Correspondence to Richenda Rhoden From Lawrence Kay dated Wednesday, October 20th, 1943. (1/5)
Item
Title
Correspondence to Richenda Rhoden From Lawrence Kay dated Wednesday, October 20th, 1943. (1/5)
Description
Correspondence to Richenda Rhoden from Lawrence Kay, dated Wednesday October 20 1943. Letter discusses Lawrence's time in the army on a ship headed to North Africa. (1/5)
Identifier
MS.2019.01.1002
Type
text
Is Part Of
Box 10 Folder 3
Format
PDF
8 w x 5 h
Date
1943
Creator
Kay, Lawrence Lew, 1914 -1943
Subject
correspondence
personal correspondence
World War, 1939-1945
Africa, North
Rhoden, Richenda, 1917-2016
Medium
paper
Language
eng
extracted text
Wdnesday , October 20.
Dearest Richenda ,
We are sti ll on the high seas and are h eaded f or !lomeFlaca
in North Africa . How 'Ile shall proceed to our dest i nat.ion , no onli
knows yet . >lie lIIight fl~r, altho 1 t h ink we Sho.ll1~~ wa ~er . I t i;;
JlOssible that part of the journey will be by train or truck , b u~
this is only a gue s s on lIlY part.
We are part of a cnnvO)' t hat, a s 1>8or as '1(13 kno',f, r.es b",en " Dmenaced so far . I caI;mot tell you Whe t ki nd of p r ot,i; c t.. i on io'9 ha ve,
exce pt that it is so very comfort.inl.: to !lee it frcOIl t ime to t ime .
Our big problem on board is fo od . The first 'lfee k s ,vere prott;
bad . We have only two lIIeels a de;; . as requ ired b~ ArlllY re t: J.:.la·.,1olld .
Tlle r e is not much sense eating more . because 'l ie ha ve pract i call;,
' no e xerc ise. If lie ate t oo !!Iuch . Frobably it '/loul a be iillOJO., .. ible
for us to even wadd le ashore. However , if ~o" chanc e ~ o meet some
one who runs iii no.viglltion compan:t. he ' ll probabl:. h ave a lot of
money , part 01: which he made from the oft en s t inkin g meals s erved
to us.
We have a meas offi cer on boar d wllc is one of the paasengers-or should I sa;,.' part of t he froight . There iiln' t, muc h h e ca n d o
except supervisa and hint about the proper pr611ara t1<.:n of t.lle me al~
The ship's steward g ives out the food , the cook prepare s it and lie
eat it . Yet the officer's on bo8.:t>d unanimous~ appo'inted me to
be assistant l1less officer, and oneof tha!D said t hat if I couldn ' t
i mpr ove t hings . they would be satisfied that n o one could .
I
I tnew I couldn't d o anything, \;Jut I mads frlend>l
'; dtl!
and the co ok ano. tock a rea l int e r es t i n their ,for k .
the
,'/i;
~ tellard
to '- ':.o.:otlie £
and talked food and cooking. Ever,)' me1!.l I make it Ilo int t o talk
;vith the oook an:! stimu l &te h1::l thinkIng .
I blo" th at. a fter I ta lkej
with him about our c.aily me::u oft poovder e<.i e g!,;s . rw began to Ilxve r ;; ment and nOi¥ his eggs are about as good tiS the~i c an be . All o ur
food 1s cooked in huge steam ke:tles , eXC6l>t f or '!'om€ of tLe lIleat
dishes we have had the past few Iia/s .
Our cook. a regular lIIe.:lber of the merchant marine , i s a n egro
I
and a real~ fIne ' fellow. I .knu~ you would enj oy Illeeting hi " , tie
enjoys cooking and 1s rather sad at the thought of hav':'ng to feeuc.:;
poor f ood , but he has so little to .~ork ill'lth .
a.on 1t heslta:;e t o
praise him when he tu.rns out a nOod dish--like t ho mellt loaf 'l ie haa.
las t night.
B'B1des bein!,: IIssit1;ent mess of fic e r, I 1Ir:! sre eia l 3ervice&
offic er , t oo . That do esn·t tIle<ln much , I vnJ.c, see to i t U,S !; car cl~ ,
checkers, and chass games ere availab le to t:tH; man . I was going t o
put on '" sho ... of s ome sort, bu t talent seems to be lacking S11Q we
have no musiaal instrwnents . so I deai dd d t ba 1; n o :.h<.lii .a s be ~ ;;,'H'
than a poor one .
