C.,
that I was OK.
Judy and I had arrived in Manila on July 20, 1940, after a delightful
trip from New York City through the Panama Canal on the U. S. Army
Transport Republic bound for San Francisco, and on the U.S.A.T. Grant
via Hawaii, Guam and Manila. We got to see two World's Fairs (New York
and San Francisco). It was really our honeymoon, as we had previously
been too poor to afford one.
During the six weeks we were on the high seas, history had been taking
place. Hitler's armies had blitzkrieged through Holland, Belgium and
France; the British Army had a forced evacuation from Dunkirk in an
armada of small boats. Mussolini had declared war on Britain and
France (actually stabbing France in the back while she was on her
knees). Hitler's bombers were causing havoc in England, and his
submarines were sinking many Allied ships in the Atlantic. Tojo was
vigorously continuing his "undeclared wars" in Manchuria and China.
Churchill said, "We shall seek no terms; we shall ask no mercy."
Roosevelt, preoccupied by presidential elections, was finally becoming
aware of Hitler's threat to democracy. He called up volunteers for the
Army; he further prepared for war by agreeing to transfer many planes,
tanks and some sixty reconditioned
destroyers to Britain.
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