fr (Sec 1 Statesmen SedoWOrsw Suxw July 2S, 1SS3
Eddy Gilmore
War Cjoinivy iripiio firoiic:Iirciel2dl;io
11- Ye'ar Sayr iini.KusJlali 'ftBtip;!tBarb?
EDITORS . NOTE The bud
Bets f reporters, Is to tell what
happen to other people, not them
selves.. Bat ccasionally the re
porters themselves fet. late the
hwl and ' the "story behind the
story" becomes of Interest. That's
the case with Eddy Gilmore, AP
eorrespondeat, who. la a sense, be
came aprisoaer of the cold war. He
peat 11 years la Moscow, aad set
all of it by choice. Ia otter articles
be has writtea of some of the events
k observed ia the Soviet Union,
of his Jmpressloas. For this
article Gilmore was asked to tea
bis owb, personal story especially
how he maintained his good homer
through several years of ancer
talaty.) By EDDY GILMORE
'PARIS (A Getting into Rus
sia can sometimes be more diffi
cult than getting out of Russia. Both
were difficult in my case.
Russia was far from my thoughts
that June morning in bomb-blasted
Chelsea, London, where I was
living in 1941. The telephone be
side the bed began that English
double-ring, and it was the Rus
sian voice of an emigre Russian
girl that told me of the German
Invasion of the Soviet Union.
"Hitler's soobmorines,' she said
in tha curious, melodious voice
that I was to hear so many times
later in the U.S.S.R., "ess drobink
torpaydos all ovah leetle mudda
Rooshia."
Effective Red Accent
(I always thought she affected
this accent, but affected or not, it
was effective.)
This was all very hard to tune in
at 6 a.m., British double daylight
time.
"What are you doing," I asked,
"drinking vodka at this hour of the
night?"
After quite a few more questions
I realized Hitler had. at last
marched against Stalin. In no time
at all the Associated Press ordered
me to the Soviet Union. But how to
get there? A convoy, I was told in
a hushed voice, was the only way.
Never Heard of Me
I taxied to the Soviet embassy
confident they would be delighted
to hand me a visa to go help report
the Russian war effort to the out
side world. How extremely wrong
I was. They never heard of me.
They said the visa would lake time,
lit did, too. but early in October
we were sailing the Arctic Ocean,
above the Arctic Circle, in a British
convoy for Archangel. What witch
ing words those were for me . . .
Arctic Circle, Archangel.
Every day Gorman planes would
come out ana jook at us ana we
would look back and pray they
would do no mora than look. -That's
all they did do. We were loaded
with tanks and hurricane planes.
The Russian front was falling apart
and military experts all over the
world were predicting the Germans,
would occupy Moscow in weeks.
The Soviet capital, we learned, was
already being evacuated.
A grim outlook, and made dim
mer by events in Archangel. The
Russian authorities there had nev
er heard of us (five correspondents,
three American, one English and
one Australian, with two RAP officers-.)
They wouldn't even let us
off the boat. Then one morning I
saw a smartly dressed RAF offic
er walking along the quay, look
ing up at the ship,
"Good morning," he said brightly,
and those words never sounded
nicer. j
Allowed Off Ship
'The officer turned out to be
group captain, later Air Commo
dore Ivoe Bird, and later to
die in Moscow. We told him our
plight and he "iegan to "deal with
it," as the British j say. , In a few
hours we were at least allowed
off the ship, a doughty little mer
chantman on which, we'd been con
fined 27 days.
We crossed the Dvina, already
freezing, in a. small boat and spent
the day trying to find a Russian
with authority to let us go to Mos
cow. Disillusioned, we started back
across the Dvina to our ship. We
used an Archangel ferry for this
ride through the ice and it brought
me in close contact with Russians
In mass for the first time.
