of a few details of work and trying
to make his life as pleasant as pos-
sible when a few moments opened
up for relaxation.

Nothing, of course, could have
thrilled me more than Father’s invi-
tation to me to go with him to the
Big Three Conference at Yalta.
What happened at Yalta is history.
For me, the trip was more than the
conference, because I was seeing parts
of the world which were n?w to me.
And Father was a most exciting trav-
elling companion, for wherever we
went he always knew the history of
the locality and could make it live.

On the way east across the Atlan-
tic, there were mountains of State
Department reports to be studied. At

Yalta itself the meetings were long
and tiring, with interminable work
between them.

The conferences that followed at
Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal
were not so arduous, but as soon as
we started on the homeward trek the
work began again, because Father
had to give his report to Congress as
soon as he arrived in Washington.
In addition, the death of General
Watson, his close friend and military
aide for so many years, was a severe
emotional strain. General Watson be-
came ill the morning we left Sevas-
topol on the Black Sea, en route to
the Suez Canal, and he died shortly
after we headed homeward.

The day we landed in the United

Father and W inston Churchill, his daughter Sarah Oliver, and myself (left) aboard the war-
ship that carried us on the first leg of the journey to Yalta for the Big Three Conference.





51