GAULLE Charles de. 3 L. A. S. "Ton Papa", 8 November, 1 and 15 December 1951, to his son Lieutenant Philippe de Gaulle (in Port-Lyautey); 2, 4 and 4 pages in-8 on the letterhead of Le Général de Gaulle. On the state of the world and his son's military career. 8 November. "Mum and I have been delighted to see the four of you in your new surroundings for a while, however improvised and hectic our short stay has been. I'll be even happier when I hear that your training is finally getting the new material it's been waiting for. Here everything is focused on the threat of monetary and budgetary bankruptcy on the one hand, and on the other hand on the shaking produced in the Atlantic alliance by several competing factors: the softness of the French 3rd force, the overbearingness of the Germans, the grumpy exhaustion of the English, American anger, etc."... 1st December. Report on his meeting with Commandant Lahaye, on the subject of Philippe de Gaulle's possible appointment to the command of a squadron... "As I was asking Commandant Lahaye about the possibility of Philippe de Gaulle's appointment to the command of a squadron, I asked him to give me a few details. When I asked Commandant Lahaye why, under these conditions, you had been assigned to the heavy bombers, he replied that, in your current training, you were able to practise many things relating to anti-submarine warfare and applicable to all aircraft and that you were therefore preparing for what he was talking about. Finally, when I asked him why you weren't second in your present squadron if we were thinking of putting you in charge of a unit, he replied that - because of availability - we had been obliged to fill the squadron to which you now belonged. 15th December. "Nobody understands better than your Dad the feelings of melancholy and even irritation that you feel - like so many others - in the sad times and the very poor Navy in which you serve. Don't think, moreover, that this nostalgia is the lot of only those who make a profession of arms. Almost all young people in France and in many other countries are like that. For some, who are 'civilians', success may seem easy, assuming it lasts. But for how many others is their existence materially mediocre and uncertain, or narrowly down-to-earth, or tied to a professional environment without distinction or interest! (All your cousins, whether first or second cousins, are like that). What's happening to your military generation happened to mine between the wars (albeit, admittedly, less acutely). I don't know of a single one of my contemporaries who, having left the army, didn't regret doing so. What would I myself have achieved if, when the time came, I had been an industrialist, shopkeeper, lawyer or... MP? This may be the crux of the matter as far as you are concerned. The state of the world does not allow us to believe that everything can be put to sleep for long. There are too many things stirring in the five parts of the world. If things go wrong before I'm dead or unable to act, the force of events will no doubt throw the major responsibilities back in my lap. So, to employ you as I see fit, it would be much better for you to have remained 'intact' in a career where, at least, you don't get dirty. If I'm dead or out of the running when the volcano erupts, you, my son, will have to become the de Gaulle of the new drama. To do that, it will be infinitely preferable for you to come from a clean and, believe me, respected background"... LNC, II, p. 1037, 1041 and 1045.