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The Women who Wrote the War

Page 46

by Nancy Cladwell Sorel


  209

  Later that spring she reached Cassino — Tomara, “Italian Front at a Standstill,” New York Herald Tribune, April 13, 1944.

  210

  A risky jaunt into Cassino — Wlliam H. Stoneman, “Martha Gellhorn Sets Out to See Cassino; Shot At, Dives Into Ditch,” Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, February 29, 1944.

  19. New Women Gome Over for Overlord

  212

  Biographical material on Virginia Irwin comes primarily from Anne R. Kenney, “ ‘She Got to Berlin’: Virginia Irwin, St. Louis Post-Dispatch War Correspondent.”

  213

  Biographical material on Lee Carson is taken from assorted news articles and Julia Edwards, Women of the World, pp. 156-160.

  213

  “best-looking woman correspondent,” Newsweek, March 19, 1945, p. 88.

  214

  Biographical material on Iris Carpenter comes from assorted profile pieces in the Boston Globe; Edwards, Women of the World, pp. 153-156; and an interview by the author, October 1994.

  214

  “My husband had found another woman” — Carpenter, interview.

  215

  “She could get interviews from anybody” — Colonel Barney Oldfield, to the author, May 1994.

  215

  Biographical material on Marjorie “Dot” Avery is taken from assorted articles in the Detroit Free Press and reminiscences of friends.

  216

  Biographical material on Catherine Coyne comes from an interview by the author, February 1992, and reminiscences of friends.

  217

  “There was nothing glorious about going off to war” — Coyne, “Embarkation Grim Business for Troops,” Boston Herald, May 30, 1944.

  219

  her appointed place on the correspondents’ committee — Kirkpatrick, Kasper interview, pp. 69-70; author interview.

  219

  a key man in the Polish underground — Kirkpatrick, “Poles Writing Air Legends in Europe’s Skies,” Chicago Daily News, January 30, 1944.

  219

  interviewed three Poles for her story — Gellhorn, “Three Poles,” Colliers, March 18, 1944.

  220

  Martha... “had devoted her entire attention to... Polish pilots” — Welsh, How It Was, p. 93.

  221

  she was very gay that... spring — William Walton, author interview, May 1994.

  221

  Martha Gellhorn had returned to Cuba — Carlos Baker, Ernest Hemingway, p. 387.

  221

  Welsh was lunching with Irwin Shaw — Ibid., p. 389.

  221

  “I don’t know you, Mary.... But I want to marry you.” — Welsh, How It Was, p. 95.

  222

  the car in which Hemingway was a passenger — Baker, Ernest Hemingway, p. 391; Lynn, Hemingway, pp. 508-509; James R. Mellow, Hemingway, p. 531.

  222

  “Woods and hedgerows were spiky with guns” — Carpenter, No Woman’s World, pp. 15-16.

  20. D Day

  224

  “At about 4 A.M. on June 6” — Welsh, How It Was, p. 99.

  225

  “The correspondents who were going with the troops” — Kirkpatrick, Kasper interview, p. 71.

  225

  “The first landings today” — Kirkpatrick, “Superb Plans Give Edge to Allied Forces,” Chicago Daily News, June 6, 1944.

  225

  “I was fast asleep” — Avery, “Londoners Sober But Happy All D-Day,” Detroit Free Press, June 7, 1944.

  226

  Catherine Coyne had received a similar call — Coyne, interview.

  226

  also there in that “great guarded room” — Gellhorn, “Over and Back,” Collier’s, July 22, 1944.

  227

  “Wherever troops hit France on those Omaha beaches” — Carpenter, No Woman’s World, pp. 29-30.

  227

  On D Day plus one Catherine Coyne hitchhiked — Coyne, “Catherine Coyne in England,” Boston Herald, June 17, 1944.

  228

  “Great formations of gliders rose in the air” — Avery, “Invasion Gliders Blanket Sky Over England,” Detroit Free Press, June 8, 1944.

  228

  stood on the dock of a military port marshaling area — Cowan, AP dispatch, June 6, 1944.

