Permission to Explore: World War II Sight-Seeing

In the midst of World War II, some American men and women were lucky enough to experience fleeting moments of peace and safety where they could sometimes adopt the attitude of a tourist. The same phenomenon had been true in World War I as well, resulting in the popular song, “How Ya Gonna Keep ’em Down on the Farm (After They’ve Seen Paree)?”

Photographs in the Library of Virginia’s Profiles of Honor and other collections would look like any vacation photos if it were not for the uniforms. Men pose in front of famous landmarks in Paris, London, Jerusalem, and Tokyo. But just like the current group of tourists in America for the World Cup, not everyone had the same opinions of mythologized sites on the other side of the pond. In the midst of a world war is definitely not the best time to see places in their best light, but magic still held for a few while others vowed never to return.

Lieutenant Colonel Marion L. Deputy wrote to his mother that Paris was “the most beautiful city” he’d ever seen, while Luke Pillis noted the “wide sidewalks” and sidewalk cafes. Thomas Lindsey however, was not as impressed, writing to his girlfriend that “the odor of garlic and wine and alcohol is nauseating.” Captain Elias Tolbert complained that his humble attempts at “simple greetings” in French always resulted in “the natives just [looking at him] with the raised eyebrow.”  He thought he might try to learn the phrase, “Does it rain all the time?,” as he felt it was a very appropriate and useful sentence to know. Robert Hill was more ambivalent about France on the whole writing that while he had “seen some nice country in France,” and there were some ‘interesting places,” he “wouldn’t want to make it [his] home.” Meanwhile First Lieutenant Robert Radspinner wished to “retrace [his] path across France in a few years to see it again and drink up the beauty of the rolling hills and large forest.” He admired the forests, specifically marveling at how the French “really know how to use, reuse and replant timber. They just don’t waste even a small branch.”

Sergeant Ward Rankin excitedly wrote to his mother about a trip he made on furlough while stationed in the Persian Gulf.

I would not have missed it for anything…this is a swell place…Tela Viv [sic] Palestine right on the Mederterrian [sic] Sea and a beautiful place is it…I went to the old city Jerusalem, Damascus Gate, Jaffa Gate, Solomons [Quarries]…Herod’s Gate St. Stephen’s Gate, Kidron Valley, Valley of Jehoshaphat, Garden of Gethsemane, Church of Nations…Mt. of Olives, Tomb of the Kings Mt. Scophus, saw the dead sea from a distance…the Jordan River (washed my hands + feet in it) and Valley and the Chapel of Ascension.

…I continued my tour to Bethlehem along the Plain of Rephaim, the Judean Hills where the sheppherds [sic] watched their flocks when they saw the Star of Bethlehem…I put my hand where Christ was born…I sat where the wise men sat…Mama I could write a book easy on it but people would say he is bucking for (section eight) crazy. I have never been so overjoyed in my life…If I had my choice of a million dollars I would still rather have this trip.

We might not know what others thought about what they saw. Perhaps they weren’t the most eloquent writers, but they took pictures, and kept them all their lives.