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Location
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Age
22 Years

13th July 1945

Our sailing orders have been changed again and we are not going now until Saturday morning.

Jackie and I hitchhiked to Amsterdam via The Hague, starting at about 1030. At first we had difficulty in obtaining  a lift, but eventually got a civilian Chevrolet, which was very comfortable. This took us as far as The Hague, where I saw the colossal damage caused by the V1 bombing. The RAF certainly did a good job in five minutes! There were some lovely houses damaged by the explosion of the rockets leaving the ground – they could easily have been repaired, but the materials are not to hand. The weather will ruin them.

We went to see Jackie’s sister (younger one 23 ) with her two children, and her mother who was staying there, with Jackie’s grandparents.

Then we continued our journey and eventually reached Amsterdam at about midday, where, after inspecting the modern quarters, we went to see her uncle who owned a large furniture store. We inspected this, and I noted the modern trend in all Dutch work. Her uncle provided us with a guide, and we walked all over town inspecting the canals, the modern quarters, and the ancient quarters. We saw the Chinese settlement and where the Jewish quarter used to be, before the Germans killed about 120,000 of them. It was all very instructive.

Just before we started back Jackie xxxx in a café beside the canal and drank lemonade. It was very refreshing and very cool. I want to return there someday.

We came back as far as Linden in a jeep driven by an RAF to ringer. He averaged 65 mph all the way. The roads were so straight that they allowed it.

Once back in Rotterdam, I had a glass of milk at Jackie’s and then we went to the Princess Theatre to see “Pimpernel Smith” starring Leslie Howard. We thoroughly enjoyed it, Jackie having seen it once before. She understood all the subtleties of the humour. She is very fond of Leslie Howard. The audience reacted very well. They laughed when they were supposed to and seemed very pro British. Of course, after an occupation like theirs they could hardly harbour any love for the Germans. Jackie‘s father who is a manager of the railway transport system explained how the Germans commandeered practically all their rolling stock in order to house bombed out Germans.

I said goodbye to Jackie, but I expect we shall not sail tomorrow after all.