Us Official Photographs

John Masefield at 8th Air Force station

Surrounded by American soldiers, John Masefield, England's Poet Laureate, is pictured in the Red Cross library at an Eighth Air Force aerial reconnaissance station in England as he read some of his most famous poems. The distinguished silver-haired poet was introduced to the informal gathering by the station ground executive, Lt. Col. Edwin O. Gynn of Denver, Colo. Frequently he interrupted himself to give interesting and pertinent information concerning the poem or verse he was reading. Among them were "My Fox" and "I Must Go Down to the Sea Again."