I iuwe also given a series 01' 7 or 8 l egtlue s on Chlna an i
'''hat '''e mieht 8.l::pec t to find thore and ho'" to take the c hange
in our usua l '.vay ai' l ife. Before"'8 get t o <.lUI' dest i na ti on, 1
shall make an attampt to e:xplain SOllie of t r,e Chi Iles fd c clstoms !ind to
tea Ch those who wan t to lea rn s(J!De tb l nb of the lant;U3 i a.
ol)therlfise, W l i fe on board ha" been oc¢u,,':'ed by c al' d ~ and
fiee+~ d etective stories .
I sent the ann iversa ry ca r d to my mothe r and da d while I 'Nas a t Illy
secret station. I hav e forg ot t en this oc caalon til e p;;l ;J t ';l'I'O o r
three years , but thanks to )Io u , my da r ling , not thi:> time .
do ev~%/~~h~~~ ~ ~! r;O~lg~~ventful , but I did th ink 01' j'Ou 8'; I
The enlis.ed men ha ve to go belo;l' as soen 11.3 it g ets dar ks , bl.Ot
officers are a1lo\1l'9d on de ck, s o of cour se beint: a fre:;h air f i end ,
I have IJpent most of the nights on deck sleeping i n a l if e I'af t
~;\~~~fg~~ ~~!;~~~~~:ti ~on . ~~o~/: iti;~ . a e;e n tlemen i nd
Every night we sleep eu~ stars a nd the moon have been
"ilonderful . I lay on ~. back -and pick ou t th e l "e ,v fam iliar con H eliation s t hat I know a nd eac b nig ht I think bo", wonUerfll.l it o.Q uld
be for us to be togethe r and s leeping I...nde r th e s t ar s .
I am looking f OT"Kard to ar l iving in North Afri ca. 1 a m gCi n(,
out and befriend an Arab cllieftan. Then he is goitll; t o ~ nv 1te ) c;e
to on e of t h us e f abulous desert 1'e&iTs l'ei.l.ll t ll . You l<.no ... t.be l ind - A gr e a t, deep pit is dug . A huge fire bui ut i n it and s;:.one "
thor"ofn in t o hea t. Then Chickens a r e ll t uffed an d put i n t o to
sheep. The chiCken - stuffed sheep are !Jut into a c8IGel an J t.he
ca mel is put into the pit . Mt.er 1 2' h ours "Ke llit d()~"n ana 6a .. .
Tha t SOWlds all if it would be 1Il.1.t;htjinteres t::.ng' .
One th ing I do want i s a Chine se mea l , but: i t ma~ be ~eeks
more before I ge t the chance .
I find that lIIost of the fello .. " an board have a v e r~ liaril t l!l;B
getting used to t he food . It isn It g :ead of' c:ourse , b u. t I u s uall,, _
e a t IlV f ull . sha r e . IIhy n a t, ent or g o h~l"',; nnd one c:an ' t. ~ta rve .
But then most peo ple still ex;:ect things to be t he s.!tme no ma t- t er
whe r e they go and i f they are ldifferent. they are ve ry ::mch e. t
see. a nd lac k the mental elastic ity to change th eir Ray of t hink i n" .
Hap " ily , I am encl o·~-eCl with the abil ity tv get al" ng art,Y p lace and
under a lmost afIY c ondi ti ons .
There is one thing though that I can ' tget us ed to . .Ie ht;,ve to
wear our life pr e se rve r s all the t i me when we are on d eck . The;, are
so veFI f i l t hY U .'at I shuduer a t the ve r~ thcU(;b of t 'v uch inl\ cne .
And t hey do st ink t o high heaven . Yet , 119 hav e no pillo'' '5 Il nd we
all u se the pre SErve r S f or such. I c ov e r mine with m.:t ra i n coe .. .
bu t t hen I s l e ep on de ck anj the fre sh nir waf t s the ot de.t' s from
my n ostri ls .
I get v ery nause a ted frot!! the :;i:lle lls below de ck and
I c a n I t stay be lOW very l eng , but I could ge t used to tna t H I
·... anted to, but I prefer the wonder.fully ff.'e sh air and. the beawt i sky .
And! can have that wit h a miniQUlll of inc .,nvenienc e .
