The Women who Wrote the War
Page 45
12. China Hands
131
A small number of American women — Material on Edna Lee Booker is taken from her News Is My Job (New York: Macmillan, 1941); on Agnes Smedley from her Battle Hymn of China (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1943), and from Janice R. MacKinnon and Stephen R. MacKinnon, Agnes Smedley: The Life and Times of an American Radical (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988); Material on Helen Foster (Snow) comes from her My China Years (New York: William Morrow, 1984); on Peggy Hull from Wlda M. Smith and Eleanor A. Bogart, The Wars of Peggy Hull; and on Emily Hahn from her book China to Me.
133
Biographical material on Shelley Smith Mydans is based on Carl Mydans, More Than Meets the Eye, and an interview by the author, December 1991.
135
Most of the occupants of the press hostel — Stephen R. MacKinnon and Oris Friesen, China Reporting; Peter Rand, China Hands; Hahn, China to Me; S. Mydans, interview.
136
“hardy Chungking perennial” — Hahn, China to Me, p. 162.
136
a soldier climbed onto a box — C. Mydans, More Than Meets the Eye, pp. 4546.
136
“But Carl and I were young” — S. Mydans, interview.
137
“report on the Chinese army in action” — Gellhorn, Travels with Myself and Another, pp. 19-24.
137
a story on the CNAC passenger-mail flight — Gellhorn, “Flight Into Peril,” Colliers, May 31, 1941.
137
“Beautiful hopeless country” — Gellhorn, Travels, pp. 27-29.
138
a rusty Chris-Craft towing a sampan — Gellhorn, “These, Our Mountains,” Colliers, June 28, 1941; reprinted as “The Canton Front” in The Face of War, pp. 74-76.
138
GelUiorn’s introduction to “the Chinese army in action” — Travels, pp. 4047
141
Biographical material on Annalee Whitmore Jacoby comes from Rand, China Hands, pp. 212-217.
143
“Being a radical young person” — S. Mydans, interview.
143
“these two stony rulers cared nothing for ... their people” — Gellhorn, Travels, p. 58.
143
Smith and Mydans went to the tiny room — S. Mydans, interview.
144
recalled his “brilliant amused eyes” — Gellhorn, Travels, pp. 59-60.
144
Mydans, Smith, and Mel Jacoby visited the Yellow River front — C. Mydans, More Than Meets the Eye, pp. 50-55; S. Mydans, interview.
145
Martha ... had developed “China rot” — Gellhorn, Travels, p. 60.
145
Her U.C. “saw the Chinese as people” — Ibid., p. 56.
145
Ernest was like a “beached whale” — Ibid., pp. 62-63.
145
“the legendary silent-footed Oriental” — Gellhorn, “Singapore Scenario,” ColUer’s, August 9, 1941.
146
Mel Jacoby sent a message to Annalee — Rand, China Hands, p. 218.
146
On the last day of November — C. Mydans, More Than Meets the Eye, pp. 6061.
13. Facing the War That Is Our War Now
148
“A naval base somewhere in the Pacific” — Welsh, How It Was, p. 74.
148
“I hadn’t the faintest idea where Pearl Harbor was” — Lael Wertenbaker, interview.
149
the company gathered there was “flabbergasted” — Kirkpatrick, personal diary, entry for December 8, 1941.
149
Eleanor Packard was in the UP office in Rome — Packard, Balcony Empire, p. 329.
149
Ezra Pound dropped by — Ibid., pp. 250-251.
149
By Wednesday, December 10, it was clear — Ibid., pp. 5-16; 330-333.
151
Mel and Annalee ... lay asleep in their room — Annalee Whitmore Jacoby, “I Saw It Happen in Manila,” Liberty, January 24, 1942; C. Mydans, More Than Meets the Eye, p. 62.
152
“We just got in position” — S. Mydans, Life, December 22, 1941.
152
“searchlights cutting the sky into parallelograms” — A. W. Jacoby, “I Saw It Happen.”
152
“Friday, December 12. Manila’s tenth air-raid alarm on” — Ibid.
154
“Bitterly regret your request not available here” — S. Mydans, interview.
154
But Annalee was present at USAFFE ... headquarters — Clark Lee, They Call It Pacific, p. 80.
154
Christmas morning was quiet — S. Mydans, interview.
154
“Especially you ... on their blacklist” — Lee, Pacific, p. 118.
155
On the last afternoon of the year— Ibid., pp. 151-155.
155
At dawn on January 2 — C. Mydans, More Than Meets the Eye, p. 68.
155
The city “lay ringed by fire” — C. and S. Mydans, “Tomorrow We Will Be Free,” Life, December 6, 1943.
155
Orders were issued — S. Mydans, The Open City, pp. 26-39; C. Mydans, More Than Meets the Eye, pp. 71-73; Frances Long, “Yankee Girl,” Life, September 7, 1942; S. Mydans, interview.
156
There could be no Dunkirk here —A. W. Jacoby, “With MacArthur,” Liberty, April 18, 1942.
157
She selected several nurse’s reports and edited them — A. W. Jacoby, “Bataan Nurses,” Life, June 15, 1942.