Disregard for Ice Floes
: The pilot of the wood-burning
ferry showed utter disregard for
the big ice blocks.! When the ferry
would get halted by them, he would
throw her into reverse, and then
charge the blocks,! the entire craft
quivering. Again and again. After
an hour of this we reached solid
ice, 75 yards from the river bank.
Tha ferry could go no farther.
, The 20C Russians on the ferry be
gan to pour over the sides, down a
sort of ladder. I noticed that the
lirst one was a cripple. He reached
Jhe . ice and. started , out v on his
crutches! : t - ; .- '
! He took three paces and then,
buops! His crutches shot out from
Oder him and .he fell on the ice.
I Roar after roar of laughter swept
the 200 Russians. , The cripple got
in and. grinned. -
iSo Beautifully Cruel
"That's very Oriental, said one
!tf the RAF officers, "and sever
forget this. The Russians are cruel
people. But so beautifully cruel.
- After six days ia Archangel word
got through from Moscow to let
us come to Moscow. Off we went to
the railway station in a snowstorm.
Never mind. We were on our way.
We thought everything was fine,
but at the railway' station we hs
QTtred that xtZ &ellorccnr frajn
Reports:
was standing by, we had no tickets
and no permission to buy them (the
first, but not the last time I was
to hear that). , . -
But there was a. helpful British
colonel, also, bound for Moscow.
CoL Hulls, of v the Gordon High
landers. He " got' us aboard. The
fact he spoke Russian helped.'
.The trip 'took -21 days. We went
into Siberia, and back out again.
We were on theJrain and off.
There -was the shabby hotel in
the J ancient -city of Yaroslavl.
Weighted With Books
"Where is it? "I asked the Rus
sian expert among us, a man who
weighted himself down with books
on Russia, and weighted us down
with his opinions.
"Where is what?" he countered.
"The men's room," I told him.
He looked at me with heavy dis
dain, and spoke slowly:
"Gilmore, you are in a country
of Communism. There is full equal
ity of the sexes. These people "are
not filled with false modesty as are
we of the Western, World. There's
one such room, shared by men and
women alike, and why shouldn't it
be this way?"
"All right," I said, "but where
is it?" ' -
He told me. I discovered I was
the only person there. Then I heard
the voices of several women. I list
ened hard for a male voice.
More -Women Came
I stayed there for quite a while
just listening. Not only did these
women not go away, more came.
I felt I'd better go. So, gathering
my courage, I put my hand against
a door and ' resolutely shoved it
open. It hit something and from
the angered wail that went up I
knew I'd hit a baby. But it was
too late to stop now.
I found myself m a huddle of
shouting women and one scream
ing child. I beat a hasty retreat
COKITflKIIUES IMS
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up. the corridor to. the. room .where
Hulls, his face grave, summoned
me into the corridor. , J .if-i
."Gilmore,' he said, "what have
you been doing in the ladies room?
The' management has had a strong
complaint.' '
"From that day on Tve never
placed much faith in experts on
Russia.
Bitterly Cold Trip :
Full of self pity, we thought this
trip was the worst in the world. It
was bitterly cold. Several windows
in our car. had been blown out by
German - bombs. They were re
placed by cardboard. We left Arch
angel with food for six days and
that had gone. We had a little
money, but the peasants at the way
side weren't interested in money
the.-wanted soap, salt and clothes.
Everything except my razor, a
bar .of soap, some money and the
clothes I stood in had been stolen,
on the train. The same thing bad
happened to Larry LeSueur, of the
Columbia Broadcasting System.
Col. Hulls had slipped on the ice
while foraging for food at a , way
side station and broken his arm!
I'd lost about 14 pounds. We looked
and felt a collective mess in this
land of collectivity.
Chunk of Paradise
0 Kuibyshev, on the high east bank
of the frozen Volga, seemed a love
ly chunk of paradise as we arrived
in a snowstorm. We had expected
a great welcome. A single Greek
made up the welcoming committee.
But pretty soon, John Russell, sec
retary the British embassy
showed up and helped us find our
wa to the Grand Hotel which,
until this day, has made me wary
of hotels by that name.