  229

  Lee Carson... found ... a seat on a plane — Oldfield, Never a Shot in Anger, p. 104; Edwards, Women of the World, p. 156.

  229

  Martha Gellhorn crossed the Channel in a hospital ship — Gellhorn, “The Wounded Come Home,” Collier’s, August 5, 1944.

  230

  The army press office took a dim view — Rollyson, Nothing Ever Happens to the Brave, p. 199.

  231

  The next woman correspondent to step onto French soil — Carpenter, No Woman’s World, pp. 29-31.

  231

  “Some of the men who made the first assault” — Avery, “Normandy’s Casualties Come Back,” Detroit Free Press, June 11, 1944.

  232

  “There was something macabre” — Welsh, How It Was, p. 101.

  233

  people had gone back to sleeping in the shelters — Long, “Worse Than the Blitz,” New York Times Magazine, July 30, 1944.

  233

  “The infernal machine seemed to be buzzing down upon us” — Coyne, “Londoners Calm, Even Scornful Despite 2752 Dead by Robots,” Boston Herald, July 6, 1944.

  233

  “There were streets where, for several miles” — Kirkpatrick, “Still Digging Yank Dead From Robot Bomb Debris,” Chicago Daily News, July 7, 1944.

  234

  expected to be gone no more than thirty-six hours — Cowan, AP dispatch, July 14, 1944.

  234

  Carpenter interpreted the term “beachhead” to include Cherbourg — Edwards, Women of the World, p. 157.

  21. Trekking North from Rome

  236

  she was already breaking protocol — Reynolds Packard (UP), “Press, Including Woman in Slacks, Calls on Pope,” New York World-Telegram, June 8, 1944.

  236

  Packard underwent the unsettling experience — R. Packard, “Eleanor Packard Shows Italians She’s No Spy,” New York World-Telegram, July 10, 1944.

  237

  All they talked about . . . was the Russian army — Gellhorn, “The Carpathian Lancers,” The Face of the War, p. 121. Collier’s did not publish this article, perhaps because it appeared critical of America’s Russian allies.

  237

  “We moved the next day and every day after that” — Ibid.

  238

  “The U.S. 7th Army” — E. Packard (UP), “Sea and Sky Troops Rip Defenses, Swarm Ashore Between Nice, Marseille,” New York World-Telegram, August 15, 1944.

  239

  the [FFI] took it upon themselves to seize Bordeaux — E. Packard (UP), “Biggest Port Is Liberated,” New York World-Telegram, August 23, 1944.

  239

  Martha Gellhorn attached herself to the First Canadian Corps —Gellhorn, “Cracking the Gothic Line,” Collier’s, October 28, 1944.

  239

  “Suddenly you see antlike figures of infantry” — Ibid.

  240

  her request to cover the Normandy invasion — Goldberg, Margaret Bourke-White, p. 284.

  240

  Bourke-White was anxious to renew her connection — Ibid., p. 285.

  240

  “I love you. I will marry you. Maggie.” — Ibid.

  241

  “During the month she’s been in Italy” — Ibid., p. 286.

  22. That Summer in France

  242

  (an exasperated Iris Carpenter pointed out) — Carpenter, No Woman’s World, p. 48.

  243

  “It was terribly humiliating, the way I went to war” — Coyne, interview.

  243

  The Wacs were allowed to mingle with nearby troops — Coyne, “Miss Coyne Joins WACs in Invasion,” Boston Herald, July 12, 1944
.

  243

  Irwin thought it incongruous — Irwin, “Three Missouri Girls Land With Wacs in France,” Saint Louis Post-Dispatch, July 17, 1944.

  243

  the Wacs went ashore ... singing the “Marseillaise” — Coyne, “Mass. Girls Share Hardships of GI,” Boston Herald, July 14, 1944.

  243

  “like the sand-houses prairie dogs make” — Avery, “Marjorie Avery Camps with the WACs in Orchard,” Detroit Free Press, July 21,1944.

