Nouméa, New Caledonia

Ditto yesterday. Admiral Halsey on the beach at noon. He spoke a while to D. (She’s his ward, having come up here on a personal invitation from him.)

Raining in the evening, so spent it talking with D. On my way home I jumped over the fence into the hospital grounds, as a short cut – and jumped right into the arms of the sentry. He, however, let me go.

A most interesting Englishman in the hospital here. He’s “Wavy Navy” (Reserve) and his views concerning the Dartmouth boys (Regulars) in many ways coincide with mine concerning our own regulars. However, his grievances seem more acute. His description of apple eating (with knife and fork!) on an Australian ship is uproarious. He gave many views of the English caste system at work. Stated after the war he intended to move from England to the U.S. or Australia, preferably the former, where a “man with a bit of brains and initiative” is appreciated and suitably reimbursed for effort.