A few days later, sitting in a room
of the building to which the Amer
ican i embassy had been evacua
ted from Moscow, we heard about
Pearl Harbor, and then we listened
0r
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to. Hitler over -the shortwave radio.
oeciare waron me unnea states.
600 Mil$F6m TStoryi
- -. . i . " - S . ...
' We were, 600 miles : from i one of
th greatest; stories in J the .world.
And couldn't set there and couldn't
get anyone interested in'our getting
here. .Telegrams took two days
to set .to 'New!1 York from Kmby
sbev.The world looked dark in
deed . It - :. '. - .
And then the Russians put .up
mat -aeiense at moscow s- gauss.
German patrols were "actually 14
miles 'from . the . city at one point.
Marshal Georgi Zhukov flung, the
Germans back4 from Moscow, and
our. 'luck, changed ' too. ' We .were
hurried' up to Moscow.' I say hur
ried: it took six 'days i by train:
" Red - Square 5 had always meant
Moscow to me; and, arriving -there
in the- blackout, I . deposited my
belongings (American Embassy
friends' in Kuibyshev had given me
some clothes): and set out from the
Metropole Hotel to walk i' Red
Square. .'
There it was just as big as Td
imagined") and 'just as mysterious
looking. It was full moonlight and
I truly felt - in ; another world I
looked up at the onion-shaped and
many colored domes of St. Baisl's
Cathedral. At that block of marble
that was; Lenin's tomb, and where
I was later to see them lay the
body of. Joseph Stalin. . And the
Kremlin, the ancient .Kremlin of
Ivan the Terrible, -Peter the Great
the Alexanders and Lenin and Stal
in. (
Mother Metropole
In due course, I was able to take
up residence at the Metropole Ho
tel. Ah, Mother Metropole. And
Mother. Metropole's great dining
room now used for an occasional
dance where I first met Tamara,
the brown-eyed Russian girl wh
was to become my. wife. And, if
youll pardon me a little sentiment.
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EASY TEPJ.1S
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itiiiVpiri
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the person - who his-made me feel j
that if life. ended, tomorrow, we
wouldn't owejmer a thing.
She was a .dancer in the Mos
cow Ballet, and -we were-married
in 1943 with the late 'Wendell WSk
ie playing the role of intermediary
and benefactor; y ' W
Just after the' war, in the sum
me of 1946, Tamara and I visited
the-United State's.4 We took along
our; elder' daughter Vicki, then 2,
and. returned to Moscow after a
3-monthTacation, fairly sure that if
we got out once 'we'd get out again.
.The: office -said I was the man for
the job and Russia war a fascin
ating place. ', i ,. .J. y:
Back to Russia Again r
It was 'in i September, 1948. that
I went back to resume , the Job of
reporting Russia. - Then .the j roof,
began to fall in. It was ' about the
time of the Truman Doctrine and
the Marshall Plan. When the Krem
lin and this means Stalin began
to . realize .that there was a -growing
number of people in the world
whr didn't look on him exactly as
benign old Uncle Joe..
. The Russian government 'ruled
that Russian girls who had married
foreigners-and -there. were many
others could not leave .the country.
As an. American " citizen, ' I ' could
leave any time,but .-not with my
wife . and two girls, ' -.
It was a case Of sticking with
them' in 'Moscow, or' abandoning
them.- The latter was too monstrous
to even think about, il stuck : with
them. And Tamara stucfwith me
in times when it was anything but
pleasant to be the Russian wife of
an American in Moscow.
, " The censorship -became-rigid. I
once tried -to write a story about
Russian dishes. Half of it was killed.
In a museum I found a copy of one
of Stalin's schoolboy report cards.
Like many other youths he wasn't
too hot In Greek and arithmetic.
I -wrote ? about that. - The censor
killed.it Stalin had to be perfect,
even as a 10-year-old.- .
