Free I'll Be Seeing You by Margaret Mayhew Page B

fairly regularly. I’ll find out what I can.’
    There was a certain amount of nerve involved in ringing the American Embassy. I had no idea which department to ask for or what to say, but eventually I summoned up my courage. I was passed from extension to extension and, finally, yet another American voice came on the line.
    â€˜How can I help you, ma’am?’
    He sounded quite uninterested in doing anything of the kind. I explained that I was trying to find out the names and addresses of associations belonging to the American Eighth Air Force stationed in England during the Second World War.
    â€˜We’re not able to help you in this department.’
    â€˜Can you suggest who could?’
    â€˜You could try writing to the Pentagon in Washington, DC. I’ll give you the address.’
    I wrote it down. ‘Thank you.’
    â€˜May I ask what this is all about, ma’am?’
    The tone was bordering on offensive and I should have answered, no, you may not. Instead I repeated the half-truth that I had given Monica – that I was trying to trace an old friend of my late mother’s.
    â€˜The National Personnel Records Centre in the US usually deals with enquiries of that nature, ma’am. They send you a form requesting certain data: full name, date of birth, rank, serial number and branch of service, matrimonial status.’
    â€˜Well, I’m afraid I don’t have any of those.’
    â€˜Then they couldn’t proceed.’
    â€˜But I do have a photograph. That’s why I thought an association might be able to help. Some of their members might recognize this particular officer.’
    â€˜You should be aware that in the United States we have a Privacy Act. Nobody’s going to hand out the home address of any ex-service personnel to you, or anybody else. They’re not releasable to the public. No information regarding a veteran can be given without the veteran’s written permission.’
    â€˜So, it’s virtually impossible to trace them?’
    â€˜All I can say, ma’am, is that all enquiries are referred to the official government departments in the US. If the authorities are given sufficient information and can locate the relevant records, they’ll sometimes forward a letter to the last known address. That way there’s no invasion of privacy.’
    He made it sound as though all decent, law-abiding, upstanding American citizens needed shielding from importunate foreigners like myself. I rang off, feeling upset and with the suspicion that it was embassy policy, in such cases, to be as unhelpful and discouraging as possible. It was obviously pointless to write to the National Personnel Records without having any of the red-tape answers.
    After the next Thursday evening class, Monica reported on her visit to her father-in-law.
    â€˜He said he didn’t really have anything to do with the American Air Force – they were mainly in East Anglia and the Midlands, while he was stationed up in Yorkshire. But they certainly have ex-service associations – just the same as the RAF. He met an American navigator who was a guest at a Bomber Command Association dinner and belonged to one of their Bomb Group Associations – a group based in Suffolk, like you were after. They still correspond from time to time so he’s going to write and ask if he could let him have some information. Oh, and he gave me this magazine to lend to you, but he’d like it back.’
    I thanked her and later, at home, I sat down to read the quarterly magazine of the Bomber Command Association. There was a rather nice painting on the cover of a Lancaster coming in to land over a hedge and I was impressed by the contents. Notices of events and reunions being held all over the country, well-written articles, photographs, wreath-layings, book reviews, poems, obituaries . . . there was clearly a huge amount of interest and activity. Towards the