We have no more of the diary, but we do have a photo and a photocopy of a letter he sent.
Bernard spent the second half of the war in aeroplanes photographing enemy installations. The only photo we have, however, was taken by the Germans! It is Jerusalem, so appropriate to the letter.
It sounds like the war was pretty much over by now, and the letter is more about a pilgrimage of holy sites in Jerusalem...
5th Wing
Royal Air Force
E.E.F.
My Dear Mother
If I remember rightly, when I was last writing, I was on the eve of proceeding to Palestine for a sort of farewell trip and also on the expectant eye of speedy demobilisation. Well, the first item duly materialised. The second did not. Apparently I could not be spared. I feel a bit disappointed naturally so I have applied to be transferred to Home Establishment. That application will take some days to materialise, so in the interim I am just hoping for the best.
I have not volunteered for the Army of Occupation but I am not sure what this mission is ???. I am wondering whether I could do a correspondence course with the University Correspondence College and take my final a year next October. As far as I can see, work out here will not be heavy and I would do a great deal of work without losing financially. In fact I should gain.
My last palestine trip was distinctly eventful. I arrived at Ramleh(?) in the morning and finished my work by teatime. Then I had a day to wait to see the results of some of my suggestions there, so I went to Jerusalem intending to put in a full day there. ??? there I met a Captain whom I know named Jefcoate(?) we decided to go to Bethlehem together. However the fates ruled otherwise. Next morning a regular gale was blowing and it rained in torrents. We were watching it disconsolately after breakfast when a chaplain came along all ready and dressed to go out. He was going to brave the weather
and so we joined him. We skirted the North wall of the city, passed the Damascus Gate and it wasn't bad going as it was fairly sheltered and the wind was behind us. The Kidron Valley though was another story. We crossed it and made fore the German Hospice. In five minutes we were drenched and the wind was so strong that we fairly ran up the steep hillside. The clouds were low - so low in fact that at times they obscured the Hospice completely. Still we reached it and entered its church. Our entrance led us into the Gallery so that the organ was the first thing we saw. As it was open Jefcoate played several times on it including God Save The King as it was a German Church. As a church it has no striking architectural features. Its walls and roof are covered with portraits of Christ, the apostles and noted Old Testament personages. Over the organ, in the nave, is a group of Crusaders and in the centre of them the Kaiser and Kaiserin. In general the ??? is poor, but the quality of the materials used prevents it from looking tawdry. We ascended the tower and the wind was so strong that we could not stand up against it, but the rain had ceased. A shoulder of the Mount of Olives hides part of Jerusalem, but the northern part is very distinct. To the South you can see, to the left of the Russian Hospice, Bethphage clustering on the hillside and beyond it a bit of Bethany. I tried some photography but without success. The rain held off when we left and walked to the Russian Hospice on the real crest of Mt. of Olives. Close by a round ??? building covers the stone from which the ascension took place. Halfway down the hill is the Marchioness of Bute's Chapel on the spot where Christ wept over the City. Directly below is the Garden of Gethsemane which we entered next. Just outside its entrance is the stone on which the apostles were found sleeping during our? Lords agony in the Garden. Below where the Kidron Valley is called the Valley of Jehoshaphat, where saw the Virgin Mary's tomb - unfortunately closed.
Striking South, down the valley, we skirted the city wall, passed the tombs of Absalom, Zacharias and St James, then turned round the South Wall. Going right down into the valley passed the Village of Siloah, over heaps over rubbish which remined me of Nehemiah's tour of the city, we reached the port of Siloam. The port is just a square stone girt? place, several feet below ground level. Below it is a large pool and beyond that there is an olf mulberry tree where King Manasseh saw Isaiah the Prophet.
We climbed the hill again and found the Iron? Gate. Close by in a pile of buildings, is David's Tomb and the Room of the Last Supper. We entered a door into a courtyard, climbed a flight of stone steps to another one and on the left entered the chamber where the Last Supper was held and the Sacrament instituted - a plain bare room with three round pillars to support the rof. Beyond and opening from it was a passage and through a grating there one could see a cloth covered vault? - David's Tomb. And so back to the hotel.
I spent the afternoon in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which i already described.
Could father obtain particulars of UCC BSc Courses extending from now to midsummer next year for me I have not got their address.
Now love to all
Your loving Son
Bernard
We have a couple of curious telegrams from November 1919. At this time he was back in England, living at Lanka House, Boroughbridge Road, Knareborough, N. Yorks, but still had links to what was then the RAF apparently.
The first is dated 5/Nov/1919, from Kingsway telegram office.
To Flying Officer B Benson RA7 Lanka House, Knareborough
9162 C/020045 PSA/5.11.19 aaa report to room 763 Kingsway on 6.11.19 aaa
Air Ministry PSA
The second, dated 10/Nov/1919, and from London 3 telegram office, indicates he failed to show up.
To Flying Officer B Benson RA7 Lanka House, Knareborough
3170 C/020045/PSA/10/11/19 aaa Coluy[???] did you not report to room 763 Air Ministry or 6th instant in accordance with wire of 5th aaa Report forwith and wire explanation aaa
[continues on second sheet]
Urgent aaa air ministry P3A[I think this should be PSA, but is wrong in the telegram]
Not sure if it is relevant, but on 14/Nov/1919, Bernard got a driving license, which appears to have been an annual requirement then.
One final image.
This may have been well after the war ended, though the fact that he is in uniform suggests not. They married in 1925; were they already courting in 1918?
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