Papa's Book

/In the beginning, there was my Grandfather’s book. Everything I knew about his journey during World War 2 were contained within the book’s pages. When the scrapbook showed, what I knew about my grandfather’s experiences expanded. I could put faces to the people Papa talked about in the book. I saw locations where he fought from throughout Africa and Italy.

But with the scrapbook came confusion. Some of it small, pictures of pilots he never mentioned. Some of the confusion was big. Probably the biggest was why there were pictures in there of London, Paris, and Stuttgart. He never talked about going to London or Paris or Stuttgart. Yet, there were pictures he took of those locations in his scrapbook. What gives?

Papa wrote letters

For about a month I have been diligently typing the letters my grandfather sent to my grandmother. It’s been quite the process of puzzling out his cursive handwriting. I fully confess my cursive is far worse than my grandfather’s even on my best day, but some times he scribbles a bit when he gets in a hurry. His spelling isn’t great. I was surprised today when I saw him use the word ‘too’ for the first time in a long time. He usually defaults to ‘to’ for all occasions, whether warranted or not

But the letters deliver tidbits of information not found in the book, share things between a husband and wife. Tuns out once the war ended in Europe, Papa had free time and leave. He took a weekend jaunt to Stuttgart which was completely destroyed according to his description. He was supposed to go on leave to Paris but that got cancelled. Only for the leave to happen a few weeks later with the addition of London to the itinerary.

World War 2 Diaries

If I were a smart boy, I could have checked out Papa’s actual World War 2 diaries, that diaries that he would jot down his quick notes about daily events. Although brief, the diaries contain lots of fun facts that I have found no where else. For instance, I just read he cut himself getting on the boat to come home from the war and required five stitches. Things like that. 

But the diary tells about his daily activities in Paris and London. He loved Paris. He was in the clubs to all hours of the night. He drank a lot of scotch, his words, not mine. He even went to the Folies Bergére. Something I would never imagine my rather staid Papa doing. He stayed in the same hotel Woodrow Wilson stayed in when Wilson visited after World War 1. London wasn’t as much fun. The place the Red Cross put them up was a doctor’s house. Papa complained all the clubs closed too early. But he did see the stage version of Arsenic and Old Lace.

Burying the Lede

The whole saga makes me kind of angry at my grandfather. It seems like he is holding out on me by hiding the good bits of the stories. For the documentary, I need all the good bits I can find and here my grandfather is burying them away in the notebooks. 

A prime example of hiding the good bits happened on the London trip. In a one line note in the diary, he casually mentions he spots General Patton. Yeah, that Patton. My grandfather is waiting for his plane to take him back to Italy and he looks across the airfield and there is Patton. I would think that would be kind of a big moment to mention at the front rather than burying the lede. Nope. Deep in the archives. I’m going to have to do plenty more digging.

Weekly Short Notes

I have made my final payment for the trip to Egypt in October. A few hiccups about a tour I did not want to take. I want to see, hopefully, some of the places my grandfather might have seen in downtown Cairo

I have sent out some t-shirts into the wild. Two have gone to my nephews. One has gone to the son of 64th Fighter Squadron pilot Mike McCarthy. The other went to Mark O’Brien who runs the 57th Fighter Group website. He let me use a lot of pictures on his website for my Grandfather’s book.