The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

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WASHINGTON, Tuesday—I am back in Washington after spending most of yesterday on the train. We had a very pleasant time after we left New York City, when Mrs. James Forrestal joined us for luncheon, after which I spent my time reading.

Since my arrival, I have had the pleasure of meeting four young British delegates to the International Student Service Assembly. One of them, Wing-Commander Scott-Walden, was decorated for his part in the Dieppe raid. Another, a very young scotchman, Captain Cochran, has returned recently from Lybia.

There is a young naval officer, Lieut. Richard Miles, and a young minister, the Reverend Allan Booth. They were an interesting group to talk with. We drove around the Lincoln Memorial last night to show them the statue, which I think is at its best with the lights on it at night. They were deeply impressed.

Today I hope to meet the Dutch delegation, which is arriving, and to have the delegation from the USSR dine with me, for I was away when they arrived.

I had a press conference this morning and later went up to Senator Glass' office, where Miss Marie Apel had asked me to look at a bust of the President, which she is doing.

In the course of the last few days, I have had a number of letters about boys in the service. One gentleman from Trenton, Missouri encloses a clipping quoting a letter from his boy who had just received a commission as a lieutenant in the Army. "I feel that it is man's greatest privilege to be called upon to serve his country in time of war, and I am going to give all I have."

How magnificent these boys are. Let us hope that this spirit will carry them to victory and they will continue to give "all they have" in serving their country in time of peace.

Another gentleman from Toldeo, Ohio, tells me of a naval training school which has been started at the Naval Armory, and which is attended largely by boys of sixteen and seventeen. He is particularly proud of the youngsters of that age who enlist. I question the advisability of such early enlistments and feel more and more every day that our young men should wait for their draft boards to call them, but I realize that these boys are moved by a spirit of partiotism and service which should awaken in us a humble desire to do all we can in return.

E.R.

(COPYRIGHT, 1942, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, September 2, 1942

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project

Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

Published with permission from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

TEI-P5 edition published on April 28, 2017.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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