  245

  “whose voice even at two o’clock in the morning” — Coyne, “Catherine Coyne on the War Front,” column, Boston Herald, August 5, 1944.

  245

  It had rained all day — Avery, “Rain Invades Dinner Party for WAC Officers,” Detroit Free Press, July 27,1944.

  245

  “such a mechanical, well-organized operation” — Long, interview.

  246

  The sisters were at first suspicious — Tomara, “Shopkeepers in Cherbourg Breathe Freely,” Tomara, New York Herald Tribune, August 2, 1944.

  246

  Lee Miller . . . boarded a plane for Normandy — Miller, “U.S.A. Tent Hospital,” Vogue, September 15, 1944.

  248

  “the most exciting journalistic experience of my war” — Penrose, The Lives of Lee Miller, p. 118.

  248

  Iris Carpenter and Ruth Cowan started out — Carpenter, No Woman’s World, pp. 47-65.

  249

  “Ruth was a straightforward person” — Carpenter, interview.

  250

  “It’s not safe in England” — Kirkpatrick’s account of her Normandy experience July-August 1944 is taken from her “Rennes Wild with Joy at Yank Victory,” Chicago Daily News, August 5, 1944; Kasper interview, pp. 72-73; and author interview.

  251

  Lee Miller grabbed at a chance — Miller, “France Free Again,” Vogue, October 15, 1944.

  254

  “Drawn up in front of the city hall” — Coyne, “DeGaulle at Rennes Lights Battle Spark,” Coyne, Boston Herald, August 22, 1944.

  254

  felt he was much moved — Carpenter, No Woman’s World, pp. 98-99.

  254

  “She was rubbing eau de cologne all over herself — Coyne, interview.

  255

  Helen in her khaki Wac underwear — Walton, interview, May 1994.

  255

  “These Frenchmen were going out of their minds” — Kirkpatrick, Kasper interview, pp. 73-74.

  23. Liberating Paris

  256

  when word came “everybody fell into line” — Kirkpatrick, Kasper interview, p. 74.

  257

  Charles Wertenbaker and Robert Capa told their driver — Oldfield, Never a Shot in Anger, p. 110.

  257

  “I will never forget the next morning” — Kirkpatrick, Kasper interview, p. 74.

  257

  “My heart was so tense”—Tomara, New York Herald Tribune, August 29, 1944.

  258

  One of her first stories ... was on the mechanics of that uprising —Tomara, New York Herald Tribune, August 31, 1944.

  258

  An order had been out on [Carson] — Oldfield, Never a Shot in Anger, p. 111.

  258

  she took sole charge of six German soldiers —J. C. Oestreicher, The World Is Their Beat, p. 225.

  258

  “Madame want to buy a beautiful rug very cheap?” — Ibid.

  258

  she was apprehensive as to what kind of welcome — Oldfield, Never a Shot in Anger, pp. 111-112.

  258

  59 “deliriously, deliriously back in real France,” — Welsh, How It Was, p. 108.

  259

  “Daughter ... sit still and drink this good brandy” — Baker, Ernest Hemingway, p. 417.

  259 260

  she and Reinhart... turned back to Notre Dame — Kirkpatrick, “On-Spot Story by Kirkpatrick,” Chicago Daily News, August 26, 1944. “The generals’ car arrived on the dot of 4:15” — Ibid.

  261

  went over to the Chicago Daily News office — Kirkpatrick, Kasper interview, p. 75.

  261

  “sprawled in hideously awkward death” — Coyne, “Petals, Wine, Kisses Power Paris Drive,” Boston Herald, August 25, 1944.

  261

  Marjorie Avery reported shelled houses — Avery, “Writer Sees Few Outward Signs of War,” Detroit Free Press, September 2, 1944.

  261

  “I arrived exhausted by my share of.. .handshakes”— Penrose, Lee Millers War, p. 67.

  261

  Virginia Irwin and British reporter Judy Barden took a roundabout route — Barden, “Girl Reporters Got Lost in Front Lines,” New York Sun, August 31, 1944.

