There was only one incident during my whole stay in the USA that upset me and it was so unexpected that it didn't sink in for a while what it was about. I was walking down Market Street in San Francisco, with Ken Wallace, in uniform of course, when a middle aged man stopped us - "Ah British Navy lads", he said "Here's something for you"- he thrust an envelope in my hand and walked away. I didn't open the envelope straight away but I must confess I was thinking about the ten dollars the lady on the trolley bus had given me in a similar manner. When I eventually opened it, I was puzzled at first - in it was a white feather.
Back in the lodge we asked our friend- an American sailor, what he thought about it, we knew of course the white feather was a sign of cowardice but we didn't understand why we should have been given it. The sailor told us that at the time of Dunkirk, the feelings of some Americans was that we had deserted the French and some cranks had been handing out white feathers to British people ever since. It didn't bother us though, most Americans understood our position and were right behind us.
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