Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Thompson Document 17: Letter From Henrietta Thompson To Bridget Croft, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A letter from Henrietta Thompson to Bridget Croft warmly praising Croft’s A Sense of Purpose, which she had just received, and expressing her hope that Croft will attempt to have it published. Thompson also includes the abstract from her thesis which details the process by which she found Jack Croft and began corresponding with him in 1973.

Thompson Document 16: Letter From Bridget Croft To Henrietta Thompson And Two Selections From Croft's Manuscript, Bridget Croft

Henrietta Thompson Papers

Two selections of the manuscript that Bridget Croft sent to Henrietta Thompson on Feb 16, 1997. The first page describes Croft’s childhood in Ireland. The second selection is Croft’s description of the “allied” retreat from Burma. She describes the “hot and tough” trek by the Stilwell group, quoting sections of Henrietta Thompson’s work, but she also describes the retreat of the British Army. She takes the position that “the retreat [of the British Army] was made more difficult by large numbers of refugees trying to escape from Burma.” She fails to mention that the refugee families fleeing their bombed cities …

Thompson Document 14: A Letter From Henrietta Thompson To Bridget Croft, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A letter from Henrietta Thompson to Bridget Croft. Thompson expresses surprise at hearing from Bridget Croft, the wife of a Walkout participant, Jack Croft, with whom she had a brief correspondence in 1973. Thompson warmly responds to Croft’s request for permission to quote sections of Thompson’s Walk a Little Faster, and asks to read Croft’s work when it is complete.

Thompson briefly refers to a perplexity inconsistency; Bridget writes: “Jack died on the 26 November 1955,” and yet Thompson tells Bridget: “I enjoyed so much my correspondence with him in 1972-73 and that he was pleased to receive a …

Thompson Document 13: A Letter From Bridget Croft To Henrietta Thompson, Bridget Croft

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A letter from Jack Croft’s wife, Bridget Croft. Bridget asks Henrietta Thompson’s permission to use a few sections of Thompson’s Walk a Little Faster in her account of her childhood and of her experiences as a nurse in India in the 1940s, where she met Jack.

Thompson Document 01: An Introduction To The Henrietta Thompson Collection, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A very brief introduction to the Henrietta Thompson collection.

Thompson Document 09: A Letter From Henrietta Thompson To Jack Belden, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A letter from Henrietta Thompson to Jack Belden following his letter of Dec. 1973. Here Thompson is asking for Belden’s version of an account she has heard, she says, “from a dozen or more people,” of American officers proposing to leave the nurses (most of whom were refugees) behind at the start of the walk out of Burma, and to escape without them. Unfortunately we do not have Belden’s response to this letter (if he wrote one), but in the “Addenda” Thompson provides a new version of this story, which may summarize Belden’s recollection of the event.

Thompson Document 10: Henrietta Thompson's "Addenda" To Jack Belden File, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

Henrietta Thompson's notes on Jack Belden. These notes seem to be a combination of Thompson’s memories of meeting Belden and perhaps a summary of Belden's account of an argument that took place at the start of the Walkout; several of Thompson's interviewees mentioned this argument that revolved around the suggestion, by one or some of the Americans, that they leave some of the group behind in order to expedite their own escape from Burma.

Thompson Document 26: Letter From Henrietta Thompson To Tun Shein, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A letter from Henrietta Thompson to Tun Shein, which is evidently in response to a letter Tun Shein had sent her. Thompson mentions some of their mutual acquaintances and asks whether either Tun Shein or his wife Lulu recognize any of the names on a list of Walkout participants who were then presumably still living in Burma, but whom she had been unable to meet during her brief visit.

Thompson Document 24: Letter From Henrietta Thompson To Tun Shein, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A letter from Henrietta Thompson to Tun Shein, in which Thompson discusses her upcoming visit to Burma. She mentions a number of Walkout participants in Burma whom she hopes to meet, and asks Tun Shein to help her by writing to them.

Thompson Document 03: Letter From Henrietta Thompson To Jack Belden, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

Henrietta Thompson's second letter to then-retired war correspondent Jack Belden (Henrietta had apparently received no answer to her first letter of inquiry). Belden had walked out of Burma with General Stilwell in 1942, and published Retreat with Stilwell in 1943. Thompson had obtained Belden’s address by sending a series of letters to his publisher, Harper & Row.

Thompson Document 23: Letter From Henrietta Thompson To Tun Shein And Lulu, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

A letter of introduction from Henrietta Thompson to two Walkout participants, Tun Shein and Lulu—who had since married and re-settled in Burma—proposing that she meet them in Burma in the summer of that year, 1972.

Thompson Document 06: Henrietta Thompson's Summary Of Jack Belden's Activities Before The Walkout, Henrietta Thompson

Henrietta Thompson Papers

Henrietta Thompson’s attempt to narrate a version of Jack Belden’s account in the third person. Her several thoughtful accounts of her interview with Belden seem to suggest the great importance Thompson attached to her meeting with the writer.