157
it occurred to them that if they ... could just get their story out — Lee, Pacific, p. 246.
157
Again it was Mel who found a boat — Melville Jacoby, “Farewell to Bataan,” reprinted in They Were There, Curt Riess, ed. (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1944), pp. 424-426.
158
They took turns standing watch — Lee, Pacific, p. 257.
158
“There was always a tight feeling in our stomachs” — “A Letter from the Publisher,” Time, November 27, 1944.
14. Women Behind Walls: Manila, Siena, Shanghai
159
Had she seriously considered capture — Gwen Dew, “Hong Kong 1942,” reprinted in They Were There, Curt Riess, ed., pp. 442-445.
159
Their internment was billed as a “military necessity” — Doris Kearns Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, pp. 321-322.
160
The internees were left to organize their own lives — Life in Santo Tomas is variously taken from S. Mydans, The Open City, pp. 56-60; C. Mydans, More Than Meets the Eye, pp. 71-77; Frances Long, “Yankee Gill,”Life, September 7, 1942; C. and S. Mydans, “Tomorrow We Will Be Free”; S. Mydans, interview.
163
“Had he heard the news?” — C. Mydans, More Than Meets the Eye, pp. 7880.
163
Eleanor and Reynolds Packard had never worried much — E. and R. Packard, Balcony Empire, pp. 334-342.
164
This was truly “polite confinement” — Ibid., pp. 343-346.
164
the exchange was on — Ibid., pp. 350-352.
165
The last diplomatic train left ... for Lisbon — Ibid., pp. 352-358.
166
Shelley Smith and Carl Mydans were also on the move — The trip on the Japanese freighter Maya Maru, the months in Shanghai, internment in Chapei, and journey on the Tela Maru to freedom comes from C. Mydans, More Than Meets the Eye, pp. 82-116; C. and S. Mydans, “Tomorrow We Will Be Free”; S. Mydans, interview.
15. Learning the Rules, Dressing the Part
172
Kirkpatrick described how ... workers ... gathered — Kirkpatrick, “Gen. Chaney, Air Expert, Heads Yanks in Britain,” Chicago Daily News, January 27, 1942.
172
Mary concentrated on the nuts and bolts — Welsh, “A.E.F.
in Ireland,” Life, February 23, 1942.
174
a visit from King George and Queen Elizabeth — Kirkpatrick, “King, Queen Find A.E.F. is ‘Colossal,’” Chicago Daily News, June 27, 1942.
174
Tania’s son felt displaced by this stranger — Long, interview.
175
Long went down to Dover to report — Long, “The White Caves of Dover,” New York Times Magazine, May 10, 1942.
176
Americans polled in an OWI... survey — David Reynolds, Rich Relations, p. 34.
176
Erskine Caldwell... was not happy about his wife’s choice — Goldberg, Margaret Bourke-White, p. 253.
176
there to photograph their first mission — Bourke-White, “U.S. High-Altitude Bombers Hit Nazis,” Life, October 19, 1942.
177
“May the Flying Flitgun bring to the enemy” — Goldberg, Margaret Bourke-White, p. 253.
177
Charles Wertenbaker . . . arrived at the London office — Lael Tucker Wertenbaker, Death of a Man (Boston: Beacon Press, 1957), pp. 159-160; Tucker, interview.
177
“to see the things we wanted to see” — Wertenbaker, Death of a Man, p. 160.
178
“It was hard leaving Steve” — Wertenbaker, interview.
178
women correspondents ... found their customary easy movement ... obstructed — Kirkpatrick, Kasper interview, p. 32.
178
So she went to Helen Rogers Reid —Julia Edwards, Women of the World, p. 123.
179
Reid had ... “the persistence of gravity” — Barbara Sicherman and Carol Hurd Green, Notable American Women: The Modern Period, pp. 574-575.
179
“Somewhere on the coast of Africa” — Tomara, “Air Transports Use Africa Base on Jungle Edge,” New York Herald Tribune, August 24, 1942.
16. Women on Trial: North Africa
180
Biographical material on Ruth Cowan comes from a Washington Press Club Foundation interview by Margot Knight, September 26, 1987, and an unpublished memoir.
182
Then in December a story came over the teletype — Cowan, memoir, p. 56.
182
“So you want to go to war?” — Ibid., pp. 60-61.
183
Cowan began the process — Ibid., pp. 62-82.
184
Life reporter Lincoln Barnett... had no idea — Goldberg, Margaret Bourke-White, p. 256.
184
she set about persuading the U.S. Army Air Force — Ibid., p. 257.
184
She was assigned to the flagship — Bourke-White, Portrait, pp. 204-205.
185
the torpedo awakened her—Bourke-White, “Women in Lifeboats,” Life, February 22, 1943.
185
“This must be fear” — Bourke-White, Portrait, pp. 208-209.
185
water up to her hips — Bourke-White, “Women in Lifeboats.”
187
Everyone was determinedly roughing it — Cowan, “First Waacs in Africa Sang Way Through Hardships, Perils at Sea,” AP dispatch, January 31, 1943.
