchestra Seats.  (Dame Fortune grinned all over that day).
     The play was first rate and we left the theater well pleased with ourselves and started back to the Eagle Club.  We arrived there just in time to witness a one hour broadcast to America for members of the British forces who are citizens of the U.S. it was the usual program, a pretty good orchestra and soloists, funny(?) men, and interviews and messages to the folks at home.  You have to arrange about six months ahead of time to appear on it.  It is recorded at the Eagle Club and then broadcast from the recording at a later date, the participants paying for a cable to the folks at home telling them when it will be on the air.  If I ever get to London again I'll try to get on it.
     After the program we had supper and once again made the rounds of the various clubs.  Still rather dull (being the the week), so back to bed again at the club rather early.
     In going through the mail again next morning I once again found I had a letter from home, and I do mean a letter!  Mom's 22 page one written Dec. 23rd.  I immediately headed for the American Lounge and spent an hour or so devouring the latest from home.  The pictures were sure good.  George had mentioned them in his New Years letter and I was afraid they were at the bottom of the ocean, his letter having arrived 21 days earlier (Air Mail).  After having dinner we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping around the town, but not buying much except a couple rolls of film.  I was supposed to have gone to Oxford, but Boone was going in the opposite direction, and as it was probably the last we'd see of each other for a long while to come we decided we'd both stay in London together and do our other sight seeing later.  We spent Friday night and Saturday night in the usual way, clubbing around, talking with blokes from everywhere and hoisting a few beers.  Our finances wouldn't stand another spree like the one three weeks back.
     Sunday morning I got fooled right.  Near the Eagle Club on Trafalgar Square is a huge church called "St.Martin of the Fields."  All the London churches have high Mass at eleven o'clock so I thought this Sunday I'd go downtown and go there.  The choirs in these churches are really worth hearing.  Consequently at about three minutes to eleven I climbed the stone steps to the front door, my gas mask swinging jauntily at my side, entered in the usual way, genuflected and said the usual prayers, and sat down.  As I looked around a bit something struck me as being not quite right, there was the altar with candles, etc., but my watch said eleven five and no Mass.  I noticed several people ushered to seats did not genuflect and this led me to pick up, what I thought to be a Missal lying in the pew.  Much to my surprise it was titled "Hymns of Praise" so I came to the conclusion it must be a Church of England I had blundered into.  With as much dignity as I could muster I got up and walked out considerable less jauntily than I had entered, to the evident amazement of the devout worshipers who were coming to the 11:15 service.  A fine kettle of fish.  The last Masses at 11:00 o'clock, the nearest Catholic Church heavens knew where, and the time already 11:15 without a bobby to be seen, net result, no Mass that Sunday.  I never for a minute doubted the St. Martin of the Field was a Catholic.  We live and learn.  Boone was quite amused when I showed up at the club and told him what had happened to me.  We had dinner together and a chat afterwards and then I went out to the dormitory to gather up my belongings and get them to the depot.  We said Au Revoir for the present and parted, I to the dorm and he to meet some fellows who were going to the south of England with him.
     I climbed on the train at 6:30 although it didn't leave until a hour later, but you have to get there early Sunday nights if you want a seat, to start my fourteen hour trip to Aberdeen, Scotland, and my new post.  They have no sleeping cars on the trains now so it meant sitting up all the way.  A new book I bought titled "Mr. Churchill" by Phillip Guadell helped to while away the time until I got sleepy enough to sleep sitting up.  Had to change coaches at Edinburg when they shortened the train and took advantage of the opportunity to get a cup of tea and a sandwich.  Then off again until we reached Aberdeen about eleven AM.
     I liked the place from my first look at it, but I was feeling pretty tired and dopey.  After getting a bite to eat at the YMCA canteen in the depot I hunted up a barber shop and after a hot towel shave felt, and hope, looked considerably better.  Then I caught the next train to the headquarters to which I had to report.  After getting the information they needed I had an interview with the Squadron Leader (Equivalent of Captain in the US Army) and was given bus tickets and directions on how to reach my station, which will be my home for the next six months or more.  While at headquarters I met another fellow who was being sent to the same station temporarily, so we made the trip together.
     I'm there or I should say here now, on duty in a nice warm building. It's just 4 AM and I've been writing since 1 AM so I'll get all caught up to date in my next letter.

Love,

 Bob