Posted by Peter Ceresole on November 29, 2006 at 21:11:39 from 80.177.22.49 user PeterC.
In Reply to: Re: Captain Flint's box/trunk posted by Pam Adams on November 29, 2006 at 18:56:16:
Clearly Gibber is following naval tradition here. In at least one of Patrick O'Brian's novels, Stephen Maturin has his name painted on his sea-chest, along with all of the ships that he has served in.
A sound tradition that extended way beyond trunks. As a lad of thirteen onwards, I went to school in London and travelled home to Geneva for the holidays. For my stuff I had an American Air Force leave bag, with a leather handle and bulging sides, with heavy duty Zip fasteners. The first owner, whose name I forget, had stencilled his name, rank and number on the side in black. The bag had then passed on to another chap, who had painted his name on both sides in LARGE WHITE LETTERS. 'WARREN G. FULLER, UNRRA' it said. Warren G. became a kind of talisman. UNRRA lasted until 1948, which was shortly before my father bought the bag from a war surplus store. I imagined Warren travelling across Europe rescuing DPs in need- all of whom of course looked like Hildegard Knef in 'Displaced Person' (wasn't she? I saw the film when I was small and fell in love). As for Warren himself, I always imagined him as one of those solid American admin guys that my father dealt with in Trieste...
One of the zips has broken, but the bag is still treasured and lives in a cupboard in Geneva. Many years later, I made a programme about radiation safety standards, and their reliance on data from the Hiroshima survivors' study. The Radiation Effects Research Foundation was housed in Hijiyama Park in Hiroshima city centre, in a set of large Quonset-style buildings erected after the war by US Army engineers. Pure 1940s decor. Sitting waiting to see a researcher I could almost hear the B-29s warming up outside. When I met my man, I was delighted and gobsmacked; grey crew cut hair, metal rimmed spectacles, a neat military shirt. It was Warren to the life! He was helpful and I got some fascinating material.
And I confess that I liked Hiroshima and was profoundly moved by it. Even more so because of my (not quite) cabin trunk.