I .yonder if s leeping on hurd surfaces cloes one aq. good . H '
so, I am v er~ h ea lthy . I not on ~" sleep on bar:! boa r d .. . but t'le rEc
are Slats in the bott.olll of life r uf ill and the corners of tile boa rds
ge t pretty unc omfortable during the ni gh t . bu t !,yon and .l. don 't
mind.
.
one day , t h e 16th
I ....a s office r of t he d8JI (the OD)/and 1 ar ranged tu Ita.ve the
gua r ds fed about 1 2 at ni ght . Eve r since then . t ile bual'd:; iJave been
I
5.
been getting their midn i ght snack . Sometimes t here i!J soul' left
over and we serve it to the nlen who are :ot1ll u p . . Dar ling , it 1 ..
pitiful to .see th e fello':r5 come It&t .. storminl!: to the door for wnat
l ittle there Is. I ·,Va never have enough for e verybod~: and "om8 d o
without . I reme~ber one soldier -",ho jj:ot out of bed with sleep still
hanging around his eyes . Just as his turn came , th e soup ren o u t
!ln a he was the saddest sight I ever ha ve seen . I monsc:ed to bel
some soup for hilll, at that .
One thing I ob ject to very Iloh , Is the fa ct that the offi cers
always manage to get ext r a food fro:ll the ship'::! crew , b\..t t.lle~ do
~~~~~~~ d~f n~~ti~~e l~h~~;n ~: ~~~ ~~tl~~;'S a~~~~;o ~~: ~:; ~ ~~1 1 cr
cheese and t he Mass O. tr otted' r l"ht up and got four cam; l' or the
enl1siled men . Bully for h im. 'I Of oourse we are ~l.Lst. a fed c ~mOi
ered to the enl.lsted lD&n , and i1; is eas;r for us t l;. get a felt t [ll ngs
extra . But where food Is such a precious thin!:, 11; ~ s no t r ight
to vIr tually flaunt It before hU%lgl"'J Z::Gn .
We can ' t Grtlect all men t o:: be thoug htfu l and considerate , can
we? One of the men paid me a fIne complIment • . He 30id the ;vldier ~
all spoke h I ghly of me antl. 1;ha1; , strangelJ,' , no ona had a ~Iling to
the contrary. Howeve r, 1 suspec t that is al1;erad. a I1tl.le no'" , lor
since I was toltl. th1s~ I have had occasion to sl'eak rathe: SMI'P4"
to some of the men. Some peQiJ1e are so thick that t ile, take ad vantage of am thin!!; J ou do for them auo. ot..<lers arii ju.. t d.Wilb.
With a ll r:q love to )'OU. Ke e p ..ell and ... ri1;e me 01'1;Gn. I
miss you as I always
wilen lie are a.pd rt, 5we e1;heart .
.0
a
Dearest Richenda ,
We are sti ll on the high seas and are h eaded f or !lomeFlaca
in North Africa . How 'Ile shall proceed to our dest i nat.ion , no onli
knows yet . >lie lIIight fl~r, altho 1 t h ink we Sho.ll1~~ wa ~er . I t i;;
JlOssible that part of the journey will be by train or truck , b u~
this is only a gue s s on lIlY part.
We are part of a cnnvO)' t hat, a s 1>8or as '1(13 kno',f, r.es b",en " Dmenaced so far . I caI;mot tell you Whe t ki nd of p r ot,i; c t.. i on io'9 ha ve,
exce pt that it is so very comfort.inl.: to !lee it frcOIl t ime to t ime .
Our big problem on board is fo od . The first 'lfee k s ,vere prott;
bad . We have only two lIIeels a de;; . as requ ired b~ ArlllY re t: J.:.la·.,1olld .
Tlle r e is not much sense eating more . because 'l ie ha ve pract i call;,
' no e xerc ise. If lie ate t oo !!Iuch . Frobably it '/loul a be iillOJO., .. ible
for us to even wadd le ashore. However , if ~o" chanc e ~ o meet some
one who runs iii no.viglltion compan:t. he ' ll probabl:. h ave a lot of
money , part 01: which he made from the oft en s t inkin g meals s erved
to us.
We have a meas offi cer on boar d wllc is one of the paasengers-or should I sa;,.' part of t he froight . There iiln' t, muc h h e ca n d o
except supervisa and hint about the proper pr611ara t1<.:n of t.lle me al~
The ship's steward g ives out the food , the cook prepare s it and lie
eat it . Yet the officer's on bo8.:t>d unanimous~ appo'inted me to
be assistant l1less officer, and oneof tha!D said t hat if I couldn ' t
i mpr ove t hings . they would be satisfied that n o one could .
