Doing what he was Told
Once back in Lagos Edgar Whitehead was immediately summoned to General George Gifford's office. Edgar had not reported by signal his coup in the acquisition of five million rounds of .303 ammunition from Field Marshal Smuts.
Gifford was so delighted at the news he danced all around the office before he said to Edgar, "I've decided to keep you as one of my staff officers--and it also comes with the rank of Major." Edgar was soon out of Lagos and touring the country assessing its agricultural needs and potential to supply the ever growing army.
His eighteen months tour of duty in West Africa was due to expire in May 1942. He was looking forward to getting back to Britain, the central arena of the war, and cool weather. Never having been issued a blanket, with no cool weather at any time of the year, the main variation in the climate had been between the wet season's humidity and the dry season's Harmattan blowing sand laden blasts from the Sahara. Malaria was endemic. Suffering so many bouts of the three-day variety, he had come to consider them no more than a heavy dose of the flu.
But the General sent for him in Achimota, on the Gold Coast, and said, "You have the right to return to the United Kingdom but I want you to remain with us. If you take your leave in Rhodesia I have a mission for you to see Huggins about the future of the Rhodesians in the Command. The prewar agreement is expiring and I want an extension which will permit me to send them to the Far East. If you agree to Salisbury instead of Britain I have an important job for you on your return."
Edgar did what he was told.
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- Sir Edgar Whitehead's Unpublished Memoirs, Rhodes House, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, by permission.
- https://news.cnrs.fr/sites/default/files/styles/lightbox-hd/public/assets/images/cnrs_20050001_0870_72dpi.jpg?itok=1Ozt5qEw
