The Churchill Series – Sept. 25, 2006

(One of a series of weekday posts on the life of Winston S. Churchill.)

This from Lt. Gen. Ira C. Eaker, Commander of the U.S.A.A.F. Eighth Air Force in England during WW II:

My first meeting with Winston Churchill occurred at Chequers, his country residence, in the fall of 1942. Air Marshall Harris, the R.A.F. Bomber Commander, telephoned me one evening and said the P.M. would like us at a conference at 8:00 p.m.

Shortly after our arrival it was clear that the purpose of the meeting was to brief Harry Hopkins and Gen. Jos. McNarney prior to their flight to Moscow. After the conference we were invited to join the P.M. for a spartan dinner.

At the conclusion of the meal, over brandy and cigars, our host pointed to each of us in turn and called us by the name of his opposite number on Hitler’s staff.

"You are Hermann Goering," he said to me. He then berated me in typical Hitlerian fashion, concluding, "Your miserable Luftwaffe was not able to defeat the pitiful little package of R.A.F. Spit-fires in the Battle of Britain, to clear the way for my cross-Channel invasion."

Then he beat his chest and said, "I am Der Fuehrer, Now what do we do?"

"Hitler’s" pantomime staff spent the next several hours advising him how to win the war. When daylight arrived, the P.M. pushed back his chair and said, "Well, gentlemen, if I have been correctly informed, we now know what the devils will do, the better to circumvent them. Good night, or rather, good morning."

As Eacker's recollection remiinds us, many British and American WW II leaders who worked closely with Churchill complained that he kept them up past the time they should have been in bed.

For such behavior, Churchill has been rightly criticized. He knew better and should have shown more consideration.

I don’t have a good explanation for why he didn’t. What about you?
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Ira C. Eaker, "Some Memories of Winston S. Churchill," Finest Hour (52)