I
I tnew I couldn't d o anything, \;Jut I mads frlend>l
'; dtl!
and the co ok ano. tock a rea l int e r es t i n their ,for k .
the
,'/i;
~ tellard
to '- ':.o.:otlie £
and talked food and cooking. Ever,)' me1!.l I make it Ilo int t o talk
;vith the oook an:! stimu l &te h1::l thinkIng .
I blo" th at. a fter I ta lkej
with him about our c.aily me::u oft poovder e<.i e g!,;s . rw began to Ilxve r ;; ment and nOi¥ his eggs are about as good tiS the~i c an be . All o ur
food 1s cooked in huge steam ke:tles , eXC6l>t f or '!'om€ of tLe lIleat
dishes we have had the past few Iia/s .
Our cook. a regular lIIe.:lber of the merchant marine , i s a n egro
I
and a real~ fIne ' fellow. I .knu~ you would enj oy Illeeting hi " , tie
enjoys cooking and 1s rather sad at the thought of hav':'ng to feeuc.:;
poor f ood , but he has so little to .~ork ill'lth .
a.on 1t heslta:;e t o
praise him when he tu.rns out a nOod dish--like t ho mellt loaf 'l ie haa.
las t night.
B'B1des bein!,: IIssit1;ent mess of fic e r, I 1Ir:! sre eia l 3ervice&
offic er , t oo . That do esn·t tIle<ln much , I vnJ.c, see to i t U,S !; car cl~ ,
checkers, and chass games ere availab le to t:tH; man . I was going t o
put on '" sho ... of s ome sort, bu t talent seems to be lacking S11Q we
have no musiaal instrwnents . so I deai dd d t ba 1; n o :.h<.lii .a s be ~ ;;,'H'
than a poor one .
I iuwe also given a series 01' 7 or 8 l egtlue s on Chlna an i
'''hat '''e mieht 8.l::pec t to find thore and ho'" to take the c hange
in our usua l '.vay ai' l ife. Before"'8 get t o <.lUI' dest i na ti on, 1
shall make an attampt to e:xplain SOllie of t r,e Chi Iles fd c clstoms !ind to
tea Ch those who wan t to lea rn s(J!De tb l nb of the lant;U3 i a.
ol)therlfise, W l i fe on board ha" been oc¢u,,':'ed by c al' d ~ and
fiee+~ d etective stories .
I sent the ann iversa ry ca r d to my mothe r and da d while I 'Nas a t Illy
secret station. I hav e forg ot t en this oc caalon til e p;;l ;J t ';l'I'O o r
three years , but thanks to )Io u , my da r ling , not thi:> time .
do ev~%/~~h~~~ ~ ~! r;O~lg~~ventful , but I did th ink 01' j'Ou 8'; I
The enlis.ed men ha ve to go belo;l' as soen 11.3 it g ets dar ks , bl.Ot
officers are a1lo\1l'9d on de ck, s o of cour se beint: a fre:;h air f i end ,
I have IJpent most of the nights on deck sleeping i n a l if e I'af t
~;\~~~fg~~ ~~!;~~~~~:ti ~on . ~~o~/: iti;~ . a e;e n tlemen i nd
Every night we sleep eu~ stars a nd the moon have been
"ilonderful . I lay on ~. back -and pick ou t th e l "e ,v fam iliar con H eliation s t hat I know a nd eac b nig ht I think bo", wonUerfll.l it o.Q uld
be for us to be togethe r and s leeping I...nde r th e s t ar s .
I am looking f OT"Kard to ar l iving in North Afri ca. 1 a m gCi n(,
out and befriend an Arab cllieftan. Then he is goitll; t o ~ nv 1te ) c;e
to on e of t h us e f abulous desert 1'e&iTs l'ei.l.ll t ll . You l<.no ... t.be l ind - A gr e a t, deep pit is dug . A huge fire bui ut i n it and s;:.one "
thor"ofn in t o hea t. Then Chickens a r e ll t uffed an d put i n t o to
sheep. The chiCken - stuffed sheep are !Jut into a c8IGel an J t.he
ca mel is put into the pit . Mt.er 1 2' h ours "Ke llit d()~"n ana 6a .. .
Tha t SOWlds all if it would be 1Il.1.t;htjinteres t::.ng' .
One th ing I do want i s a Chine se mea l , but: i t ma~ be ~eeks
more before I ge t the chance .
