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Acknowledgments

I gratefully acknowledge my father-in-law, Lieutenant Albert W. Zimmermann, USNR, who served in India in World War II, and his wife, Barbara (Shoemaker) Zimmermann, who could “only stand and wait” until the war was over. These were dangerous times, and no one was really safe, especially overseas. They believed in what they were doing—he for the Navy and for his country, and she taking care of their home and their young family, and volunteering in a canteen for service members. Barbara Zimmermann saved the crucial documents that made it possible to construct this book, in files of letters, notes, and documents; a scrapbook and photo album; and loose photos and two reels of sixteen-millimeter movies. She put them away after the war, in about 1947, and no one examined them again for nearly sixty years.¹

I also acknowledge the previous work of others on the history and literature of the Great Game, and especially Rudyard Kipling, whose book Kim popularized this expression for the contest in Central Asia between Britain and Russia. I published a brief account of this trip, accompanied by three photos, in Appalachia in 2008. I thank the Appalachian Mountain Club for the opportunity to introduce this story to the public. Correspondence from readers of that article helped me to find other sources that have enriched my understanding of the trip and the travelers.

I give special thanks to the Zimmermann children: Barbara Warren “Babs” Zimmermann Johnson and her husband Melvin Thornton Johnson; my wife, Helene “Lanie” Zimmermann Hill; Ambassador Warren Zimmermann and his wife Corinne “Teeny” (Chubb) Zimmermann; and Dr. Albert W. Zimmermann Jr. and his wife Lenore Marie (Lisbinski) Zimmermann.

Friends of Al and Barbara Zimmermann contributed much to this story: Mrs. Amelie (Sexias) Kane, widow of Commander (selected) Jack Kane; and her daughter, Sheila Kane; Jack Thayer’s daughter “Dodie” Thayer; First Lieutenant Clarence Lewis, USMC, OSS; Lieutenant Lewis’ wife Mrs. Georgiana “Sam” (Wetherill) Lewis; their daughter Susan Lewis Lillien; and Anne and Crosby Lincoln, daughters of Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Freeman Lincoln, USAR, OSS, and his wife Virginia “Ginny” Lincoln.

I am grateful to the Enders family and their friends: Dr. Gertrude “Trudy” (Enders) Huntington, and Dr. Allen Coffin Enders. I thank David M. Hovde, Purdue University, and Sarah Uschak, Office of Alumni Relations, The College of Wooster, for their help in locating records of Gordon Enders; Maynard Creel, who shared his memories of Gordon Enders; the descendants of Cornelius and Sara Engert: his son, Roderick K. Engert and his granddaughter, Jane Morrison Engert; and Colonel “Tony” Streather, who served in Pakistan in 1950 and recalled his experiences there.

Thanks to the staff of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library; Amanda A. Hegge of the Patrick J. Hurley Collection, Oklahoma University Library; staff members of the New York Public Library; Georgetown University Special Collections; and Nate Patch and Paul Brown, Military Archive Section, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA II).

And most of all, I thank my wife, Helene “Lanie” Zimmermann Hill, Ph.D., who was so patient and helpful during the writing of this book.