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Pens in war
and peace A list published
by the Prime Minster's office details the gifts received by him
in his official capacity. Most of these items are in the safe custody
of the state. But in a few cases, the Prime Minister has exercised
his right to purchase the gifts for himself and his family. If the
Prime Minister wishes to use these gifts and retain them, he has
no option but to purchase them. According to
the news report, his recent single biggest purchase from the list
was a 500 pound (US $ 800) fountain pen given by President Chirac.
The report does not specify the date of purchase nor the brand of
the pen. It may have been a top of the range Waterman or Dupont,
icons of French writing instruments. On the other hand, it may well
have been a special pen manufactured by a jeweller-cum-pen-specialist,
a French speciality. It is equally
interesting to note, as reported in a French pen journal, Le Stylographe,
that last year Tony Blair presented a Conway Stewart fountain pen,
the Churchill model in marble brown to Jacques Chirac for his 70th
birthday which fell on November 29. The pen was given at the NATO
summit in Prague and it was expected that the gift of the pen would
lead to reconciliation of differences between the two leaders. Conway Stewart
is a respected British brand which began manufacturing pens in 1905.
They ceased manufacturing in the 70s but were revived in the 90s
and now produce exquisite pens worthy of recognition. One of the
models they produced recently commemorates the former British Prime
Minister Sir Winston Churchill who used a Conway Stewart pen throughout
the war. This limited edition pen is hand crafted from a solid rod
of acrylic resin, enhanced with an 18kt gold nib. The pen is presented
in its own special limited edition box, complete with a book of
quotations by the great leader, a Churchill size cigar and a bottle
of ink (not whisky!). It was one of these pens that was gifted to
President Chirac by Tony Blair. The pen is priced around US$ 400. Pens at
war The only pens
available were fountain pens. It was long before the development
of the ball point pen (of the '40s) and roller balls (of the '60s).
The military authorities made every possible effort to ensure the
smooth exchange of letters between the battlefront and families
at home to ensure high morale. Many movies depicting that era and
even that of the Second World War have moving scenes of soldiers
and their families receiving letters of joy or sadness. The First World
War saw a high demand from soldiers who wanted pens, to use during
breaks in the rather static trench warfare. The fountain pen industry
itself was rather young - just over 25 years. The Parker Pen Company
under the leadership of George Parker made rapid advances in developing
reliable and innovative mechanisms to meet the demand. Parker developed
the trench pen which proved to be effective and popular. Instead
of using liquid ink (which would have been most inconvenient for
the soldiers to carry) the pen was designed to use ink pellets (tablets)
to which water could be added. The tablets were contained in the
blind cap at the end of the barrel. Parker advertisements
from 1918 offer ink tablets for a soldiers’s kit in place of
fluid ink. Parker also proudly stated the fact that damage to the
'self filling mechanism' of the pen does not terminate its life
but the pen automatically changes from a 'self filling pen' to '
non-self filling pen' without any interruption of active service,
a remarkable achievement for that era. On an agreement
reached between the War Office and the Parker Company, a huge quantity
of these pens was made available to the soldiers to write to their
families. It certainly enhanced the reputation and fame of Parker
as being reliable even on the battlefront. An advertisement from
a Red Cross magazine of 1917 illustrates the story of pens in war. Another manufacturer
of reliable war-time pens was the Waterman Pen Company whose pens
were widely used in the trenches. An American paper, The Times Union
of April 20, 1996 reported a fascinating story (WES Journal Spring
2001) of a farmer of the village of Loos-en-Gohelle in Northern
France ploughing a field when he found the remains of a soldier.