I find that lIIost of the fello .. " an board have a v e r~ liaril t l!l;B
getting used to t he food . It isn It g :ead of' c:ourse , b u. t I u s uall,, _
e a t IlV f ull . sha r e . IIhy n a t, ent or g o h~l"',; nnd one c:an ' t. ~ta rve .
But then most peo ple still ex;:ect things to be t he s.!tme no ma t- t er
whe r e they go and i f they are ldifferent. they are ve ry ::mch e. t
see. a nd lac k the mental elastic ity to change th eir Ray of t hink i n" .
Hap " ily , I am encl o·~-eCl with the abil ity tv get al" ng art,Y p lace and
under a lmost afIY c ondi ti ons .
There is one thing though that I can ' tget us ed to . .Ie ht;,ve to
wear our life pr e se rve r s all the t i me when we are on d eck . The;, are
so veFI f i l t hY U .'at I shuduer a t the ve r~ thcU(;b of t 'v uch inl\ cne .
And t hey do st ink t o high heaven . Yet , 119 hav e no pillo'' '5 Il nd we
all u se the pre SErve r S f or such. I c ov e r mine with m.:t ra i n coe .. .
bu t t hen I s l e ep on de ck anj the fre sh nir waf t s the ot de.t' s from
my n ostri ls .
I get v ery nause a ted frot!! the :;i:lle lls below de ck and
I c a n I t stay be lOW very l eng , but I could ge t used to tna t H I
·... anted to, but I prefer the wonder.fully ff.'e sh air and. the beawt i sky .
And! can have that wit h a miniQUlll of inc .,nvenienc e .
I .yonder if s leeping on hurd surfaces cloes one aq. good . H '
so, I am v er~ h ea lthy . I not on ~" sleep on bar:! boa r d .. . but t'le rEc
are Slats in the bott.olll of life r uf ill and the corners of tile boa rds
ge t pretty unc omfortable during the ni gh t . bu t !,yon and .l. don 't
mind.
.
one day , t h e 16th
I ....a s office r of t he d8JI (the OD)/and 1 ar ranged tu Ita.ve the
gua r ds fed about 1 2 at ni ght . Eve r since then . t ile bual'd:; iJave been
I
5.
been getting their midn i ght snack . Sometimes t here i!J soul' left
over and we serve it to the nlen who are :ot1ll u p . . Dar ling , it 1 ..
pitiful to .see th e fello':r5 come It&t .. storminl!: to the door for wnat
l ittle there Is. I ·,Va never have enough for e verybod~: and "om8 d o
without . I reme~ber one soldier -",ho jj:ot out of bed with sleep still
hanging around his eyes . Just as his turn came , th e soup ren o u t
!ln a he was the saddest sight I ever ha ve seen . I monsc:ed to bel
some soup for hilll, at that .
One thing I ob ject to very Iloh , Is the fa ct that the offi cers
always manage to get ext r a food fro:ll the ship'::! crew , b\..t t.lle~ do
~~~~~~~ d~f n~~ti~~e l~h~~;n ~: ~~~ ~~tl~~;'S a~~~~;o ~~: ~:; ~ ~~1 1 cr
cheese and t he Mass O. tr otted' r l"ht up and got four cam; l' or the
enl1siled men . Bully for h im. 'I Of oourse we are ~l.Lst. a fed c ~mOi
ered to the enl.lsted lD&n , and i1; is eas;r for us t l;. get a felt t [ll ngs
extra . But where food Is such a precious thin!:, 11; ~ s no t r ight
to vIr tually flaunt It before hU%lgl"'J Z::Gn .
We can ' t Grtlect all men t o:: be thoug htfu l and considerate , can
we? One of the men paid me a fIne complIment • . He 30id the ;vldier ~
all spoke h I ghly of me antl. 1;ha1; , strangelJ,' , no ona had a ~Iling to
the contrary. Howeve r, 1 suspec t that is al1;erad. a I1tl.le no'" , lor
since I was toltl. th1s~ I have had occasion to sl'eak rathe: SMI'P4"
to some of the men. Some peQiJ1e are so thick that t ile, take ad vantage of am thin!!; J ou do for them auo. ot..<lers arii ju.. t d.Wilb.
With a ll r:q love to )'OU. Ke e p ..ell and ... ri1;e me 01'1;Gn. I
miss you as I always
wilen lie are a.pd rt, 5we e1;heart .
.0
a