Skip to main content
Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Anne Hitchcock Sims

[Extract]

Hotel Excelsior, Rome,

February 7,1918   

My precious Sweetheart:

                   After spending Tuesday night, Wednesday, and Wednesday night on the train, we arrived here this morning at 8.1 The trip from Paris was a very comfortable one. . . .

Sunday, February 10,1918

. . . . On Friday morning the conference met at the Ministry of Marine – about 40 persons in the library – the P.Ds. about a large table and the secretaries, etc at small ones. At 1 P.M. all the P.Ds were taken to lunch in a restaurant overlooking the city. At 8 P.M. we (Americans) went to a stag dinner at the Ambassador’s.2 All his staff was there, including Train3 and the military attaches and some Red Cross people. We had a good dinner and then sat around the fire and discussed the affairs of Europe until nearly midnight. The Ambassador is charming and most interesting. On Saturday we met again, both forenoon and afternoon and finished our work at 5 PM. . . .

     The trip has been an interesting one, and I believe we have accomplished something useful. We will be back in London Wednesday morning [February 13], eight days after leaving there – a much shorter trip than I expected. The whole trip has been entirely comfortable, and I have been as well as possible for any man to be. . . .

Your devoted

     Will.

Source Note: ALS, DLC-MSS, William Sims Papers, Box 9.

Footnote 1: For more on the Allied mission to Italy, see: Sims to Charles R. Train, 25 January 1918 and Sims to Sims, 25 January 1918.

Footnote 2: The United States Ambassador to Italy was Thomas N. Page.

Footnote 3: Lieut. Cmdr. Charles R. Train, United States Naval Attaché in Rome.

Related Content