Like The Groucho
Letters in my previous post, this was another
hardback amid a hidden stack of books in a box in the closet of my
garage. I decided to read it not in anticipation of the
sensationalism – the idea of a love story between Eisenhower and
his mistress – but rather because I expected to learn something of
that period: the war, the decision makers involved, maybe even a few
facts I hadn't come across in the history books. I wasn't
disappointed.
As
the publishing date makes explicit, Summersby wrote this decades
after the facts. Eisenhower had since died; Summersby herself – partly to quail the rekindled media gossip at the time and partly because she'd been diagnosed with terminal cancer and given six months to live – decided to set the
record straight as to what really happened.
Chronicling
her experiences during the second world war as an officers' driver,
she doesn't even begin discussing her love affair until midway into
the book. Even then she treats the illicit encounters tastefully by
avoiding details. She writes briefly about some of the more secret
operations too – Torch (the invasion of North Africa),
Overlord, and, of course, D-Day. Not all of her war
experiences happened safely away from the front lines either. She and
Eisenhower's staff were often forced to race to an underground bunker
to avoid German shelling. Though her style and approach is dramatic
at times, she's unassuming and quite modest about her accounts as a
potential casualty during these bombing raids.
She began
driving for the fairly unknown two star General Eisenhower roughly
three years before the war would end. During that time, he would be
promoted from two stars to three, to four, to eventually the Supreme
Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, and ultimately, of course,
the President of the United States.
She also provides some intriguing accounts of some of the brass and celebrities she encountered and regularly worked with. Her personal accounts of some of the icons of
that era are particularly telling, icons such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Patton, Churchill, and of course
Eisenhower. Eisenhower, a chain smoking workaholic, loved the troops
and made it a point to interact with the lowest ranking soldier
frequently. Roosevelt was capricious but kind and personable. Patton,
quite chivalrous regarding the fairer sex, spoke in a high pitched
womanly voice and was socially unpredictable; once, when giving a
tour to a couple of friends, he abruptly fell to his knees and prayed
out loud for a number of people, after which he rose, unabashed, and
resumed the tour. But my favorite character of the cast is easily
Churchill, whom I've admired for years, at least ever since I
discovered some of his famous quotes and other writings. Turns out he
was quite a slob at the dinner table.
He would slurp his soup, spill things, pick up food with his fingers. He would pick his nose while he listened to the rare person who managed to get a word in edgewise and would quite uninhibitedly unzip his siren suit to scratch his crotch. I remember once at dinner he interrupted himself in mid-anecdote, banged his fist on the table and demanded, “What happened, General [Eisenhower]? Did you run out of claret?” Mickey [Eisenhower's batman of sorts] rushed to fill his glass. At that moment the P.M., engrossed in his story again, made a sweeping gesture and knocked the glass to the floor. He paid no attention to what he had done. … Mr. Churchhill, you really had to acknowledge it, was adorable – but his manners were horrifying. The truth was that it did not matter. He was absolutely brilliant, and all these possibly purposeful gaucheries seemed trivial when he started talking. He had the most fabulous command of the English language. I could have listened to him forever.
The
book contains nearly 40 black and white photos of the characters
involved and a few of the events. Worth reading if you're curious
about the European theater at that period in history. Four out of
five stars. Rated R
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