Letter from Edwin A. Shanke to family, "Mom-Ber-Dad," June 29, 1942. |
Previous | 1 of 2 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
|
This page
All
|
Loading content ...
London
June 29, 1942
Dear Momberdad:
I have been anxiously awaiting another letter from you but mail apparently runs in streaks and is as erratic here as elsewhere. Meantime I've been here a month already and have kept myself very, very busy, seeing people and having my brains picked.
I've been spending my offdays seeing a bit of London and England. One Sunday I traveled to Dover with A1 Wall of the office. We got an early start and had the late morning and all of the afternoon to look about. From Shakespeare cliff, towering high over the channel, we could see the French coast very clearly. While we were sitting up there an alert sounded but nothing happened. Dover itself, you know, occasionally is under fire from German long-range guns. Here and there you can see the damage those guns have done. Old caverns and tunnels in the chalk cliffs, dug by French prisoners of war in Napoleon's time I understand, are used now as air-raid shelters. The city of Dover isn't very attractive but its location along the channel, flanked by the imposing white cliffs is marvelous. As I sat day-dreaming that Sunday high on Shakespeare's cliff and looking some twenty-two miles across the channel to France, it seemed hard to believe that just a couple of weeks before I had been on that side of the channel, penned up and under the eyes of the German Gestapo.
The following Sunday I spent at the home of Joe Grigg with whom I flew up from Lisbon. Although American, he lived most of his life here. His father was a correspondent for years for American newspapers. After a splendid roast beef dinner and tea, we took a long walk through the famous Kew Gardens, magnificent with flowers, to the Thames and then along an old tow-path to the little resort town of Richmond. We took a train back. The river was alive with punts, canoes and just ordinary rowboats. The very first Sunday after our arrival Grigg and I took a stroll through the City which he knows so well to London Tower.
Many of the landmarks he knew have been destroyed, of course, by German bombings. It's frightful to see block after block leveled. I suppose it would be accurate to say that hardly a sector of London has escaped. If buildings show actual bomb damage the force of nearby explosions has least knocked out windows. Glass is hard to replace. Broken windows therefore generally are replaced by boards or cardboard. Stores instead of putting back their great show windows merely use a small square of glass and board up the rest of the opening.
Speaking of bomb damage reminds me of a little church which I saw in Dover. Inscribed on the cornerstone were these words: built in 1910, destroyed by bombs in 1917, rebuilt in 1920. And now it stands in ruins again.
Two weeks ago Wall and I took advantage of a delightful summer day to go to the university town of Cambridge. We hosed around
the old university buildings along the river Cam for hours--Trinity college, Christ's college, St. John's cathedral etc--places I had often read about.
Object Description
| Rating | |
| Title | Letter from Edwin A. Shanke to family, "Mom-Ber-Dad" June 29, 1942. |
| Description | Typewritten letter from Edwin A. Shanke to his family, "Mom-Ber-Dad" June 29, 1942. Shanke is writing from London relating his trip to Dover with an acquaintance from work. |
| Creator | Shanke, Edwin A. |
| Date-Original | 1942-06-29 |
| Rights | This image is issued by Marquette University. Use of the image requires written permission from the staff of the Department of Special Collections and University Archives. It may not be sold or redistributed, copied or distributed as a photograph, electronic file, or any other media. The image should not be significantly altered through conventional or electronic means. Images altered beyond standard cropping and resizing require further negotiation with a staff member. The user is responsible for all issues of copyright. Please credit: Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Marquette University Libraries. |
| Subject |
Shanke, Edwin A. -- Correspondence World War, 1939-1945 -- Journalists -- Correspondence War correspondents -- United States -- Correspondence War correspondents -- Germany -- Berlin -- Correspondence Foreign correspondents -- Germany -- Correspondence |
| Format-Original | Typescript |
| Identifier-OriginalItem | Box 1, Folder 3 |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned as TIFF at 300 dpi on Epson Expression 10000XL. Display image is generated from the archival TIFF. |
Description
| Title | Letter from Edwin A. Shanke to family, "Mom-Ber-Dad" June 29, 1942. |
| Page No. | p. 1 |
| Identifier-DigitalFile | MUA_EAS_00209 |
| Rights | This image is issued by Marquette University. Use of the image requires written permission from the staff of the Department of Special Collections and University Archives. It may not be sold or redistributed, copied or distributed as a photograph, electronic file, or any other media. The image should not be significantly altered through conventional or electronic means. Images altered beyond standard cropping and resizing require further negotiation with a staff member. The user is responsible for all issues of copyright. Please credit: Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Marquette University Libraries. |
| Transcript | London June 29, 1942 Dear Momberdad: I have been anxiously awaiting another letter from you but mail apparently runs in streaks and is as erratic here as elsewhere. Meantime I've been here a month already and have kept myself very, very busy, seeing people and having my brains picked. I've been spending my offdays seeing a bit of London and England. One Sunday I traveled to Dover with A1 Wall of the office. We got an early start and had the late morning and all of the afternoon to look about. From Shakespeare cliff, towering high over the channel, we could see the French coast very clearly. While we were sitting up there an alert sounded but nothing happened. Dover itself, you know, occasionally is under fire from German long-range guns. Here and there you can see the damage those guns have done. Old caverns and tunnels in the chalk cliffs, dug by French prisoners of war in Napoleon's time I understand, are used now as air-raid shelters. The city of Dover isn't very attractive but its location along the channel, flanked by the imposing white cliffs is marvelous. As I sat day-dreaming that Sunday high on Shakespeare's cliff and looking some twenty-two miles across the channel to France, it seemed hard to believe that just a couple of weeks before I had been on that side of the channel, penned up and under the eyes of the German Gestapo. The following Sunday I spent at the home of Joe Grigg with whom I flew up from Lisbon. Although American, he lived most of his life here. His father was a correspondent for years for American newspapers. After a splendid roast beef dinner and tea, we took a long walk through the famous Kew Gardens, magnificent with flowers, to the Thames and then along an old tow-path to the little resort town of Richmond. We took a train back. The river was alive with punts, canoes and just ordinary rowboats. The very first Sunday after our arrival Grigg and I took a stroll through the City which he knows so well to London Tower. Many of the landmarks he knew have been destroyed, of course, by German bombings. It's frightful to see block after block leveled. I suppose it would be accurate to say that hardly a sector of London has escaped. If buildings show actual bomb damage the force of nearby explosions has least knocked out windows. Glass is hard to replace. Broken windows therefore generally are replaced by boards or cardboard. Stores instead of putting back their great show windows merely use a small square of glass and board up the rest of the opening. Speaking of bomb damage reminds me of a little church which I saw in Dover. Inscribed on the cornerstone were these words: built in 1910, destroyed by bombs in 1917, rebuilt in 1920. And now it stands in ruins again. Two weeks ago Wall and I took advantage of a delightful summer day to go to the university town of Cambridge. We hosed around the old university buildings along the river Cam for hours--Trinity college, Christ's college, St. John's cathedral etc--places I had often read about. |
