My Dad and Winston Churchill

During World War II we all listened to the radio. Mom listened to the soap operas at lunchtime and I did too. We liked comedy like Danny Kaye and Jack Benny to have a good laugh. We also listened to drama like The Shadow, Gunsmoke and Ellery Queen.

I would sit with my dad and listen to the war news since my brother, George, was a C 47 pilot getting ready, in England, to take paratroopers into France. He did at 11:30 PM on D Day.

My dad always had ideas for the war effort both at home and in Europe. One day, he told me about this idea that he had on helping the British beat back the possible invasion now that Hitler had conquered Europe and waiting across the Channel for the right time.

His idea was, under the cover of darkness, laying a network of pipes with gasoline in them , just under the sea level, at the few invasion beaches the Germans might attack along the Dover Coast. We couldn’t stop the German paratroopers, but as their landing barges got over the pipe network, the valves would be opened and the gasoline lit effectively stopping the invasion barges.

I typed this letter and sent it to Churchill and about 3 or 4 weeks later, I went out to get the mail and there was a letter from 10 Downing Street, London. Churchill thanked him for his idea on repelling the German invaders helping the war effort.

I saw a dramatization of William Stephenson’s book “A Man Called Intrepid“, with David Niven as Stephenson, and decided to read the book that it was based on. In the book, there was a mention that the idea my dad had had actually been done.

Later, there was a sequel called “Intrepid’s Last Case” and this event was also mentioned. Stephenson was a British spy acting as a diplomatic courier to Spain and was able to greatly effect the war effort. Both books were very interesting.

Churchill’s letter made us all proud of what dad was able to do. Even though he was blind and paralyzed, his mind was amazing figuring out many projects for our home and local area.