[Persian Gulf Command] Information and Souvenir Folder for GIs Going to Jerusalem: So You're Going to Jerusalem! Here's How. / G.I. Road to Jerusalem from P.G.C. / Jerusalem / Jaffa - Tel Aviv

Single sheet printed both sides in blue, black and red 51x35cm, folding down to 9x18cm with illustrated title panel and text panel by Yank Staff Correspondent Sergeant Burtt Evans. Printed by Army Exchange Service and distributed by I&E Branch, OTI, Persian Gulf Command. Good or better with closed tears and tanning to outer panels. Undated but c1944-45 based on Evans' reference to the Battle of Anzio. Apparently prepared by "Yank - The Army Weekly", this was given to GIs joining "the most elaborate and worthwhile recreational project of the Persian Gulf Command". Subsidised by the US Army, this involved transporting thousands of soldiers from Khorramshahr to Basra by truck, on to Baghdad by Iraq State Railways, and finally by truck through the Syrian Desert to the Tel Litwinsky Leave Center in Tel Aviv. The 3,000 mile round trip took up to 6 days each way, with a few days to visit sites across the Holy Land. This was mainly for enlisted personnel with most officers travelling by air. Evans advises that "There's no question about it - it's a gruelling truck trip both ways for PGC GIs, but the week in Palestine is worth it. The Red Cross caters to every soldier's whim; and the Army does something better: it leaves you alone". He invites them to check in at the Leave Center from where "smartly planned, economical tours to Bethlehem, Jerusalem and places of Biblical interest in Palestine are conducted by the Red Cross". They may also want to enjoy Tel Aviv "the nearest thing to the States", modern with unlimited food and liquor, bathing beaches and bathing beauties etc. One side of the sheet presents a pictorial route map bounded by Tehran to the head of the Persian Gulf and "Neutral Territory" in the east, and the Palestine and Lebanon coasts in the west. Features include settlements, road and rail links, boundaries, and water features. The route is marked with flags for Tehran, Khorramshahr, Basra, Baghdad, Mafrak, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, with a train and truck convoy shown pictorially. This is bordered by several drawings including 5 ms-style daily diary entries. These give impressions of the journey and its stopping points including the British camp at Rutbah and its facilities, the availability of Tom Collins in Baghdad etc. The other side contains two detailed plans of Jerusalem and Jaffa-Tel Aviv. Labels cover cultural, recreational, religious, military, administrative, diplomatic and other locations. Both include "out of bounds" advice in red for the Old City, and a swathe of Tel Aviv coast. A table of distances from Tel Aviv suggests the tours available. There is also a b/w photo of Jerusalem seen from the Mount of Olives, and an advert for "Yank". A rare survivor. (Ref: Lt-Col Danny M. Johnson, "The Persian Gulf Command and the Lend-Lease Mission to the Soviet Union during World War II", Army Historical Foundation).…