  262

  Tania Long drove down from Cherbourg — Long, “It’s Still the Same Glowing Paris,” New York Times Magazine, September 10, 1944.

  263

  Ruth Cowan’s was to recover her blondness — Overseas Press Club of America, Deadline Delayed (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1947).

  264

  Picasso, whom she found at his studio — Miller, “In Paris ... Picasso, Eluard, Berard,” Vogue, October 15, 1944.

  264

  “Even I, conservative Boston spinster that I am” — Coyne, “‘Spinster’ Coyne Turns Cheek to Kisses of a Grateful Paris,” Boston Herald, August 28, 1944.

  264

  thought the painter looked like a Prudential Insurance collector — Coyne, interview.

  264

  Another day Miller invited Coyne up to her room — Ibid.

  266

  Lael Wertenbaker wanted desperately to come to newly liberated Paris — Wertenbaker, interview.

  266

  Jesus Christ Himself Lee — Reynolds, Rich Relations, p. 105.

  267

  Marjorie Avery interviewed Lucien LeLong — Avery, “Paris Dressmakers Hail Liberation of Fashions,” Detroit Free Press, September 11, 1944.

  267

  The horror of it was almost too much to take in — Tomara, “Germans Shot 75,000 During Reign in Paris,” New York Herald Tribune, September 2, 1944.

  268

  “When you first go into the chamber you disbelieve everything” — Coyne,”Gestapo Hot Air Jets Tortured Parisians Before Execution,” Boston Herald, September 3, 1944.

  268

  visited ... a member of the underground — Kirkpatrick, “Victim’s Story Bares Gestapo Bestialities,” Chicago Daily News, October 13, 1944.

  269

  “They simply locked men and women there in the wet unending dark” — Gellhorn, “The Wounds of Paris,” Collier’s, November 4, 1944.

  269

  “It is impossible to write properly of such monstrous ... cruelty” — Ibid.

  270

  A sympathetic Robert Capa found her in tears — Richard Whelan, Robert Capa (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985), p. 228.

  270

  “Mary and I live at the Ritz” — Mellow, Hemingway, p. 536.

  271

  One night Marlene Dietrich met them for dinner — Ibid., p. 540.

  271

  “jerking, jumping, hair-in-eyes GIs” — Carson (INS), “Paris Jitterbugs Stomp in Open After 4 Years in Secret Groove,” New York Journal-American, September 21, 1944.

  24. Grossing the Siegfried Line

  273

  Her visit, scheduled for three days — Kenney, “She Got to Berlin,” p. 467.

  273

  how the Eighty-second ... dropped ... onto the Dutch countryside — Gellhorn, “Rough and Tumble,” Collier’s, December 2, 1944.

  274

  Nijmegen ... was the subject — Gellhorn, “Death of a Dutch Town,” Collier’s, December 23, 1944; reprinted as “A Little Dutch Town” in The Face of War.

  274

  “The battles had been recent ones” — Avery, “Marjorie Avery Stands on German Soil,” Detroit Free Press, October 3, 1944.

  275

>   “There was about it constant beauty” — Coyne, “Miss Coyne Finds Luftwaffe No Myth, in Rhine Bridge Blow,” Boston Herald, October 4, 1944.

  276

  Iris had begun to fear the war would be over — Carpenter, No Woman’s World, p. no.

  277

  “the wolf in correspondent’s clothing” — Carson, “I Love My Fellow Correspondents — but,” Cosmopolitan, January 1945.

  277

  Janet Flanner returned to Paris — Wineapple, Genet, pp. 183-186.

  278

  “Paris is still a mass of uncoordinated individuals” — Flanner, “Letter from Paris,” New Yorker, December 15, 1944; reprinted in Paris Journal 1944-1965, p. 3.

  279

  arrived ... to cover its surrender— Carpenter, No Woman’s World, pp. 170— 174.

  279

  “The American 100th Division is cleaning the Germans out” — Tomara, “Strasbourg Hit By Artillery on Banks of Rhine,” New York Herald Tribune, November 27, 1944.

 

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