A VISIT TO JERUSALEM DURING WORLD WAR II (BY AN UNCOMMON SOLDIER)

This letter will consist of my impressions and observations during a week which I spent in the Holy Land.  It may or may not prove an interesting epistle, but as it will be written at odd intervals, from notes which I compiled each evening during my stay, I can be excused if there appears to be a lack of detail, or that I do not deal with the subject in sequence.  You see darling, I wandered around here for a week, without any set plan, and as a result I enjoyed it much more, because I had not a set timetable to work to.  I’ll do my best to make it as interesting as possible so that you can send it ‘on the rounds.’

The first day I spent on my own, and visited the Holy Sepulchre and Old Jerusalem, and was thoroughly absorbed in sightseeing, so that time simply flew by.  Entering the town by Jaffa Gate, one of the original entrances, which had been widened before the Great War to admit the Kaiser when he visited the Holy Land, and through which General Allenby passed at the head of his victorious Army in 1917, I was confronted with a new world.  It was almost as if I had stepped back into the past, except for the guides who persistently pestered me to show me around, and some more or less modern buildings within these walls.  Not much has changed in this ancient city, and even though it has been conquered and re-conquered, sacked and burned on numerous occasions, it was always re-built on the same lines, and so the Jerusalem of today differs very little from the Jerusalem which existed in the time of Our Lord.  One would see beggars lying down under the shade of the wall begging for alms from the wayfarer, street sellers, donkeys laden with heavy burdens, walking surefooted over the cobbled streets, narrow little streets, which were very steep, slippery and smelly, with a continual hubbub of voices of all nations, buying and selling.  Jerusalem is always crowded and busy, and one meets black, brown and white people within its walls, just as it must have been nineteen hundred years ago.  As I traversed these narrow streets I was continually reminded of its ancient history by seeing signs of Roman work, Greek, Turkish, but not a lot of English, though that influence can be seen without the city walls.  Jerusalem is built upon a hill, and the streets are built of cobbles in series of steps, and being
worn  smooth the unwary traveller has to walk very carefully, or the results can be very painful.  As I said before, guides, some of them official ones, kept pestering me to show me around.  They could see at a glance that I was a newcomer, by the way I stared at the various things so  foreign to me in this city.  Incidentally, there can be no other city quite so like this in the world, it is on its own in almost every respect.  To continue.  Besides these guides, little children, who speak passable English, would approach and suggest they take me to so and so, at the same time pointing to the direction of the particular place they recommended.  This was a great help to me, and sometimes when I was at a loss, a youngster would, in an effort to earn a few pence, unknowingly show me just what I wanted.  You see, I preferred to travel alone, and sort of work things out for myself.  I think I should tell you now, that Jerusalem is a Holy City to the Muslims, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, Russians and the Roman Catholics. The Protestant Church, also, but they do not possess any buildings built upon historic sites.  To give you the various claims of these different sects would be too much for me, and indeed for most people, without investigating and studying these claims.  To the Jews it is their promised land, but the type of Jews within these walls, is a totally different Jew than the one we know.  Bearded and with long hair, and with a light smock thing on, and a peculiar hat, not unlike those worn by priests in Italy, they are easily identified.  The Muslims base their claims, generally, on the Old Testament, which I understand is their belief also.  The Armenian and Greek Orthodox Church are Christian, but do not admit the Holy See as the Head of the Church, which applies to the Russian Church also.  People belonging to all these sects and religions come to Jerusalem on Pilgrimage from all the corners of the earth.  If the word Christian should be used, you will understand that it means all, except Jews and Muslims.  Jerusalem itself, within the walls, is divided up into muslim quarter, Jewish and Christian, though the Armenians seem to have congregated in a quarter of their own.   It is noticed that all Christian houses have a Cross, either painted or carved, above the main entrance door of the house.