August 6, 2013

Finest Hour 120, Autumn 2003

Page 14

Jack Darrah

Bletchley Park Churchill Rooms

Retiring in 1992, having been a valuation surveyor specialising in acquisition work involving local authorities, Jack Darrah was born in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland. His home town is not bereft of Churchillian history, to which his father “introduced” him in 1936. Helping Jack with a school project on the First World War, he mentioned Gallipoli and Winston Churchill. As a schoolboy Jack collected cigarette cards and found some (which he still has) featuring young Winston. Jack’s father also told him of Lord Randolph Churchill’s visit to Carrickfergus on 22 February 1886, on his way from Larne to Belfast.

At the end of the Second World War Jack became interested in Churchill’s early involvement with Ulster Home Rule, the Londonderry family (particularly WSC’s grandmother the Seventh Duchess of Marlborough), and his inheritance of Lord Herbert Vane-Tempest’s estate in Co. Antrim. The fire was lit!

In 1947 Jack started to acquire first editions of Churchill’s books; thus the “Winston Churchill Memorabilia Collection” began. Fortunately, before Jack and Rita married in 1949, she was aware of his hobby and became equally interested. Together they endeavoured to create an interesting collection. Somehow Jack also found time to join the Territorial Army, becoming a member of The Royal Ulster Rifles.

In 1992 Jack and Rita sold his business and left Northern Ireland for Luton. In early 1993 a neighbour invited them to visit Bletchley Park. Through a fortuitous meeting with one of the Trustees, they were invited to display their collection. Since 1994 the collection has been involved in Bletchley’s education programme, and about 9,000 young people have paid visits from many parts of the world.

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Many adult visitors have contributed personal experiences (and nostalgia), including, for example, the great-grandson of the riding master who taught Gentleman Cadet Churchill to ride at Sandhurst; a lady whose great-uncle rode with Churchill in the South African Light Horse; and members of the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers Old Comrades Association.

Jack’s display at Bletchley is a remarkable achievement and full of interest at every turn. No Churchillian within striking range should miss the opportunity to see it. —PHC

Chuck Platt

Churchill Centre Vice-President

Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1931, Charles D. Platt was raised in Omaha after “bouncing around Iowa and Minnesota a great deal” while his father ran Civilian Conservation Corps camps. The elder Platt had spent nine months in England in the 1920s, falling in love with the country and its people. He was quite taken with Churchill and always felt he should have been PM several years earlier, “when Chamberlain was bowing and scraping to Herr Shicklgruber.”

When Chuck was seven, a bush pilot flew into town and gave people rides in his airplane for $5 each. His name was Chamberlain. “My pals and I dreamed of scraping up enough money to take a ride with Chamberlain, which never happened,” Chuck recalls. “But I would go home at night thinking what a great fellow he was, and would then have to listen to my father tell me how much he disliked Chamberlain. It was five years before I learned that they were different people!”

His father’s interest in England rubbed off when Chuck and he listened together to Churchill’s broadcasts. In high school, Chuck won a history prize sponsored by Time magazine: the first volume of Churchill’s The Second World War. He bought the remaining volumes while in college. His interest continued until one day in 1991, his wife Linda saw an ad and gave him a birthday gift membership.

Chuck spent thirty-four years with GMAC, retiring in 1987 as a vice-president of Overseas Operations. Chuck and Linda lived in Brussels, Detroit, New York, Nebraska and Iowa. He then joined Alamo Rent-A-Car as President and chief operating officer. Alamo’s headquarters was Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where they lived until 1995. Now fully retired, the Platts live in a suburb of Denver but spend three months each summer at their mountain retreat at Grand Lake, Colorado.

A modest Churchill book collector, Chuck enjoys reading Churchill’s own works and listening to his speeches. He is treasurer of The Lincoln Forum, one of the significant organizations in the Lincoln field, and serves on the Board of Governors of the U. S. Grant Association. “Linda and I are extremely grateful for the opportunity to meet so many talented and fascinating people that make up The Churchill Centre,” Chuck says. “We haven’t missed a conference in eight years.”