Publisher's Synopsis
Walter Birge was a U.S. Foreign Service officer from 1940-53 and these memoirs cover his family background and his life until about age 40. He had many adventures during his years in the Foreign Service, especially in his postings in Istanbul, Baghdad and Prague. From 1945-49 in Prague he helped many escape, in fact he was known as the "Scarlet Pimpernel of Prague". When Robert Taylor filmed 'A Yank At Oxford' with Vivien Leigh in 1938, Walter Birge, while a member of the Thames Rowing Club, replaced the star to do the actual rowing in the scene involving the Cambridge-Oxford annual boat race. The years covered stretch through World War 1, the affluent 1920s, the depressed 1930s, World War 2 and the parlous cold-war time of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