I began to write almost exclus
ively for one of the smallest cir
cles of readers in the world those4
censors. But- occasionally I'd get
something out, or a piece of visual
reporting would come along that
I could let go on. But every month
held a hundred heartbreaks.
The Gilmore family became a
casualty of the cold war. .
Everything Uncertain '
' The worst thing for me was the
9
i
uncertainty of everyting.! had no
diplomatic passport. No diplomatic
irnmunity. I could be slapped into
jail on any accusation and I knew
there . was probably 'nothing any
one could - do about it -h". y
.Tt the credit of the', organization
for which I work, they stuck , by
me. I was in a pickle, but: I knew
the AP knew, that as long as rigid
censorship prevailed in Russia the
most high-powered , correspondent
ahve couldn t get much high-power
ed stuff out ot Russia., , .
I found a formula for not going
crazyt'.' j --j
I became a drummer in a jazz
bahd, the best ' American drummer
in all Russia, and Russia occupies
one-sixth of the - earth's surface.
Ycu see, I was the only American
drummer. In. Russia. . " .
We called thei band the "Krem
lin Krows,' until the chief of pro
tocol o the Soviet Ministry of For
eign Affairs saw it painted on my
bass drum ; one night at , the
Egyptian , legation. ; j ' .
He said it showed disrespect for
the Kremlin. .
Purged Pigeons"
We had to wash the name off the
bass drumThen we called our
selves, "The Purged Pigeons.But
it took too much time explaining
that.
The last and filial, name we
played under was "Joe . Commode
and his Four Flushers."
Foreigners 'never could figure
that one out. And they didn't want
to ask. It saved an awful lot of
trouble.-
The band's personnel changed
from year to ; year. But not, the
drummer boy. He just got balder
anu fatter.-And it looked-as if he
were not only the best American
drummer in all Russia,, but a per
manent one. . - r ;
I' believe ' that band saved me.
That and Tamara. And the sure
knowledge that in Russia anything
can happen and frequently does.
Permittee!, to Leave
Then one day the lightning struck.
With Stalin dead, 'the new Soviet
regime decided to let us go. along
with some others similarly situated.
' I know now what it means when
the warden comes in and says:
"Get your things ready, son."
To let us go was no great and
original act of charity. It was some
thing that should have been done
a long time ago. But we are thank
o,
0
EASIEST CREDIT TERMS
f I lflSi
CARPPT
"-r 1
Save on Room Shtd
ful anyway; And pinching ourselves.
I've wanted a camera for years,
but it would; have . been father
dangervQs for an American corres
pondent to have one in Moscow.
This month I was in Sweden watch
ing peopje snap cameras all round
me.f", V,',r r ,
'"My. God," I said ia nayself.one
V
i i X
EN
m 9
INCHER
e
Thrift is an admirable
virtre. Bat where family
health is concerned, pinch
ing pennies is poor econ
ooiy: Call on your Doctor
'at. the first suggestion of
illness. Timely aid may
prevent 'needless-suffering
save money, too! Be
sure to bring as prescrip--tions
for compounding.
We Give SiH
" Green. Stamps v
CAPITAL DRUG STORE
405 State St. at Liberty
0
m
HU IU WAU
v 2
; ' v . -; "
Rugs Tailored to Fit Ycur Floors . . .
Many - other
numerous to
for this great
aro always
SV Crfcg Ycur
morning.- wny don't 1 go out anS
: It simply hadn't occurred to fne
that I could. . 4
How truly superb it Is to gt
where you want U.tay what yt
want to, live the way you want tor
and in my business to write with
out censorship!
NY
m TOWN !
vur-riiE
For Just
h IUHO
i ' " '; - , ' ' "
fine broacBooni carpers too
picture have bn saU prkeel
event. - . - - . 4 i -
' An opportunity like this ; doesn't como
eren, so plan to come early when selections
best.
Rccm iMes:urcn::n::