Footnotes

'I SHALL ALWAYS REMEMBER WITH PLEASURE THE MANY TRIPS I HAVE MADE ON ALIVE AND BAYONET': CHURCHILL & EISENHOWER MEET ON THE ALLIES' SECRET TRAIN & SIGN THE MENU OF A TRUSTED GUARDSMAN AT THE HEIGHT OF PREPARATIONS FOR 'OPERATION OVERLORD'.

The recipient of our menu and correspondence, Frederic Daw, signed up with the Grenadier Guards at the outbreak of war, when one of his first tasks was to guard Windsor Castle. From there, he joined the office of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and continued his duties on Eisenhower's secret command train, codenamed 'Alive', where he became a trusted member of his staff. He travelled with Eisenhower throughout the UK, where he witnessed at first hand the preparations for the allied invasion of Europe, and thence to Germany and France. A photograph of Daw in the driving seat of a jeep, with someone who appears to be Eisenhower, and identified as being taken at Cannes, together with two postcards present of the villa Sous le Vent, would indicate that he also accompanied Eisenhower on what Kay Summersby described as a '...stolen holiday...' in March 1945. Her account of her time as Eisenhower's chauffeur and personal secretary, Eisenhower was my Boss (1948), describes a short break in mid-March 1945 with Eisenhower, Bradley and Colonel James W. Coutts, an exhausted Eisenhower staying incognito at Sous le Vent ('...most delightful...') before having to '...get back for the Big Push...' (Summersby, p.226). Eisenhower stayed at the villa from 20 to 23 March 1945, when he flew to Rheinberg to witness the Ninth Army beginning the crossing of the Rhine.

March 1944, when our menu was signed, was a critical time in the preparations for the allied invasion of Europe ('...one of the most complex operations in Human History...' according to Stephen E. Ambrose, The Supreme Commander, 1971, p.331). On 23 March 1944, '...Churchill went with Eisenhower on a two-day inspection of the American troops in Britain who would be taking part in the Normandy landings...' (Martin Gilbert, Churchill, A Life, 2000, p.770), and Eisenhower's daily appointments diary notes a punishing schedule. On this trip, for example, they inspected the 101st Airbourne Division at Newbury, the 2nd Armoured Division at Tidworth, the 9th Infantry Division at Barton Stacy and the Rifle Barracks at Winchester, before departing for London on the train, dining together on Friday 24th March, as evidenced by our menu (The Papers of Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1970, Vol.V, p.148). The menu is signed in addition by other key players in the invasion - J. Lawton Collins (commander of the VII Corps), Omar N. Bradley (commander of the First United States Army) and Edward H. Brooks (commander of the 2nd Armoured Division). Also present was Churchill's daughter Sarah Oliver, then in the WAAF, who worked in photo reconnaissance and often accompanied her father as aide-de-camp, including to the Cairo, Tehran (1943) and Yalta (1945) conferences.

Alive was one of four special trains put together by Great Western Railway for senior military and political figures. It consisted of 67 berths, two conference cars, the saloon car Bayonet and storage for vehicles, and was fitted with armour plating and metal shutters for added security. After July 1945, the train was relinquished by the Americans and taken over for the use of Field Marshall Montgomery. Our collection includes two rare photographs of the interior showing the conference room with GWR logo on the carpet and a drop-down projector screen, the other showing a fine writing desk.

Provenance: Frederic A. H. Daw (1913-1995), uncle of the present owner.