Corporal Louis I Elias is now in Africa according to word received here. A letter received recently, however, gives a vivid picture of his impressions of London on one of his visits there before leaving England.
He writes under date of November 4th
“As you know, I did go to London for a couple of days. It was simply marvelous I have so much to tell you I’ll have to start from the beginning. Here goes.
“I left, by train, the town that I’m stationed in. The train ride was slow, but enabled my to hold Jong conversations with some English passengers. Eight people are able to sit in one compartment
“The train station was on tho outskirts of London, so in order to get to the hotel where I was supposed to stay, I had to take a taxi. (By the way, there were three other boys with me. One is a Syrian from Lawrence, whose last name is Ferris. It cost us a Shilling apiece. (A shilling is equivalent to twenty cents in our money).
“While riding in the taxi, we got our first glimpse of the bombing of London. It really is remarkable the way they carry on after all this.
“We checked in at the Hotel which is run by the American Red Cross. All those that work there are volunteers. Mrs. Roosevelt was there last Saturday night.
“We then went to have dinner, a full course dinner for one shilling and the food was good too. I hung around the hotel til 3 a.m. And we decided to go to the famous Piccadilly Circus and Leicester square. Both of those places are like our Scollay square, Boston.
“I didn’t enjoy that at all, but I just wanted to see what it was like. We walked all over that area and we came in contact with soldiers from all parts of the world. Most of them were from countries now controlled by Germany. They seemed to be cheer–ful, but only God knows what they hold in their hearts.
“We took the subway to get back to the hotel. The subways are very far down into the ground. For awhile I thought we’d never Teach bottom. They were all used for shelter when an air raid was on. While or the subway, I met an American sailor. He certainly was a good sight to see. We talked until his stop separated us.
“At 6 p m., we had supper and then decided to go out again.
But it was so dark and foggy, one couldn’t see a thing. We then decided to spend the night in, and test up for the next day. We had plans to go on a tour to all of the important buildings of London.
“It is Tuesday morning, Nov 3, 1942. At 10 a.m. we are to start our tour. The cost will be a half crown, equivalent to our 50c. About forty of us are ready to go.
“Our first stop is the famous Harrod’s Store. It is a combination meat, groceries, clothing, jewelry, furniture, etc. It really was the largest store I have ever seen.
“We then went to Hyde Park. If you get up at 6:30 a.m. every morning, you can see the King and Queen taking their morning ride, also Winston Churchill and other members of nobility.
“Our next stop is Buckingham Palace. It is where the King and Queen reside. It is beautiful. We were told that in peacetime the sights are twice as good. That we realize. We were supposed to see the changing of the guards but it is misty, and when the weather is like that, they don’t go through the whole procession.
“Other buildings we saw were: St. James Palaeo—House of Marlborough, and the King’s. private chapel, they also had the King’s private chaplain tell us all about the chapel. It certainly has a lot of history behind it. You must remember that these buildings are all four to six hundred years old, with very little if any changes made.
We then visited the London Museum. It certainly had a lot of old relics. We saw the dress Queen Victoria wore. She must have had a very good figure—phem.
“After walking for a half hour, we reached Westminster Abbey. There the King and Queen were married when he was the Duke of Kent. Now there is a building, that is a building. It is big and beautiful. In it are buried some of the best people of England. Neville Chamberlain is amongst them.
“A slab in the floor of the Abbey covers each man’s grave. We also saw Charles Dickens’ and Rudyard Kipling’s graves. They are also buried in the Abbey. There were statues of other great men who have given their life’s work for Great Britain.
“The structure of the building was most interesting. Do you realize that the building is about 1200 years old? You wouldn’t believe it unless you saw the way it was built. It was really interesting.
“Most of the boys are getting tired from walking. We are starting to lag behind the group. We now have approached the House of Parliament and in one corner of this large structure of magnificent history is the famous dock Big Ben. The clock was just striking twelve noon. It was a beautiful tune.
“I guess the guide Realized that we were getting tired so he takes us to a restautant. There we gel a snack and resumed our trip by bus.
“We pass through the bombed area. We all know now what the English have been through.
“The bus brings us up to St Paul’s Cathédral, and there we see the tomb of the Duke of Wellington, the man who broke the back of Bonaparte when Napoleon tried to reorganize his armies. We also saw the statue of Lord Nelson in Trafalgar square. He was supposed to be the greatest seaman in the history of England.
“Ferris and I break away from the group and decide to take in a movie. We go to one of the best theatres in England. There the picture is Yankee Doodle Dandy with Jim Cagney. There is a picture of real Americanism. He was real good.
“It’s about 5.30 p.m. and boy, are we hungry. We scout around for a good restaurant and we are fortunate to find one with Oriental food. I ordered a dish of cabbage stuffed with rice and meat. I simply had to have an order of spaghetti and to finish everything up. I had a cup of Turkish coffee that was delicious. We talked with the manager for quite a while. He was interesting. It was a Greek restaurant.
“It is getting dark and if you don’t know the high in London after dark there is no use staying there. Well, we didn’t know any and besides we didn’t core. So we decided to go back-to the hotel and check out and catch our train back.”
(All articles originally published in the Norwood Messenger)