188
Wes Gallagher ... suggested that when Cowan’s ship returned — Cowan to Robert Bunnelle, AP London office, February 13, 1943; Knight interview, pp. 23-25.
188
“Don’t encourage more women to come to Africa” — Edwards, Women of the World, p. 151.
189
“I never thought women could live a life so hard” — Cowan (AP), “Nurses Working 12-Hour Shifts in Front Lines Hospital in Tunisia,” Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, February 21, 1943.
189
General Jimmy Doolittle ... had her flown to the Ninety-seventh Bomb Group — Bourke-White, Portrait, p. 117.
189
“In the evening... she left with the general” — Goldberg, Margaret Bourke-White, p. 263.
191
“You can do one of two things” — Ibid.
191
she did not recall having given a thought — Bourke-White, Portrait, p. 226.
191
The Flying Fortresses set off at dawn — “Life’s Bourke-White Goes Bombing,” Life, March 1, 1943.
192
“Oh, that’s just what I want, that’s a beautiful angle!” — Goldberg, Margaret Bourke-White, p. 267.
192
“the first woman ever to fly with a U.S. combat crew over enemy soil” — “Life’s Bourke-White.”
192
In the company of four officers, they headed for the rear — Cowan (AP), “Girls in Hitch-Hike Flight As Nazis Approach,” The Evening Sun, Baltimore, March 9, 1943.
17. Touching Base on Five Continents
193
Biographical material on Lee Miller comes from two studies by her son, Antony Penrose: The Lives of Lee Miller and Lee Miller’s War.
196
Her earlier nonchalance vanished — Welsh, How It Was, p. 83.
196
the long separation had left both of them changed — Ibid., p. 84.
196
A new Japanese offensive was pressing westward — Tomara, “Crucial Battle for ‘Rice Bowl’ Worries China, New York Herald Tribune, May 21, 1943.
196
she sat with other correspondents in the courtyard — Tomara, “Chinese Doubt Foe Can Drive to Chungking,” New York Herald Tribune, May 29, 1943.
196
Leaving felt a bit like treason — Tomara, “Farewell to Chungking,” New York Herald Tribune, August 9, 1943.
197
she hitched a ride in a bomber — Tomara, “Sonia Tomara Flies in a Raid over Hankow,” New York Herald Tribune, August 24, 1943.
198
“You do feel the war here” — Tomara, “U.S. Flyers in China Find Zeros Keep Coming,” New York Herald Tribune, September 12, 1943.
198
she forwarded dispatches on the invasion of Sicily — Kirkpatrick, “Island Attacked by Land, Sea, Air,” Chicago Daily News, July 10, 1943.
198
Italy’s withdrawal from the war — Kirkpatrick, “Disunity in Italy Heralds Its Crackup, Neutrals Say,” Chicago Daily News, July 13, 1943.
198
Carl and Shelley Mydans were on the final lap — S. Mydans, “Letter from Mormugao,” Life, November 29, 1943; “Americans’ Return,” Life, December 20, 1943; C. Mydans, More Than Meets the Eye, chapters 22 and 23.
18. Slogging Through Italy
200
General Eisenhower charged that she had maneuvered herself— Goldberg, Margaret Bourke-White, p. 274.
201
She described how a thorough job of mine clearance — Bourke-White, They Called It “Purple Heart Valley,” pp. 28-30.
201
he was full of praises for her work — Goldberg, Margaret Bourke-White, p. 276.
202
He had, he said, written to ask his wife for a divorce — Ibid., p. 277.
202
She was quartered in a monastery — Bourke-White, Purple Heart Valley, pp. 49-51.
202
Their route ... encompassed a newly completed Bailey bridge — Ibid., pp. 42-48.
203
Bourke-White returned exhausted to her cell — Ibid., pp. 66-67.
204
[Helen] lived with the nurses in a tent — Kirkpatrick, Kasper interview, pp. 68-69.
204
Still in her combat boots, Helen flew back — Kirkpatrick, author interview.
205
two days after the Anzio landings — Tomara, “Nazis Counter-Attack on Cassino Front,” New York Herald Tribune, January 25, 1944; “5th Army Fights Nazis Trying to Escape Noose,” New York Herald Tribune, January 26, 1944.
205
It was hard to photograph such suffering — Bourke-White, Purple Heart Valley, pp. 111-113; “Evacuation Hospital,” Life, February 21, 1944.
205
&
nbsp; More dramatic were the photos taken at the Eleventh Field Hospital — Bourke-White, Purple Heart Valley, pp. 123-132.
206
“Everything was so still, so pure” — Ibid., p. 134.
206
Her negatives and notes routinely traveled to the Pentagon — Goldberg, Bourke-White, pp. 283-284.
207
“I would give anything to be part of the invasion” — Lynn, Hemingway, p. 505.
207
“The French held these mountains” — Gellhorn, “Visit Italy,” Collier’s, May 6, 1944.
208
“It smelled of many things, of men and dampness” — Gellhorn, “Postcards from Italy,” Collier’s, July 1, 1944.
208
She celebrated Easter with two hundred soldiers — Tomara, “Easter in Italy: Americans Pray Within Earshot of German Lines,” New York Herald Tribune, April 10, 1944.