Around the bones were a number of items, including his pipe, pocket
knife, wallet, military belt and a gold-nibbed fountain pen imprinted
'Waterman's Fountain Pen NY, USA. Aug 4, 1908'. If this was not
remarkable enough, the pen was found to be full of ink and, after
a few attempts, it wrote - 81 years after its owner was killed in
action! Pens in
peace As far back
as 1899, a Parker 'Jointless' was used to sign the treaty that ended
the Spanish-American War. Judge Day, President of the American Peace
Commission placed his signature on this famous Treaty of Peace signed
in Paris on February 10. At the conclusion of World War I hostilities,
a peace treaty was signed at Versailles on June 28, 1919. British
Prime Minister, David Lloyd George signed the treaty using a Waterman
Ideal Fountain Pen - a pen with a high reputation. The Parker
'51', which enjoys a reputation among users and collectors as the
best pen ever made, continued to play an important role at signing
ceremonies on several occasions after the Second World War. On May
7, 1945, in Rheims, France, General Dwight Eisenhower used two ‘51s’
to sign the treaty that ended World War II in Europe. Incidentally,
the General refused to be in the same room with the Nazi generals,
thus he sent his pens for signing but did not accompany them. Perhaps
it must be one of the few occasions when the General and his pens
were not enjoying each other's company. It was a well known fact
that the General was a great admirer of the Parker ‘51’.
On June 6, 1945, in Berlin, Field Marshal Montgomery used a Parker
‘51’ to sign the treaty of Germany's surrender. Another historic
event of World War II was the signing of the Japanese surrender
aboard the Battleship Missouri on September 2, 1945, in Tokyo Harbour.
General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral C.W. Nimitz used a Parker
Duofold and a Parker '51' respectively. Prior to introducing
a pen, Parker conducted extensive research on its reliability and
durability. Therefore, it was not surprising that a user would continue
to write with a particular model for decades in spite of the availability
of new models with improved features. General MacArthur used his
20-year-old Duofold for the signing ceremony. Fifty years later
in 1995, Parker honoured the General by releasing a limited edition
of this model, the Duofold MacArthur. Although signatures
were placed to sign the treaty which ended the war in Europe, the
Japanese Peace Treaty itself was not signed until September 8, 1951.
On this occasion too a Parker ‘51’ was used. It was a
special gold-capped model with an engraved barrel. On July 27, 1953,
in Mun San, Korea, General Mark Clark signed the Korean Armistice
with a Parker '51' Flighter (the full stainless steel model). He
actually used five, all engraved 'Korea - 1953'. The Parker
‘51’, a totally reliable fountain pen of stylistic triumph,
was 10 years ahead of its time when introduced to the market in
1939. Its global acceptance was so high that US servicemen were
able to use it as currency along with nylons and chocolate in war-torn
Europe. Parker pens
have continued to be chosen by world leaders (or on their behalf)
to commemorate some of the most significant events in history. In
the more recent past Parker '75', another Parker icon introduced
originally in the early '60s, succeeded the Parker '51' as the preferred
pen of statesmen and Parker often made special models for such occasions.
In 1987 and 1991, Parker '75' pens were used for signing treaties
and agreements on Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) and Strategic
Arms Reduction (START). It is not surprising that Parker in one
of their advertisements carried the message “the pen most often
chosen to record history has also been known to make it”. If
ever a pen company could use, on its proven track record, the famous
words of Bulwer-Lytton “the pen is mightier than the sword”,
it had to be Parker and it did so proudly after the signing of the
INF treaty in 1987. Parker pens
have made further landmark contributions to peace. On many occasions
it has succeeded in eliminating and restricting the use of the most
dangerous weapons and firearms. These include, the signing of the
Vietnam Peace Treaty by Secretary of State Rogers (1973), Camp David
agreements (1978), G7 Economic Summits of Industrialised Nations
(1988,1990), Soviet-American Treaties on chemical armaments (1990)
and on strategic arsenal (1992), a profile worthy of respect and
recognition. Pens for
abdication (Dr. S. S. L. Hettiarachchi is an Associate Professor in Civil Engineering of the University of Moratuwa. He is also a researcher in the History of Writing Instruments and a member of the Writing Equipment Society of the UK. The illustrations have been reproduced from Parker advertisements.) |
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