Partying and Performance
The eight British Officers, having finished the training course at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, had a conference to decide the best way to repay the Americans for their wonderful hospitality.
Despite the exiguous supply of dollars the WO had allotted them, they decided to give a drinks party for all the US Officers who had been particularly kind to them. The Staff College was in a dry State but fortunately the wet State was only half a mile away over the Missouri bridge. The dry State's laws did not make it illegal to consume a drink, only to buy or sell one. They therefore got permission for the party, and in fear and trembling invited the General to attend; to their amazement he accepted. Chartering a taxi they loaded it to the brim with drinks in the wet State and held their party.
It began about 2100 and continued till the last drop of their supplies were finished. Everyone had to sing and the Americans were dancing with each other to the accompaniment of a ukelele impromptu band. The whole floor was gradually covered with discarded chewing gum. About 0100 they demanded speeches. Edgar Whitehead's colleagues were mostly regulars and looked in horror at him. They said, "You've made speeches before, you'd better make ours."
Edgar said all the proper things, thanking the US Army for their kindness and generosity in using their gas rations to show them the countryside. He said how much they'd enjoyed themselves and how much they'd learnt. How they hoped to repay their hospitality if any of them were posted to Britain, etcetera. Then, he sat down.
The General rose to reply on behalf of the US Army; he took a different line entirely. "Gentlemen, after what I've seen tonight I can only express a pious hope that when you Redcoats get back to Washington you don't burn the goddam place down."
Although the Course was over, they stayed on for two more weeks, working with the US planning Staff. Edgar was put in a section dealing with the Pacific War. While he was at the College the German Ardennes Offensive failed and with the Russian Armies' rapid progress the war in Europe seemed almost over. His experience in West Africa and with Air Dispatch, both involving cooperation with the Americans, seemed to lead, via Leavenworth, direct to the Pacific theater. As he was now working on new Pacific Operations with the US Staff involving Air Supply work, he quite expected to be sent there without returning to Britain. Nothing came of it, however, and from the Army's viewpoint his expensive educational trip was wasted.
The work in the planning section was most interesting. Edgar had to recommend what Artillery Units should be provided for various island operations. He worked on the principle of considering what would be the normal British provision and then doubling it. This was not good enough however, the Brigadier who was Edgar's immediate superior said, "Gee, you British are economical, take another two regiments of mediums." The wonderful thing was that whatever the Staff approved would be provided. By this time the Pacific War had priority and there were no shortages.
The British contingent were aware the Americans had them under very close observation during their stay, not confining their judgment to their performance in examinations. At the end they seemed to decide Edgar was reliable and he was privileged to be shown many 'restricted' exhibits, not shown to everyone. They let him see the full operational maps of the Eastern Front setting out the precise German and Soviet 'Orders of Battle', with detailed explanatory notes. They also showed him, in the historical section, the reports on the ability and character of George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton, Omar Bradley and Mark Clark, when they were students at Leavenworth. The character sketches were very detailed and sometimes amusing but Marshall emerged far above the others, in the Army's opinion.
They were finally released in November just before polling day in the US Presidential Election, which Edgar had followed avidly on the radio. They were granted a fortnight's leave to prior to reporting in New York, for embarkation. Edgar was granted leave to stay in Ottawa with his brother George. US Movements made a reservation for him on a train direct from Kansas City to Ottawa via Detroit.
The historical novel Whitewashed Jacarandas and its sequel Full of Possibilities are both available on Amazon as paperbacks and eBooks.
These books are inspired by Diana's family's experiences in small town Southern Rhodesia after WWII.
Dr. Sunny Rubenstein and his Gentile wife, Mavourneen, along with various town characters lay bare the racial arrogance of the times, paternalistic idealism, Zionist fervor and anti-Semitism, the proper place of a wife, modernization versus hard-won ways of doing things, and treatment of endemic disease versus investment in public health. It's a roller coaster read.
References:
- Sir Edgar Whitehead's Unpublished Memoirs, Rhodes House, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, by permission.
- Photo credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Truesdell